[Dunc]

Have a little list of bikes I'm open to getting if the price is right.
Looking for resort bikes and trying to narrow down some points.
DH Team and A-Line, is it just the head tube angle being slacker on the team?
Do they ride pretty close? Been on the A-Line not the Team.
yes the team could be overkill with it's spec's, or is it the wrong bike handling wise to be thinking of?

 

[Deweydude]

Have a little list of bikes I'm open to getting if the price is right.
Looking for resort bikes and trying to narrow down some points.
DH Team and A-Line, is it just the head tube angle being slacker on the team?
Do they ride pretty close? Been on the A-Line not the Team.
yes the team could be overkill with it's spec's, or is it the wrong bike handling wise to be thinking of?

First off, Norco makes great bikes, and I love mine. That being said. Besides the geometry changes the Team DH is a full on dh rig. Its got more travel and is heavier, and Norco is a heavy bike anyway!. Both bikes will do great for resort riding. But the Team DH can easily be overkill if your not going to utilize her.

I am an older rider at 48 on a Team DH, I haven't raced in years and someday [maybe] I am going to have to admit that I would be a better rider on a lesser/lighter bike. So basicly it depends on what you want the bike to do! I have several buddies that ride A-lines, unless you really want a full on race rig and plan to use it, I would buy the A-line in a heartbeat. If your going to race buy the Team. But either way you'll be happy:thumbsup:

 

[SasquatchK]

The Team DH is lighter than the A-Line. The DH is more oriented towards speed and handling while the A-Line is spec'd for bike parks, doing jumps, drops and various stunts. The DH can do all that just fine, just might not be as burly.

The Team DH is advertised as 40-41lbs out of the box, but really is about 42lbs; I can confirm this sometime this week. The A-Line will be about 1.5-2.5lbs heavier, I can't confirm this. The Team DH always has the most up to date frame while the A-Line's and other 8" freeride bikes use the previous year frame with minor updates. They both have the same travel, 7.9" and 9" of travel. They also both feature adjustable BB heights, 14.3" and 14.8" or so, check the Norco site for exact numbers.

Between the two frames, unless you are a top notch pro racer, you really won't notice the difference between the two. The biggest difference will be parts spec.

Since you are looking for a park bike, either will do just fine. Just pick the one with the parts spec that you like more and be happy.

I rented an A-Line while at Whistler along with some other bikes over the past two seasons. All bikes rode well, they all had minimal differences since I am not an experienced enough rider to take advantage of certain things, but I will say that personally the A-Line was one of the bikes that was a little more memorable (in a good way) than others. Because of this, I ordered a 2008 Team DH from my shop and hopefully will be giving it's maiden voyage at Whistler later this week.

 

[watermoccasin]

This year's A-line frame is last year's Team DH frame. Norco has been doing this awesome trickle-down for the past several years, and the 08 Team DH frame is almost identical to the 07 Team DH/08 A-line frame. Either one makes a great park bike.