Norco has taken its time to have its say in the motorized mountain bike party. And the wait for an e-mountainbike from the Canadians was worth it: the Sight VLT is a real beauty, whose inner values are by no means to be despised. To make a long story short: The Strombolide offers a carbon frame as its base, a Shimano power unit, rolls on 27.5" tires in 2.6" Wide Trail format and has 160/150 suspension. The bike is very reminiscent of its re-powered counterpart from the same company and manages the feat of looking (almost) as stylish as a conventional fully, even though it has a voluminous battery and a mid-motor on board.

How far does the integrated battery go?

In order to achieve the shapeliness, Norco wants or has to park the battery permanently in the down tube - the battery cannot be removed by the rider, only by the dealer. On the top model, 630 watt hours should ensure that you can cover a good range and altitude. However, it is not possible to quickly insert a spare battery. Norco says that this is not a bad thing. An average rider weighing 82 kg including equipment should be able to cover around 1400 meters of altitude in steep, rough terrain with a 630 Wh battery charge in the strongest support mode.

Look further under the hood of the Sight VLT: this is where the Shimano E8000 system works on the top model, which is surrounded by the carbon frame. For full off-road capability, there are covers around the motor and lower down tube so that nothing is damaged if the rider hits the ground roughly. The Sight VLT offers some parallels to the non-motorized Sight, the rear triangle is almost identical. This offers 150 millimetres of travel and ensures agile handling with 440 millimetre chainstays. Overall, the wheelbase of the E version is slightly longer in order to give the vehicle a smoother ride due to the higher average speed. A 160 millimeter fork is installed at the front to iron out some of the rough terrain. Tribute is also paid to the modern geometry dogma of "long, flat, aggressive", so that you should also feel as comfortable on the watt-hour and Newton-meter-boosted bike as you did on the non-motorized counterpart.

The Sight VLT 1 weighs around 22 kilos, which is not a sensational figure for an e-mountainbike in this suspension travel range, with 2.6 tires and a 630 Wh battery, but it is a good one. To ensure that the bike behaves properly off-road, Norco provides the future owner with a detailed setup assistant. This should allow the suspension of the e-bike to be optimally adapted to the rider's weight, physique, terrain and personal preferences and, in particular, make it quick and easy to find the right air pressure in the suspension elements.

First assessment:

Norco presents one of the most visually convincing e-mountainbikes. Basing the E-Fully closely on an existing bike in the portfolio and designing the geometry very similarly is clearly reminiscent of Rocky Mountain's philosophy. Norco leaves nothing to be desired with the E8000 motor. Integrated batteries - albeit rather long-lasting at 630 Wh - are at best a matter of taste for e-mountainbikes, but almost always a no-go for lovers of extended day tours. With Norco's first electric offspring, the saying "beauty must suffer" seems to be true. At the latest when the integrated battery is empty, but the tour is not yet over and you can't simply pull a spare battery out of your backpack.

norco.com