canyoneagle

After five years of dutiful service, I have replaced my modified Bianchi Milano 120th Anniversary with one I feel will cover my needs and riding style more appropriately.

The Milano served very well for my commuting needs (especially once I changed the swept back cruiser bars for a flat bar, among other functional tweaks), but at its heart is still a fantastic, stylish, cafe bike that wants to be ridden casually for short distances.

After strongly considering a Civia Bryant (to the extent of calling my nearest Civia dealer with debit card in hand) among several others (Giant Seek 0, Swobo Baxter, Norco Ceres, Voodoo Wazoo with alfine custom build, the list goes on), I zeroed in on the Norco Vesta https://www.norco.com/bikes/urban/belt-drive/vesta/

I've posted some pics in the "pics" thread - page 269, post #6704, but I've attached a pic here too:

The bike offers a number of things I was looking for:
Drop bar
Chromoly Frame (Reynolds 525, in this case)
Belt Drive
Ability to easily accept an IGH (Sliding dropouts in this case - my personal preference over horizontal dropouts or EBB)
Disc Brakes
Ability to accept fenders and rear rack

At the time I ordered the bike I immediately ordered a set of Avid BB7's and 185mm rotors to replace the stock Hayes mechanicals.
I also ordered some Brooks bar tape to match my B-17 Narrow, as well as a set of 32mm Schawalbe Marathon Supremes.
I also installed a set of Civia fenders and a Civia rear rack, and feel they compliment the bike quite nicely.

I am very happy with the bike so far, and am looking forward to many years with it.

I've always been interested in the singlespeed option, and am really enjoying this bike as a SS. In fact, I rode it to my Tai Chi class this morning, which involves several short but steep hills - nothing more than 150 vertical feet at a time. No worries, I was able to surmount all of the grades without too much of a struggle.

All of that said, "Phase 2" of this bike is in the works. I have all of the stuff assembled to build and install an Alfine 8 rear wheel (I chose a J-tek bar end shifter).
While I look forward to having the bike set up for the real world (i.e. hills, etc), I'm really happy with it as a singlespeed at the moment, and am glad that I'll have the ability to swap back and forth pretty easily. I'll come up with a creative way to restrain the alfine shifter cable when not in use.

The belt drive is fantastic. It is extremely responsive and stiff - instantaneous acceleration with any pedal input - and dead quiet.

I'm a happy camper.

sygyzy

Nice looking bike. From the picture (linked) it kind of looks like a MTB or BMX bike. I know it's not but the top tube slope really caught my eye. What's the story behind the brand? I just heard about them today. I looked up their dealer list for California and I don't know if it's a coincidence or on purpose but most of them are located in small ****ty towns. It makes me wonder what sort of market they are targeting.

CCrew

Nice bike. I'm not feeling the fenders, but they're functional I'm sure.

I have to ask though, sure you got it the right size? That's a boatload of seatpost showing.

tarwheel 

Nice bike. I hope you enjoy it.

canyoneagle

I hear ya on the seatpost. It is the largest frame available - 22". This is one aspect of the new sloping toptube designs that I don't like. However, the long seatpost is typical for any bike with a sloping TT (take a look at the link or any bike with a sloping tt for reference)
The cockpit fits me just right not cramped and not too stretched out.

canyoneagle

The geometry is kind of like a cross between a cyclocross and a 29er mountain bike, which is one of the reasons I really like it for use as a go-anywhere transportation machine. The only limitation I can see is tire size. The S-bend stays limit me to perhaps 35-38mm, and my 32's seem to be a perfect size for the space allowed.

I know Norco has been around for many years, primarily in the Canadian market - sort of the "Trek" or "Specialized" of Canada. I think they broke through into the higher end/world exposure scene on the Vancouver freeride/downhill mountain bike front.

As an American, I had perhaps seen a couple of Norco logos on bikes or banners in dirt rag, but I see them every day here in Calgary. They seem to run the whole range from kids bikes to carbon road bikes.

I'm not sure about the whole range of bikes, but the bike I have is of Taiwanese origin, like any of the better mass-market counterparts such as Trek, Specialized or Giant.

sygyzy

Thanks for the info canyoneagle. Enjoy your new bike and please give us reports periodically on how you like it.

Justiss

Excellent!!! Loved that color in the shop. That brings the count of Norco belt-drives on the forum to 2! Pic of my Ceres attached.

