As mentioned in the initial Chic-Chocs Inbound post by Sven, our friends north of the border at Panorama Cycles were “Canada nice” enough to send us a carbon Chic-Chocs 3 to review. In 2023, we reviewed the steel Panorama Tognat, which is still available in Titanium. Sven and I were stoked to put a leg over this updated carbon ride with modern trail bike manners.
Despite having a more modern trail geometry, the new carbon frame’s plethora of mounts told me that adventure cycling is still intertwined in the company’s DNA. There are mounts on the top tube, down tube, triple fork mounts, rear rack mounts and two water bottle mounts inside the main triangle. There is even an internal storage area in the large carbon downtube. Bikepacking is more my jam than fast flow or enduro, so I was stoked when Sven left it with me after he brought it up for Spinner to race in the Fat Bike Birkie.
About Panorama
Simon Bergeron founded Panorama in 2016 with the original Chic-Choc fat bike. The company now has a stable full of bikes that make it easier for riders to enjoy backcountry adventures, but can also be raced and used for commuting. Begeron is a mechanical engineer who worked at Guru Bicycles and became enamored with bikepacking in 2010. The Panorama website even has a Bikepacking page with about a dozen routes, including Ride With GPS maps and detailed write-ups by riders.
In addition to building a little adventure into every bike, the Montreal area company puts its social values front and center. Beyond their donations to 1% for the Planet, Panorama is careful to implement sustainable manufacturing practices, such as recycling carbon scrap, letting a local skateboard company reuse their packaging, and switching from bubble wrap to recycled cardboard to protect frames when shipping.
Named after the Chic-Choc Mountains in the central region of the Gaspe Peninsula in Quebec, the carbon fiber frame is decorated with illustrations of scenes that call to mind winter in the woods by illustrator and ultra cyclist Denis Carrier from Studio Folk Design, based in the French Alps. has been completely redesigned from the original Chic-Chocs (which is still available) to blend the angles of more of a modern trail bike with a narrow Q factor (203 mm as measured on the test bike) and a long wheelbase for additional stability.
Panorama offers the complete bike with quite a few options, starting with a $2,900 base price, on up to $7,500 with all the bells and whistles. Our medium test bike came to us with a hybrid SLX/XT drivetrain, Race Face Aeffect cranks, SRAM Level brakes, Panorama rigid carbon fork, 27.5 unstudded 45NRTH Dillinger 5s mounted to a SUNringlé/Mulefüt 80SL wheelset, a 150mm KS Rage-i dropper post, and Race Face Chester cockpit components.
Panorama’s come with 27.5” wheels but the frame and fork can accept 29×3” or 26×5” tires.For most of my riding, I swapped the stock 27.5″ wheels shod with unstudded Dillingers for my 26″ wheels with studded Dillinger 5s. Most of the trails and gravel roads are icy this time of year and the lack of snow has allowed me to explore frozen lakes and flowages. In general, I leave my studded tires on all winter anyway.
The bikes are all built up at Panorama HQ in Canada, which allows for a number of nice factory upgrade options including HED carbon wheelsets, Terrene Cake Eater lite studded tires, SRAM GX AXS UDH 12-speed drivetrains, Hayes A2 Dominion brakes, Manitou Mastodon 120mm suspension fork and OneUp carbon cockpit components.
The Ride
I have quite a few miles in on the Chic-Chocs 3 riding frozen gravel forest roads, the steep neighborhood trails I groom, and the groomed single track the Chequamegon Area Mountain Bike Association maintains around my home in Seeley, WI. I have not yet had the Chic Chocs out bikepacking, but recently I was able to ride it on an impromptu ice fishing outing Cowboy and I took to the Turtle Flambeau Flowage.
With a 66.5° head tube angle and 75.5° seat tube angle on the new Chic-Chocs feels more like I am riding my Salsa Horsethief than my beloved old-school Milwaukee Bicycle Company Buck Shot. The 455mm/straight bar reach was quite a change from the upright 417mm/Jones Riser bar on my Buck Shot. I have become used to that upright beach cruiser position the Jones riser bars offer, but I must admit the laid-out modern trail geo was pretty confidence-inspiring ripping the local downhills. From the chunky neighborhood Tunnel Trail to the eye-tearing Penman Plunge and the narrow Ridge Runner trail in the Seeley Hills Recreation Area, the longer reach and slacker headtube angle put the front wheel more forward.The longer reach also makes it more comfortable to climb out of the saddle.
As a former frame builder, I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I haven’t noticed the longer 1201 mm wheelbase vs 1117 mm on my Milwaukee Buck Shot, or the even lower Q factor (203mm vs 213mm). So far, the longest ride I have done is about 30 miles. Perhaps those differences will make themselves felt on my first all-day ride. I’ll report back on that later.
Conclusions
Overall, I’ve really been enjoying the Panorama Chic-Chocs 3, but the review wouldn’t be complete without a bikepacking trip. Although it looked like winter was in the rearview, we have some snow and colder temps in the forecast. I’ll dig out the Titanium Goat wood stove and the hot tent that I put away, and see if I can find a friend to go on a winter bikepacking overnighter with me if Cowboy isn’t up for it.
I had to cut the ice fishing adventure short when I noticed he was shivering and hiding from the wind on the nearby island. He had a pad to lie down on and was wearing his Ruffwear winter coat, but at almost 10 years old, he gets cold more easily now. I should have brought his sleeping bag too. He warmed up on the short 3-mile run back to the truck, so fingers crossed he forgives and forgets!
