Norco

Just curious. What do ppl think of the Canadian Norco brand? Doesn't seem that it ever really made it out of Canada aside from fringe areas of the US bordering Canada.

Its a good brand with well built bikes. I don't own one of them because of fit issues but the brand is relatively well represented on the DH/FR scene around here. I know of about 6 or 7 that roll through my shop on a regular basis; a few DH Teams, an A-line, a Six and a gorgeous Vixa ridden by an equally beautiful woman who shreds harder than most everyone I've ever met. A few years ago when I bought my Big Hit I took it to Bay Ridge Bikes (sure no one here knows it, but they're a big Norco dealer in Brooklyn) to have the shock upgraded and the owner offered to swap me an '04 Norco Shore VPS for my '03 specialized Big Hit because my frame was a little too big. I rode the Shore for a week but had to decline the trade because the effective top tube length was so long on a medium frame that I kept falling off the front of the seat and the small was knee knocking tiny. I stuck with the Big Hit and haven't regretted my decision.

Norco are sold in the UK now, but I don't think they were BITD. I don't follow contemporary bikes, but they all look a bit over-built for my needs. Is there a classy Canadian history behind the brand, or is it just a front name for Taiwanese products?

I guess people in Canada haven't heard of Orange either, as they don't market world-wide. Although you may have heard of Steve Peat winning a few races on Oranges way back when.

I'm guessing they were mass produced Taiwanese frames with no real Canadian history aside from it being a Canadian company selling in mostly Canada. But I've never owned or followed the brand so I'm only making a guess.

I've never heard of Pace or Orange until joining here.

On a side note, what other local only retro brands are out there for other countries?

I had a Norco Drop in 2003, a bike which I dearly loved. I remember them being quite new to the UK at that time and I didn't see many others about. At that time one bike was all I could afford and the Norco did me proud for DH, trail centres and XC (even with Jnr Ts and weighing a ton!). Alas, like all the bikes I love, that Drop was eventually stolen. I think their bouncy bikes are fairly popular with the yoofs - the kind that like North Shore and skinnys and saying "knarly".

The frames may be from the far east, but I'm fairly sure my bike was assembled in Canada. I ordered it in late 2002 and remember waiting ages for it to arrive and being told it was on its way from there. I did a quick wikipedia search and it appears the brand has a history in Canada going back to the 60s. The image is of a rigid hardtail - not what I think of when I think of Norco!

They were originally distributed in the UK by ATB Sales (Marin Whyte Willier)
but they dropped them (not sure why but possibly because the 140 Marins have got so good now)

Now Norco is distributed by Fisher Outdoor Leisure so a real potential for not being able to get any help with warranty and spares, just like Dahon (who have now moved to Zyro for distribution.

nice bikes if you want something big hit Norco.

;]

Dahon has abysmal warranty service here too. Took me 9 weeks to get a replacement (super duper shock and pump style) seatpost from them after their most recent recall. Customer was pissed, and rightfully so, there wasn't any hint of an issue with his but they insisted that he send it in and then they'd replace it. It took forever and about a million phone calls to get any information. Finally it came in and it was the wrong size, 30.0 instead of 31.8 after that came they sent another mere days later also 30.0. About a week later we got the right size and all was well, but my store considered dropping Dahon over this.

a girl rides past me every morning on a old norco sasquatch, it looks very konaish

Heh. My first adult bike was a skinny tired Norco sport touring bike (Monteray SL). It was made in Japan and was spec'ed pretty competitively with my friend's Bianchi. Norco designed in Canada and had them made overseas. Initially, in Japan and then in Taiwan when the exchange rate forced the Japanese to relocate manufacturing off-shore. Now they probably build a lot of their stuff in China like everyone else. My recollection was competent mass market bikes. Definitely lots of Norco mountain bikes were sold locally in the late 80's and early 90's. I remember their bikes taking a jump in quality in the early 90's. My friend had a friend who worked for Norco and they would take trips to Moab. Everyone on the trip got to ride a new Norco. In the early 90's they were on XT/LX equiped, prestige steel framed Rampage's. Those were nice bikes and I started to take notice. Like most locally manufactured bikes in the 90's they started looking Konaish. I owned a 98 Sasquatch and it was a good steel hardtail in the westcoast style - a poor man's Lavadome. When freeriding took off Norco was there supplying lots of tough full travel bikes to the groms riding the Shore. Couldn't swing a cat up there without hitting a VPS, Stinky or a Big Hit. Haven't kept up with them, but I just picked up their CCX2 cyclocross frame and built it up into a fast disc equiped commuter. They still seeem to be making well thought out affordable bikes that remind you of some botique bike or other.

A buddy of mine had a late 1990s sasquatch in silver that was a real nice steel hardtail when I moved west I bough an '04 sasquatch which was a chunky alloy freeride hardtail. I rode that on the shore before selling it a couple years later. They're still doing current a modern bikes. They introduced a few 650B full suspensions last year that met with good reviews They are well priced decent bikes. The rampage was a real nice bike.