Gary

coffeecake

Norcos are pretty common in Canada, especially the lower-end ones. In my province, they're available at local sporting-goods stores mostly, as opposed to bikes-only shop. In some areas (in my experience), it's a more commonly-known name than Trek.

canyoneagle

Sweet! The Ceres was high on my list as well - I believe both bikes share the same frame.

I was a bit lukewarm on the silver Civia fenders (I installed them because I had 'em sitting around). The 50mm fenders just swallowed the tires and the color, while neutral was not quite compatable.
I've since installed a set of Planet Bike Cascadia Road fenders (the narrow ones), which are specified for tires up to 28mm. I really like the trimmer profile and they juuuuust fit the 32's. Very clean. There is no way I'd fit anything bigger than the 32mm Marathon Supremes, but I have no intention of using this bike for snow - it's a 3 season bike. Snow bike? heh heh heh............. I'm thinking 29'er with 11 speed alfine and space for fat tires, but that's at least 6 months off.......

The PB fenders came with nice sleeves for disc clearance, and I used both of them out back to get the offsets aligned with the rack and the fenders. I'll post updated pics soon.

I will install the G3 rotors this weekend and will begin building the Alfine wheel in the next couple of weeks.

I'm loving the belt drive and overall feel of the bike. I think Norco has really got a winner with this design. The only design oversight is the rear caliper mount - it would've been easy for them to have put it on the left chain stay instead of the seat stay. Regardless, it is a really sweet bike.

canyoneagle

I see Norcos every day here in Calgary. Everything from nicer 80's lugged steel road bikes with Shimano 600 level components (ultegra), POS Canadian tire mountain bikes, and an increasing number of very nice new mountain and road bikes.
I think they have distributorship for mass market, lower end stuff as well as bike shop stuff.
I bought mine at Ridley's bike shop in Calgary, where the Norco offerings are mid to higher end. The shop itself is a pretty big Trek, Norco and Giant dealer, with a pro shop for Pinarello and other such racing goodies.

irclean

Please say it ain't so... I am counting on installing my 35mm Schwalbe Marathon Winters on my desired IGH-equipped winter commuter. The Ceres is on top of my list, but I haven't seen it in person yet. Are you saying that is isn't possible to install tires larger than 32mm?

canyoneagle

The limiting factor in my case is my recent choice to install narrower fenders than the big silver fenders in the pics (I now have the "road" model Planet Bike Cascadia's which are rated for max 28mm).
If you go with bigger fenders (45-50mm, which is typical for most "hybrid" fenders) you'll be fine. The rear "S bend" stays on the frame should be fine with 35-38mm tires based on eyballing my 32's. The front will have no clearance issues at all. You could probably fit a 2" tire in there.

If you use winter tires with conservative studs (such as the marathon winters) you shouldn't have an issue with clearance on the fender mounting bolt at the seat stay bridge. FWIW, the bridge has a direct mount thread, so you drill a hole in the fender and mount straight through instead of using an L-bracket to a conventional brake hole.

irclean

Ok, whew! If I do go with the Ceres I've got a set of PB Cascadia Hybrid fenders, which I believe are 45mm wide. They fit just fine on my Schwinn hybrid and I was counting on being able to switch them over. I'm glad I held onto the spacer to clear the disc brakes!

canyoneagle

Oh yeah, they'll be fine. If you have both of the spacers, that will make it easy to mount a rack too - that's what I did on mine.
Since the fork does not have eyelets on the dropouts (I'm guessing they were eliminated to avoid clutter with the disc caliper), the fender stays will mount on the lowrider braze-ons midway up the fork. I measured, bent and cut the fender stays for a clean fit.

Justiss

You'll have plenty of room - There about 8mm of clearance on either side with the stock 32's.

Justiss

canyoneagle

I've been really enjoying the bike so far.
The belt drive is really nice. Super quiet and extremely responsive (no sensation of stretch, etc).

I was not really sold on the silver fenders - I installed them because I had them sitting around. I've now installed a set of Planet Bike Cascadia "road" fenders, which are specified for a max tire size of 28mm, but they are just enough to adequately cover my 32mm schwalbe marathon supremes. I prefer the aesthetics of the trimmer fenders on this bike, and will install big fat fenders on my winter bike (a project for a future date).

I installed a set of Avid G3 rotors (185mm) and can't really tell a difference from the stock rotors. Any improvement in braking is minimal, if any. I would imagine the vented design would make a big difference in fade on long descents.

