They have adapters to put behind the bottom bracket like this: a.co/d/9eshx2N I think I might actually have one of these somewhere... I'm pretty sure I bought one for my Santa Cruz Tallboy and just never put a bashguard on it... but I never smacked the chainring on that one, so I can put it on my Norton. I'm glad you're liking the videos... it means a lot... I love to work on my bikes and enjoy sharing what I do with people who enjoy watching mountain bike content. I've really enjoyed working on the Norton, using budget parts that I never would have considered before.... now I'm seriously considering a few.
@@DuanegerZonei feel the same way with respect to the budget bike build. That's exactly why i bought one too. Keep em coming dude these vids are great and the trails you ride look awesome 🤘
Nice breakdown vid. Solid run through of Palmer. Never really knew there was a drop where you started on Grandview. I’ll have to look at that one. Thanks for sharing.
Man, can't wait til my frame gets here. This has me really excited except I'll have to wait a few days longer since I just ordered a Rockshox Domain 160mm fork a few hours ago. It looks like the forks gonna get delivered a few days after the frame. I made sure to contact Poseidon before buying the fork and they assured me that a 160mm fork will work fine on the frame. It's going to be a huge difference compared to my entry level Rockshock Recon RL 120mm QR straight steerer fork. You should look into that Domain fork. It's regularly around $600 but on sale right now on Backcountry for $260. They have a 160, 170 and 180mm version all for $260.
Wow! A 160 fork! That will make it a beast of a hardtail... I was actually considering putting a 160 DVO fork that I have on it... I thought that might be over-forking, though... but since Poseidon says it will work fine, that's awesome! Definitely film the build... I would love to see what you do with it!
@@DuanegerZone I got it all built. Unfortunately, it was downpouring so i had to do it inside (i'm really getting tired of WI weather) so i couldn't film it with the VERY limited space i had to work with, in my front hallway. I can try and post am imgur link so you can see what it looks like, we'll see if YT deletes the comment as spam.
My Norton should be here this week. I’m not sure if I’m going to do the bottom bracket right away or hold off and upgrade the fork or a dropper first. I’m thinking it can’t feel that much better or have that much better performance? Could you tell a big difference? Thanks!
I'll be honest, I'm not one of those guys who can notice micro changes in MTB performance when updating components... I don't know if it's just smoother or lighter (I've never reweighed the bike), but something just feels better with the new bracket... that being said, I bought an extreme budget bottom bracket and have not even used it for a year yet... so I won't tell you to get the one I got... I'm just experimenting with components. If this is your main bike, go with a trusted company. But it's not the first thing I would update if I bought the complete bike... I would definitely go with the dropper first. That's where I know I would feel the biggest difference... going from no dropper to having a dropper is world of change for me. Then I would go with the fork... a lighter air fork.
"to stay in budget", bro, a legit shimano deore BB would set you back like $20 and it's going to be so much more durable, the $10 discount isn't worth it. Some aliexpress stores often legit shimano products and maybe you could get a discount to make it a bit less. There's always this misconception between doing things on a budget that is choosing always the cheapest option, what you should strive for is the better value, which might not actually be the cheapest of the bunch, but rather middle of the road.
Totally understand your point... and it's a good one. However, one thing I'm doing is testing the durability of some of these off brand budget parts... like Meroca... which, to be honest, puts out a dropper lever that I'll probably start using instead of the bigger brand dropper levers... it's a perfect lever that is actually closer to the price a dropper lever should be ($30... which is still pretty pricey for what it is). The point of me doing this build is to try things I never would have put on my main line-up of bikes (I'm still budget conscious on those bikes, but that means I go for the Hope Pro's or Spike Hex hubs over the Chris Kings or I9's)... do I expect great things? Nope... but $70 for great brakes from Zoom were a huge surprise. Would I use these parts on a hard-core downhill or Enduro bike... probably not (maybe... in a few cases).... but am I going to experiment with these parts and beat the shit out of them to see what they're made of? Absolutely! And if for nothing else, for my own curiosity. And I'm going to buy some of the cheapest parts I can find... because I want to know if they're junk.... or are they a viable option for people when every cent counts... and in some cases, are they the very same part as another slightly more expensive part made on the same assembly line... just with another name slapped on it? Just in building this bike, I've had a lot of nice surprises from parts I never would've given a chance to. And if this cheapo bottom bracket is no good, then it's no surprise to me.... but if I continue to beat the living shit out of it and it continues to perform, well... I love a good surprise. 👍
