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IB15: 2016 Norco road, gravel & cyclocross bikes – more disc brakes, more adventure!

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2016 Tactic carbon disc brake road race bike

Norco’s road range gains several new disc brake variants – both the Valence and Tactic both get disc brake options for 2016, and the Search gets an alloy option.

The biggest news with their skinny tires is the all new Tactic. It’s a completely new frame for 2016, coming in at just 800g for the SLR top model with rim brakes (10% lighter than last year) and 1050g for the SL. Ten percent is a common theme on that model, too – it gets 10% more aero, 10% stiffer and seatstays that are 10% more compliant.

Here’s how they did it…

2016 Tactic carbon disc brake road race bike

The downtube, seat tube and seat stays are all reshaped thru CFD via a third party that’s done aerodynamics projects for other bicycle brands (they wouldn’t say who). Then, with the layup, they were able to achieve the stiffer yet more compliant frame without giving up the race oriented handling.

2016 Tactic carbon disc brake road race bike

Disc brake frame comes in at 910g and gets thru axles.

2016 Tactic carbon rim brake road race bike

The 2016 rim brake Tactic switches to direct mount calipers, which are stiffer and stay in proper alignment when the bike gets knocked around. They’re also more powerful and they look better.

2016 Norco Valence disc brake carbon endurance road bike

The Valence disc is more of their endurance road bike so they stuck with standard QR dropouts. They told us the thru axles made the bike a bit too stiff and harsh for all day riding.

2016 Norco Valence disc brake carbon endurance road bike

It’ll fit up to a 32c tire now, thanks to more open stays, but overall compliance was kept similar to the original rim brake versions.

2016 Norco Valence disc brake alloy endurance road bike

Alloy and carbon frame options across the entire spec line except the very lowest price point.

2016 Norco Valence disc brake alloy endurance road bike

Flat mount brakes on the alloy bike, too.

2016 Norco Valence disc brake alloy endurance road bike

It, along with a number of other alloy bikes in their line, use their flip-flop fender mounts. Keep them inward when not needed, flip them out when needed.

2016 Norco Search alloy gravel adventure road bike

The Search gets a new alloy version (bottom) that replaces the steel model for 2016.

2016 Norco Threshold carbon cyclocross race bike

The carbon Threshold cyclocross race bike carries over unchanged save for its new Jester flip flop color scheme.

2016 Norco Threshold carbon cyclocross race bike

The bike’s painted in two colors, with sections of it mismatched side to side, all the way down to bar tape and cable housing color.

Norco.com

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Lomad
Lomad
8 years ago

Jester paint job is cool, but I’d reverse the bar tape to oppose frame colors.

Adventurebybike.be
8 years ago

The yellow is yummy

Will
Will
8 years ago

Honest question here: why is everyone going thru axle now?

Bill
Bill
8 years ago

I dig the flip out rack mounts, clever use of aluminum’s strengths.

Simon
Simon
8 years ago

If I could choose between by Giant TCX Advanced 0 with through axel and disc and my Look 586 with standard QR and caliper brakes I would go the later every time. Through axels are a pain and the discs are constantly causing issues.

tehcrash
tehcrash
8 years ago

@Simon: Riding on thru-axles for 8 months, having exactly 0 problems. What issues are you having?

myke
myke
8 years ago

i really Like Norco but really…. who is buying their road bikes?

@tehcrash did you buy a Norco road bike? if so did you buy because they are on the bleeding edge in terms of adopting standards?

Pette
Pette
8 years ago

Thru axles to stiff so they stuck with QR’s. I call BS. How does a thru axle make your bike
less compliant and too stiff for every day riding? So what they’re saying is they prefer the flex of the QR’s?

shore
shore
8 years ago

@Pette my thoughts exactly! I would like to think they could still engineer compliance into the frame and fork, and keep the thru-axles.

Xris
Xris
8 years ago

Thru-Axles – Stiffer better responding wheel. No margin for being set up crooked. Good repeat ability.

– Gives better feedback through the wheel to the fork. Makes a stiff wheel feel more responsive.

I’ve been fortunate enough to test their Valence Disc and Threshold and both perform superbly. Good handling and never thought for a second about Q/R vs Thru axles being a hindrance. I’d say I know my wheel is always locked in like a good Q/R should be.

Pistolero
Pistolero
8 years ago

The flex originated by a QR in a road bike is nothing compared to the flex created by light spokes or a light wheel. Sure, a thru axle and stiffer wheel solves the problem, but boy, everyone who has done over 25000Km of road knows that a light setup is much better than a gain in stiffness, any day. Now, I can understand the a heavy rider or a newby roadie coming from mtb may prefer the stiffness initially.

Initially, only.

Jasen
Jasen
8 years ago

+1 for pistolero.

Mike
Mike
8 years ago

Isn’t that paint design the same as the Devinci Hatchet?

Shark
Shark
8 years ago

I used to run standard qr disc wheelset (shimano rx31) on my bike. over time, the lateral flex induced at the rear hubs caused a lot of disc brake rub which in my opinion affected overall performance. Plus, removing the wheels and putting them back on again whenever I cleaned my bike was a pain. I had to re-align the calipers to prevent rubbing. I then replaced my wheelset to a pair of DT Swiss r23, which runs on thru-bolt skewers and is totally compatible with qr dropouts. 2000km in, and i’ve yet to encounter any disc rubbing whatsoever (and I clean my bike on a weekly basis)

John Jones
John Jones
8 years ago

Norco are underrated road bikes they are actually excellent!!!!

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