I had one of the first XL ranges in North America - I placed my order 1-2 months before the dealer launch/product numbers were available due to a mild mistake from Norco, which they honoured anyway. I then proceeded to spend a whole season at Sun Peaks and elsewhere smashing the shit out of the bike, which I think is a solid test given the mountain's reputation to devour anything with a single crown on it after a couple days of riding. I've said before in this thread, but since we're on the topic again, I'll reiterate it.
My Range, which Norco spent years on, had a couple issues that IMO are relevant to a knockoff/open mold version:
1. mine was subject to a soft recall where not all the bolts had not all the right amount of locktite on them from the factory. There's about twice as many fiddly bolts than most other suspension designs due to the complexity. I think this might not work great for open mold riders who just buy a bike, build it up, and send it - this bike would require a strip back to nothing and a full re-go with grease, anti-seize, and red+blue locktite where appropriate in various parts to work properly/reliably
2. Even after issue 1 was resolved, a handful of bolts kept loosening off after a couple rides. I can only imagine this'll be worse with this version.
3. There's so many small bolts and fiddly parts, I don't trust them to be available long-term from Norco, let alone Tideace/Miracle. This might be a nice bike for a couple seasons, but it might be hard to enjoy for a long period of time (which I guess could be said of anything on this forum?).