@@DuanegerZone maybe at least get highly rated products, otherwise it becomes too much of a "it's chinese so it must be bad" narrative when things don't go well. But well, it's your channel so you do you
Again, the whole point of this entire bike build is to try stuff I never would have thought of putting on my other bikes... and to be fair.... the Meroca Bottom Bracket has a 4.8 out of 5 star rating on Temu, with over 400 reviews.... if that's not "highly rated", I don't know what is. I wouldn't try a part with poor reviews. In fact, the part with the worst review on this bike is 3.8 stars on Amazon for the Meroca dropper lever... WHICH IS AWESOME!!! I gave it 5 stars! I get it... you would use (and recommend) something else.... so would I. But I gotta say, based on the performance so far (I've been rough on this bike since this video), I would not tell anyone not to buy these parts... So I guess you could say that doesn't exactly fit with the "Chinese is bad" narrative. Because so far, they're working great. Time will tell about durability. I really appreciate your input.... and I agree that if someone is looking to build up their own bike with budget parts, they would probably be better off sticking to trusted brands. But if their budget is super tight, and they just need to replace a square tapered bottom bracket on some old beater of a bike.... they could do a lot worse than a Meroca BB. It's a quality part, as far as I can tell.... but really, like I said, I'm just doing this because I'm curious about the parts and would love to see if I could have spares laying around to help me out of a pickle... just in case. Anyway, I plan on updating and experimenting with this bike quite a lot in the future... I'm looking at a lot of parts I'm curious about. Let me know if you have any recommendations. 👍
Yeah... I've been treating it pretty rough... and it's definitely an upgrade from the cheap Shimano square tapered I had originally put on the bike... maybe the SKG's would be better, though... I've never tried them... is there a link or a specific one you'd recommend? I'd love to give them a try sometime.
Man, I used to ride there and Ute all the time! It’s been years. I am in way better shape now. It would be way more fun.
You gotta hit it up again... I love Palmer and Ute... maybe I'll see you out there.
Verry nice tool wall, like the bike gold on black combo.
Thank you, Juan. I've definitely spent some paychecks on tools... and I do like the black and gold combo, too.
Loving the Norton content!!! I didn't see any mounts for a bash guard though, so looking forward to your solution!
They have adapters to put behind the bottom bracket like this:
a.co/d/9eshx2N
I think I might actually have one of these somewhere... I'm pretty sure I bought one for my Santa Cruz Tallboy and just never put a bashguard on it... but I never smacked the chainring on that one, so I can put it on my Norton.
I'm glad you're liking the videos... it means a lot... I love to work on my bikes and enjoy sharing what I do with people who enjoy watching mountain bike content.
I've really enjoyed working on the Norton, using budget parts that I never would have considered before.... now I'm seriously considering a few.
@@DuanegerZonei feel the same way with respect to the budget bike build. That's exactly why i bought one too. Keep em coming dude these vids are great and the trails you ride look awesome 🤘
@ald1389 Thanks, man. I appreciate the support... and I gotta admit, I do love Colorado trails!
Nice breakdown vid. Solid run through of Palmer. Never really knew there was a drop where you started on Grandview. I’ll have to look at that one. Thanks for sharing.
Yeah... we'll have to do a Palmer ride together soon. I'm always looking for new features there.
Man, can't wait til my frame gets here. This has me really excited except I'll have to wait a few days longer since I just ordered a Rockshox Domain 160mm fork a few hours ago. It looks like the forks gonna get delivered a few days after the frame. I made sure to contact Poseidon before buying the fork and they assured me that a 160mm fork will work fine on the frame. It's going to be a huge difference compared to my entry level Rockshock Recon RL 120mm QR straight steerer fork. You should look into that Domain fork. It's regularly around $600 but on sale right now on Backcountry for $260. They have a 160, 170 and 180mm version all for $260.
Wow! A 160 fork! That will make it a beast of a hardtail... I was actually considering putting a 160 DVO fork that I have on it... I thought that might be over-forking, though... but since Poseidon says it will work fine, that's awesome! Definitely film the build... I would love to see what you do with it!
@@DuanegerZone I got it all built. Unfortunately, it was downpouring so i had to do it inside (i'm really getting tired of WI weather) so i couldn't film it with the VERY limited space i had to work with, in my front hallway. I can try and post am imgur link so you can see what it looks like, we'll see if YT deletes the comment as spam.
@@NonLegitNation2 Awesome... yeah, send a link... I would love to see it.
My Norton should be here this week. I’m not sure if I’m going to do the bottom bracket right away or hold off and upgrade the fork or a dropper first. I’m thinking it can’t feel that much better or have that much better performance? Could you tell a big difference? Thanks!
