May I have some opinions on Norco Hybrids?
 

Hello everybody!
I'm new to the forums.

I am thinking of getting into biking and have been spending a few days looking through posts on this forum.

I am planning to use a bike to mostly commute and do some light trailing, so I guess I should be getting a hybrid.

I am planning to buy a Norco Xfr 3 from a nearby bike shop
http://norco.com/bikes/urban/xfr/xfr-three/
I have read that Norco makes great mountain bikes, but I am not sure about their hybrids.

I do not know much about bikes, so I am hoping to get some opinions on it before I actually spend 600 on the bike.

Any help is appreciated! :lol:

I'm surprised no one has answered. The Norco riders are pretty proud of their bikes, and Norco has a very good reputation.

Their isn't much difference between bike brands when it comes to components.
Most components come from a few sources only, namely: Shimano, SRAM, Suntour, FSA
The "brand" of a bike is basicly just the paint on the frame, that is most of the time not even made by the brand but simply imported from taiwan.
Norco is known for relatively good prices, but this bike you link to is a bit expensive because it has discbrakes.
You could easily get a cheaper bike if you opt for V-brakes, which are just as good except for extremely muddy and wet conditions.

A co-worker of mine recently bought a XFR. Not sure which #. It looks like a good bike. SRAM stuff. I think like any other bike brands, Norco gets most of its frames from asia and slaps parts on it depending on profit margin err.... I meant price point. Norco is like the Trek of Canada. Very common and very bla. And I own a Norco mtb. hahaha....

Personally I would go with Kona, Marin or Devinci for hybrids.

Here's a nice, unbiased review of a Norco hybrid: http://www.bicycletimesmag.com/content/norco-vfr-disc-4. It's nice because it's an American publication reviewing a Canadian bike (regardless of where the frame is manufactured). The VFR they're reviewing is similar to the XFR that you're considering, minus the suspension fork. BTW are you planning to take the bike off-road? If not, I would suggest the VFR or Norco's Indie line instead.

I just bought a 2010 Norco Ceres: http://www.norco.com/bikes/urban/belt-drive/ceres/. I have only one gripe about the bike (besides the price) - they should have mounted the rear caliper on the chainstay instead of the seatstay. Looks like they figured this out for the XFR 2 but your 3 still has it on the seatstays; it just makes fender/rack mounting a PITA.

Thank you for your inputs you guys. Its really helping me.

I am going to use the bike to mostly commute to my job and to ride around, but I do live by a natural park, which I plan to do some trailing.
So I guess I will be doing some mild off road?

My college grants don't come in for another few weeks, so I will still be looking around for other bikes.

The XFR does have a lock-out fork, which means you can make it act like a rigid fork for street riding, but still have suspension for trail riding. On paper it looks like a nice bike but do yourself a favour and test ride as many bikes as you can. Don't limit yourself to Norco... or any other brand for that matter. Don't get me wrong - I love my Norco, but I did a lot of comparison shopping before pulling the trigger.

I guess I should update on the status for the bike.

So after a month of looking at different hybrid bikes and brands (giant, globe, specialized, kona, ect.) all in the 400-700's range, I finially decided to buy the Norco XFR, while my friend got the Norco VFR Forma. The 100$ discount off each bike from the package deal was not a bad offer either.

I have owned the bike for nearly two weeks now ...and I love it!
I have been riding the bike nearly everyday and for 30-40 miles each time.

The VFR and the XFR do indeed, seem to be very similar other than the fact that the VFR is loads lighter than the XFR and that the XFR has the lock-out feature and disk breaks. I have tried doing some off-road with my XFR. The XFR seems to do pretty well on dirt roads, however riding on rocky terrain was a nightmare. Something I will never do again, but I guess that is something I have to endure for buying a hybrid. It is still wonderful nevertheless.

I was hoping to do some more biking, unfortunately, my back tire got punctured while I was riding home on the bike lane the other night (my city's bike lanes tend to have a lot of glass, sharp objects, and whatnot on them). Hopefully, I will get the chance to repair it soon and go biking again.

Thank you all who helped me on my decision!

Congrats on the new bike! Now post some pics. :D

I have a Norco Mountaineer"mountain bike" and a Giant Rapid 1"road bike". The Norco Mountaineer is awesome. I paid $400 canadian for it, but the comfort of it feels like a $2000 bike. The Xfr is a better bike than the Norco mountaineer. It has skinnier tires than my Mountaineer but is still great for trails, has better parts and so on. The Xfr kicks ass. Plus it looks fantastic. I have the Giant for road purposes but for bombing around streets and trails I use my Norco.