For 2009 Norco are doing a freeride bike for the girls. It’s a 6″ travel freeride/stopestyle/trail bike designed with input from Norco team rider Darcy Turenne. It uses the highly successful FSR suspension platform which may look familiar -  it was developed by Specialized as a heavy-duty version of the four-bar Horst Link design. The Vixa comes standard with air shocks front and rear (Marzocchi 55 ATA 120-160mm, Fox DH3 Air) to save weight and give a DH bike feel with a 4x bike weight.

Darcy Turenne and her new Norco Vixa.
Photo: pinkbike.com

The bike comes with a dual front chainring and bashguard (not shown on Darcy’s one above, wich appears to be a bit flasher than the stock version…), Avid Juicy 3’s to stop when you want,  and a WTB Speed She saddle. Drive train is a ‘value for money’ mix of Shimano and Sram (x-5 shifters, X-7 rear derailleur, Derore front derailleur) and it comes in one colour – medical green. Interesting choice… reminds me of ‘Goody Goody Gumdrop’ icecream (delicious!) but if you haven’t been to New Zealand and eaten this national delicacy, you’ll probably associate it more with surgeons’ gowns or maybe 1950’s formica homewares… Anyway, the frame’s paintjob is teamed up with some nice white rims and forks to keep it fresh n clean looking.

Here’s a video of Darcy showing of her new ride at Interbike 2008 from Pinkbike

Of course, she WOULD say its great – she helped design it! If you own or have ridden a Vixa and want to agree or disagree with Darcy’s sentiment that it’s a great bike, leave a comment below or get in touch about writing a review. We’ll be testing and reviewing a Syren soon, so would be great to have a comparison.

Click here to check out the Norco site: www.norco.com. It’s fantastic that another brand is catering to women who are into gettng their wheels in the air – there are now two freeride bikes for women in production (the Vixa and the Transition Syren which came out last year). Who will be the first to do a women’s full-on DH bike I wonder?

Also – Rumour is that Vixa is a rude word in another language. Anyone care to confirm or deny? :P

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Published on 28/10/2008 by Martha Hucker.