2010 Norco Faze 3 Review
Ever since my experience with a Bionicon on the trails in Tenerife I have wanted a full-suspension mountain bike. Coming back to my old Yukon only served to highlight the bike's shortcomings.
My specs list was fairly short - the bike had to be full suspension between 100mm and 140mm of travel, it had to be reasonably light (or capable of being made reasonably light) and it had to be Canadian. That made my short list the Rocky Mountain Element, the Devinci Moonracer, and the Norco Faze.
As per standard industry practice, each of these bikes comes in different spec levels. The frame stays the same, but the higher spec bikes get higher spec components. This practice makes the lower-spec bikes attractive, because you can get into the basic bike for far cheaper, and then upgrade components later on. Specifically, I feel that cockpit parts - bars, stems, grips, and seats - are very specific to individuals and will probably wind up being replaced in short order. So unless a given bike comes with your preferred cockpit stock, why pay more for a higher-spec bike when you are just going to replace the parts anyway?
Plus I had upgraded my Yukon quite a bit over the years and had plenty of high-spec parts on it to transfer across, so a lower-spec bike made quite a bit of sense.
Notwithstanding my desire for a new bike though, I didn't need one badly enough to commit to ordering one. I'd check out bike shops every once and a while to see if they had anything, but that was more window shopping than a firm intent to buy.
Then I wandered into Bicycle World, and they had a brand new 2010 Faze 3 in stock.
The Faze 3 is the low-end model of the Faze line. It comes with a Norco branded cockpit, Norco branded seat post, and 9-speed Deore. The wheels are basic, the shock a basic Tora XC coil spring, the main shock a rebound-only RockShox Bar. The suspension rocker is aluminum, and comes with two travel settings (97mm and 116mm). Accordingly, it's a little heavy (32 lbs).
But it is the same frame as the 24 lb Faze 1 SL full race bike, which means it can be built up similarly over time. And aside from the extra weight, the various specs of the bike should handle similarly.
So I took it for a test ride, and it was very, very nice. It was a better fit for me size-wise (my Giant was a tad too big) so it felt much snappier And hopping off a few curbs you could feel the bike soaking up the hits.
When I brought it back, the shop made me an offer that was an absolute steal. There was no way I could pass it up. And Spouse approved!
So entirely without meaning to, I found myself the owner of a brand new Faze 3.
Within seconds of getting it home, I started transferring all the good stuff over from my hardtail. The Norco branded stem and bars were swapped for Easton EA-70. The SPD pedals were replaced with Crankbrothers Acids. The Kenda Smallblock 8 tires were replaced with Michelin Wildgrippers. The Tora coil shock was replaced with a Recon 351 Solo Air, and the Deore rear derailleur, shifter, and cassette were replaced with SRAM X9.
With all this done, the bike was closer to a Faze 2 than a 3, but no matter. And besides, I liked the white/silver color scheme of the 3 better anyway.
Out on the trails, the bike was incredible. It was stupid, stupid fast, especially when I stopped trying to pick my way past terrain like I had on my hardtail and learned to trust the bike to soak up bumps. Rocks, roots, ruts - the bike didn't even notice they were there. I could stay seated and cranking through all but the roughest stuff. Over and over again I'd find myself giggling like a maniac when the bike let me get away with some new boneheaded move that previously would have dumped my on my head.
Perhaps the biggest surprise though was how well the bike climbed. At one point, my wife and I were doing hill repeats in Malden Park - she on her hardtail, me on my Faze. The trail we were using has a deep runoff rut on one side of the trail. She was on the trail, I was in the rut, and I had no difficulty keeping pace. It was like the rut wasn't even there.
The bike gave me the confidence to try things I never would have attempted on the hardtail. We went to the Bruce Peninsula MTB Adventure park and rode the whole thing. I entered a race for the first time. And I pulled seven minutes out of my Black Oak time.
Over the next couple of months, some more tuning and upgrades took place, and the bike is down to 29 lbs. It is a set of cranks and wheels away from becoming a Faze 1, and it just keeps getting faster and more capable.
I could not be happier with this bike. No buyer's remorse here! And it so impressed my wife that she bought one too. Very highly recommended.