I'll be honest, I'm not one of those guys who can notice micro changes in MTB performance when updating components... I don't know if it's just smoother or lighter (I've never reweighed the bike), but something just feels better with the new bracket... that being said, I bought an extreme budget bottom bracket and have not even used it for a year yet... so I won't tell you to get the one I got... I'm just experimenting with components. If this is your main bike, go with a trusted company.
But it's not the first thing I would update if I bought the complete bike... I would definitely go with the dropper first. That's where I know I would feel the biggest difference... going from no dropper to having a dropper is world of change for me. Then I would go with the fork... a lighter air fork.
"to stay in budget", bro, a legit shimano deore BB would set you back like $20 and it's going to be so much more durable, the $10 discount isn't worth it. Some aliexpress stores often legit shimano products and maybe you could get a discount to make it a bit less.
There's always this misconception between doing things on a budget that is choosing always the cheapest option, what you should strive for is the better value, which might not actually be the cheapest of the bunch, but rather middle of the road.
Totally understand your point... and it's a good one. However, one thing I'm doing is testing the durability of some of these off brand budget parts... like Meroca... which, to be honest, puts out a dropper lever that I'll probably start using instead of the bigger brand dropper levers... it's a perfect lever that is actually closer to the price a dropper lever should be ($30... which is still pretty pricey for what it is). The point of me doing this build is to try things I never would have put on my main line-up of bikes (I'm still budget conscious on those bikes, but that means I go for the Hope Pro's or Spike Hex hubs over the Chris Kings or I9's)... do I expect great things? Nope... but $70 for great brakes from Zoom were a huge surprise. Would I use these parts on a hard-core downhill or Enduro bike... probably not (maybe... in a few cases).... but am I going to experiment with these parts and beat the shit out of them to see what they're made of? Absolutely! And if for nothing else, for my own curiosity.
And I'm going to buy some of the cheapest parts I can find... because I want to know if they're junk.... or are they a viable option for people when every cent counts... and in some cases, are they the very same part as another slightly more expensive part made on the same assembly line... just with another name slapped on it?
Just in building this bike, I've had a lot of nice surprises from parts I never would've given a chance to. And if this cheapo bottom bracket is no good, then it's no surprise to me.... but if I continue to beat the living shit out of it and it continues to perform, well... I love a good surprise. 👍
@@DuanegerZone maybe at least get highly rated products, otherwise it becomes too much of a "it's chinese so it must be bad" narrative when things don't go well. But well, it's your channel so you do you
Again, the whole point of this entire bike build is to try stuff I never would have thought of putting on my other bikes... and to be fair.... the Meroca Bottom Bracket has a 4.8 out of 5 star rating on Temu, with over 400 reviews.... if that's not "highly rated", I don't know what is. I wouldn't try a part with poor reviews. In fact, the part with the worst review on this bike is 3.8 stars on Amazon for the Meroca dropper lever... WHICH IS AWESOME!!! I gave it 5 stars!
I get it... you would use (and recommend) something else.... so would I. But I gotta say, based on the performance so far (I've been rough on this bike since this video), I would not tell anyone not to buy these parts... So I guess you could say that doesn't exactly fit with the "Chinese is bad" narrative. Because so far, they're working great. Time will tell about durability.
I really appreciate your input.... and I agree that if someone is looking to build up their own bike with budget parts, they would probably be better off sticking to trusted brands. But if their budget is super tight, and they just need to replace a square tapered bottom bracket on some old beater of a bike.... they could do a lot worse than a Meroca BB. It's a quality part, as far as I can tell.... but really, like I said, I'm just doing this because I'm curious about the parts and would love to see if I could have spares laying around to help me out of a pickle... just in case.
Anyway, I plan on updating and experimenting with this bike quite a lot in the future... I'm looking at a lot of parts I'm curious about. Let me know if you have any recommendations. 👍
You could have blue loctited in a nice SKF square taper bottom bracket and ignored the cranks for 10 years. Seems like a downgrade to me.
Riding better than ever now... definitely feels like an upgrade. Time will tell.
@@DuanegerZone Eh, I guess if you are going to go off jumps like you were doing its an upgrade, downgrade otherwise.
Yeah... I've been treating it pretty rough... and it's definitely an upgrade from the cheap Shimano square tapered I had originally put on the bike... maybe the SKG's would be better, though... I've never tried them... is there a link or a specific one you'd recommend? I'd love to give them a try sometime.