After I broke the rear shock on my Norco Buzz the second time, I knew that I was too heavy or hitting big jumps that the suspension couldn’t handle and decided it was time for a bigger, stronger bike. I looked at an older Norco Atomik as well as an Iron Horse DH bike, but they were too big. We went to our local bike shop in Lethbridge and I rode a Norco Shore. It felt ok, but I remember the biggest thing that drew me to the Atomic was that I could easily keep a manual for a long distance, where the Norco Shore, I couldn’t. I heard one of the bike shop employees comment on this as well. We got the frame and started building up from there. We put a 7 inch Manitou Sherman on the front, but I ended up breaking that so we bought a Marzocchi 888 and had no problems with the bike after that. Ok, that’s not true, I did break quite a few derailers. I rode that bike for 3 years until the spring 2010 after we moved to Texas. This may be a better final sentence and a transititon to the next section… You mighty want to add When I noticed that my knees hit the handlebars I knew it was time for a new bike.
