Originally Posted by lhbernhardt

If there are two pump pegs mounted underneath the top tube, can you just cut off the back peg? This would allow you to use a slightly longer pump, with the front end in the remaining peg and the back pushed against the seat lug. This might give you a wider choice of pumps.

I have always disliked Norco, and the stories here corroborate my dislike. When I was temporarily unemployed, I worked at a bike shop for a few months and got a close look at various products. I thought the Axiom stuff was quite cheaply made, especially the gloves. The gloves sold by MEC or by REI in Seattle at the same price point or less are so much better constructed. I feel that Norco is foremost a marketing company that happens to sell bicycles. They could sell anything else and I'm sure it would make no difference to them; they just happened to choose bicycles. They seem to lack passion or understanding of cycling. You look at most European bike makers, and they were started up by former professinal racing cyclists. Where are the former racers at Norco? I don't think it's a company made up of cyclists. They've had it too easy in the rather uncompetitive Canadian bicycle market, protected for years by high tariff barriers and dominated by a handful of Quebec companies and Norco. Back in the late 70's, when Italian bikes were becoming popular, the Norco execs got together and brainstormed and came up with a road bike called the "Fiori." (Flowers in Italian.) Needless to say, it was made nowhere near Italy.

When I first started racing in BC back in the early 70's, Norco had a "racing team." It was dominated by old farts from "the Old Country," and they were a very arrogant bunch, typical Englishmen in "the colonies," which was still their relationship with Canada at that time. I'm glad things have changed a lot since then. They were a pretty lousy team anyway. Anyway, I have never bought a Norco bike and never will.

- Luis