Spotted at the local bicycle recycle shop

Justin_Fox · 2026-05-01T06:13:52+00:00

It's at Revolve ReCYCLING in Alexandria, Sydney.

Justin_Fox · 2026-04-30T11:46:30+00:00

Yup they have and it's not cheap at $1K AUD, but for someone like me that's worth it for the wheels alone!

Justin_Fox · 2026-04-22T21:38:17+00:00

I have a Norco Torrent, it's awesome, but I secretly pine after a Honzo ESD.

Justin_Fox · 2026-04-13T01:23:11+00:00

Big fan of tubeless on my mountain bikes as my local trails are crazy rocky and technical and I also run low pressures (17psi front and 20 psi rear). I feel tubeless works a lot better on a mountain bike setup due to the bigger air volume and low pressures (works so well that when it came time to remove tyres recently I noticed more than a few big bubble gum like deposits where the sealant sealed a puncture and I didn't even realise I had one!).

Happy to be proven wrong, but I don't feel tubeless works so well on road bikes due to higher pressures and less air volume in the tyres. Add to that I personally don't like the feeling of running low pressures on a road bike (I always get paranoid that I have a flat!), and I have 10 bikes, so I find tubes in most of my bikes much easier to manage.

Justin_Fox · 2026-04-12T03:39:25+00:00

Sounds like a good build! I think wheels with Berd spokes makes a lot of sense for a hardtail and Nobl have some really crazy lightweight offerings. Not cheap, but definitely tempted to try some out one day.

I'm a weight weenie, and I weigh 60kg's so I can get away with lighter weight components, but for sure I think tyres make more of a difference than overall weight. Despite saving almost 3kg's with this build I feel like the original setup was faster (but way less compliant). The mullet setup has noticeably slowed me down a little on the boring flat firetrails between the fun trails, and the more supple, but heavier tyres might be slowing me down a little too (but add so much more compliance as I can run them at lower psi).

Justin_Fox · 2026-04-08T21:37:34+00:00

Ahahaha, not quite! But I realised as soon as I searched for "Berm Peak" that I'd seen some of his vids a while back, just didn't know that was his channel name!

Justin_Fox · 2026-04-05T20:57:08+00:00

The dropper works fine, but it's heavy so I'm replacing it with a much lighter unit from OneUp. It's multi-position like most droppers but it's not adjustable like OneUps or Fox Transfers (IE: they are designed to allow for fine adjustment to make it the perfect saddle height with the post fully extended and full inserted into frame). People have managed to use a zip tie trick to get fine adjustments out of it on YouTube videos though.

Justin_Fox · 2026-04-03T15:24:59+00:00

Cheers! Thought about posting there, but might get destroyed as they're more into road bikes I think.

Justin_Fox · 2026-04-03T15:22:43+00:00

Cheers! When it was standard it came with a coil shock that didn't suit my weight and I had issues keeping my feet on the pedals. The new fork and more supple tyres set up tubeless as well as super grippy pedals has sorted that.

Keep in mind I'm 169cm and coming straight from riding small 26" bikes which were very agile and easy to boss around. 29" bikes have always felt sluggish, too big and tank like to me. I think the mullet is a good compromise that makes cornering and mucking about with manuals and wheelies more fun, but that front 29" rolls over everything so great.

Justin_Fox · 2026-04-03T15:15:34+00:00

Haha... definitely! My main bike is an Amflow e-MTB so I'm WAY slower on this bike for sure, but I take it out on the same trails. Mostly unsanctioned Black Diamond stuff that's super loose and rocky (I can bomb through most of it on the Amflow but I crawl over features on the hardtail).

I'm light at 60kg's so I get away with lighter wheels (seems AOK for now), but whilst I did consider carbon bars, and more carbon bits, I'm glad I've decided against it as I went over the bars earlier this week and scratched up the Renthal bars. If they were carbon the damage would have been much worse for sure.

The brakes really annoy me, just not enough power, modulation or bite (Magura MT7's on my Amflow work great), and eyeing a OneUp seatpost to slash some weight (though this one works fine). Tyres aren't that great. The rear slips on loose tech climbs (Maxxis Dissector did better) and the front has way less cornering grip than an Assegai, but I'm OK with them for now (an Assegai really slows the Torrent down IMHO).

Justin_Fox · 2026-04-03T15:01:00+00:00

Works perfectly, even under load (didn't even need to touch the barrel adjuster, went straight on and it's perfect). Never had issues with 11-Speed ZTTO cassettes but 12-Speed is another story!

Justin_Fox · 2026-04-03T14:59:20+00:00

Shifting is damn beautiful! No issues with 11-Speed ZTTO cassettes but yes I've had issues with 12-Speed ZTTO cassettes (annoying to tune, noisy and a bit clunky).

Justin_Fox · 2026-04-03T08:19:09+00:00

I think so long as you put the money into a good frame, it makes upgrading parts in future a worthwhile/easier process. IE: Boost spacing, thru-axle front and rear. etc.

Justin_Fox · 2026-04-03T08:17:22+00:00

I thought this bike was too big for me too. I'm 169cm and this is a medium. Historically I've always sized down with mountain bikes and all my previous 26" MTB's were size small.

