Originally Posted by ijgrant

Norco (And It's brands, like Axiom) have terrible customer support (lack of contact information, very long waits for e-ail), and some pretty unusable products.

I had an Axiom rack, and the stays were curved in such a way that prevented any sort of pannier from mounting properly. When I lost a single pannier on a trip, and contacted them so see if I could buy a single one, they told me to visit my LBS, but all 3 shops I visited told me that Norco will not let them order just one. I even had one of the shops call Norco, and the guy flat out said "We aren't going to ship you one pannier, just sell him another set"

My front racks will not fit my bike, and I had to use different ones. Their explanation was "your bike must have an uncommon design" I own a Surly LHT.

My final issue was my Norco bicycle. I Bought a mountain bike a few years back. I paid a fair amount for it ($550+) The hubs were no-name freewheels, and My axle broke 3 times on them. It seams to me that at that price point, Using freehubs would make sense.

The real issue is that Norco dominates the distribution of parts in most shops. It's nearly impossible to find any alternative brands, at least in my city.