Anyway, I've added some new pics, including some details showing the front fender installation. In the case of this bike, I attached the stays to the lowrider braze-on. This necessitated a reverse orientation of the attachment bolts on the fender in order to accommodate the stay angles (the protruding ends would not pass through the holes in the bracket without additional bending at the connection point). I may do some bending at the attachment point to allow a cleaner look, but they function just fine.
I kept the fender gap quite small in keeping with the clean look.

I have postponed building my Alfine rear wheel - I have decided to go with butted 20/18/20 spokes instead of straight gauge. Plus, I am really liking it as a singlespeed, and can ascend all of the hills in the downtown Calgary vicinity, which can be steep, but are quite short. I'll still proceed with the Alfine conversion for all-around utility and for use on the longer grades in the Salt Lake Valley or any extended rides I may do while in Calgary.
When I do the alfine conversion I'll replace the stock (Jagwire) white cable housings with black, as I think it would suit the look of the bike a little better.

One of the attached pics (by the river) was taken on the day I picked the bike up - no fenders or rack, so it is the "naked" shot.
I really like the look of the bike with fenders - they help fill the giant gaps . Perhaps I spent too many years riding racing bikes where the gaps between the tires and frame were minimal.

irclean

Thanks for the updated pics, canyoneagle, especially the closeup of the front fender mount. That's really going to help me when I install the fenders on my Ceres. I hear you on the cable colour, but I'm assuming it must have matched the original saddle and bar tape which were white, correct? BTW the matching Brooks saddle and bar tape look so right on this bike. You're killing me, though; now I'm lusting after a Brooks saddle for my bike and that would of course necessitate the use of these Dapper Dan Ergo grips for my flat bar and some matching Brooks tape for the accompanying bar ends.



Yup, my wife is gonna kill me and it's all your fault.

canyoneagle

mwahahahahaaaaaaaa

benda18

i'm getting belt drive envy with all the recent new-bike posts

canyoneagle

I'm sold on it so far.
I'll be sure to report any "honeymoon's over" instances or gripes, plus info on longevity, etc.

canyoneagle

Well, I finally got around to getting the Vesta converted from SS to Alfine 8.

I had built the wheel a few weeks ago, but I had to order a new chainring cog (50T instead of 55T) because I could not get the sliding dropouts quite far enough forward (like 1/4" away) to properly install the rear wheel. After doing a number of iterations on the Gates Belt Drive drivetrain calculator, the best option was the new chainring instead of a longer belt.

I also ordered a 113mm BB to achieve a proper chain line (er, belt line?).

So, it is all done.
I took the bike out for a "dial in" ride, and it performed flawlessly. The rear wheel was great (nice to know I can still build a good wheel), and the Alfine was silent and quick.
The J-Tek shifter was a joy to use. I know it sounds wierd, but it was. The bar-end is extremely solid - very well made. The shifting action is delightful, with a buttery smooth feel and a rich "click" that reminded me of the sound of a high quality camera shutter (remember those?). I am very impressed with the whole system.

The Alfine is a significant improvement in quality and in operation from the very good "non red band" Nexus on my Milano.

I love the belt drive combined with the IGH - it is a match made in heaven.

What's next? Front wheel dynamo build with a Mavic 719 to match the rear and dynamo lighting front and rear. I'll probably focus on my Marinoni project for a while now and enjoy riding the Vesta

Sixty Fiver

Beautiful work !

As for Norco... they have been around for a very long time and were once the largest bicycle company on earth and besides bikes, have a huge distribution network and supply most of our domestic market with parts.

In the 80's they did very well by importing Nishiki made frames that often said "designed by Norco" and the Norco models were re-branded Nishikis.

Their 80's and 90's mtbs are solid bikes with good parts and now they make some pretty fine mtb's and also seem to be pretty up on what modern commuters and utilitarian riders need as well.

slcbob

I don't understand why the new hub would change any of that geometry. Did you use a different size sprocket in the back? I'm glad you solved your problem, but could you amplify why you had the problem for when I run headlong into the same?

And what is that doo-dad mounted on your seat tube?

AdamDZ

The final result is very nice indeed. I also didn't like the silver fenders on your first pictures. I'd opt for flat bars with bar ends though, but that's a personal choice. I'm getting intrigued by the belt drive as well, seems like a great solution for commuting when combined with an IGH. Enjoy the ride!

Adam