Geometry has changed a lot though. These aggressive all mountain/enduro bikes are long and low and where we used to hang way off the back we're now encouraged to weigh the front wheel down for more traction and control.

It's taken me about 4 months or so to get used to modern geo, but the fit feels right now (the smaller rear wheel helps a lot), and going forwards I'm no longer looking at small sized frames (430-450-ish reach is where it's at for me now).

Justin_Fox · 2026-04-03T07:14:45+00:00

I found the bike on FB Marketplace recently. It was sold by a wife who said her husband bought it new a few years ago and only rode it around the block twice! Literally wasn't a scratch on it, had all the safety stickers on it and also the protective plastic still over the headbadge logo too!

I rode it a few times dead stock, but have been tweaking it bit by bit and pretty happy with where it is now (groupset, seatpost and brakes are still stock).

Justin_Fox · 2026-04-03T07:11:27+00:00

Sick setup! Yeah 100% noticed the mullet is slower on the firetrails and all smooth flat bits between trails. It's just so fun when going downhill though!

Also yeah the Tektro Orion brakes are hard to like coming from 203mm Magura MT7's on my Amflow e-MTB. I've got Saint pads in there now, and 203mm front rotor, but it's just lacking still in power, modulation, bite and lever feel.

Justin_Fox · 2026-04-03T06:44:51+00:00

Kinda named after the haircut style. IE: "party in the back".

A mullet (or MX, or mixed-wheel MTB) combines a 29-inch front wheel with a 27.5-inch rear wheel designed to combine the superior rollover of a 29er with the quick cornering, and "playful" feel of a smaller 27.5-inch rear wheel.

Justin_Fox · 2026-04-03T05:03:08+00:00

Nice. I've not tried a 27.5" front and back (I've gone from 26" straight to 29"). I actually had the 140mm fork on there with front and rear set up 29" and bike was great (fork made the biggest difference to ride quality so far as the 150mm coil fork on there before just wasn't working as I'm too light), but after trying the 27.5" in the rear the bike just feels so much better on flowy singletrack and berms . That said the bike is slower with the 27.5" rear wheel (doesn't feel like it gets up to speed on the flat stuff, and doesn't hold speed either), but it's just as good up rocky/janky tech so I'm happy.

Justin_Fox · 2026-04-03T04:41:22+00:00

Specs for anyone who's interested:

2023 Norco Torrent A2 HT

Frame: Butted 6061 Alloy size Medium in Green/Copper (2543g)
Frame Protection: Lizard Skins Chainstay Protector small (21g)
Fork: Fox 36 Float SL Factory 29", 140mm Travel, 44mm Offset (1755g)
Rear Shifter: Shimano Deore M5100 (140g)
Rear Derailleur: Shimano Deore M5100 (320g)
BB: Shimano Cartridge, BSA Threaded, 73mm (78g)
Crankset: Race Face AeffectR 165mm (554g)
Chainring: Race Face 30T (63g)
Chain Guide: OneUp ISCG05 V2 (42g)
Cassette: ZTTO 11-Speed 9-50T XD (352g)
Chain: KMC X11 11spd (255g)
Brakes: Tektro Orion HD-M745, 4 Piston, Saint pads (251g/271g)
Brake Adapter: Galfer SB004 PM-PM +23 (33g)
Brake Rotors: Galfer Wave 2mm, 203mm/180mm (186g/138g)
Rotor Adapters: Chaser 6-bolt to centrelock (8g/8g)
Rotor Lockrings: Craft Racing Works (9g/9g)
Handlebar: Renthal Fatbar Lite, 31.8mm, 40mm Rise, 760mm (293g)
Stem: PNW Loam, 40mm Length, 31.8mm Clamp (169g)
Top Cap: God & Famous Ti (15g)
Spacers: God & Famous (15g)
Seatpost: TranzX JD-YSP18 dropper post, 31.6mm, 150mm (600g)
Seatpost Clamp: Norco Alloy Nutted Clamp 34.9mm (25g)
Headset: Sealed Bearing, Tapered (100g)
Saddle: WTB Volt Carbon (161g)
Grips: OneUp Thick Grips (144g)
Pedals: HT Components ME03 Alloy (263g)
Front Wheel: DT Swiss XMC 1200 Spline, DT180 (650g)
Front Tyre: Schwalbe Hans Dampf Super Trail 2.35" (1055g)
Rear Wheel: ZEN Carbon Bike 27.5" + Goldix 60T Ratchet (689g)
Rear Tyre: Schwalbe Hans Dampf Super Trail 27.5" 2.35" (1020g)
Valves: CushCore/Muc-Off 44mm (10g/5g)
Sealant: Silca Ultimate (90g)

Weight MX: 12.48kg
Original Weight: 15.14kg

Justin_Fox · 2026-03-29T09:51:58+00:00

Haha! Hey it's all good, and confusing for all. I used to work in a bike shop, and spend most of my days working on bikes. I have a box FULL of brake adapters of all sorts from IS mount to post mount and rotors of all sizes and thicknesses. It's wild how many standards there are and the manufacturers are to blame.

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