Norco Torrent, Purple

Norco shoulda put this purple on the top of the line model.

Norco Tactic Road Bike

The new kid bike.  Not pink.  But not bad.  I'd ride it, but I don't have to.

No Norco Truax For 2014!

That's a wicked frakking shame.  The Truax was a great bike at a great price, AND the only 26" wheeled mountain bike left for Norco in 2014 is the DH bike!  That is a huge fucking mistake; bikes with bigger than 26" wheels are disasters for smaller frames and riders.  I can see this 27.5 650B mountain bike thing being a huge clusterfuck for women and kids and small dudes and shit.  Fuck. 

Excellent Norco Truax Magazine Review

Dirt Rag, last year.  Can the Norco Truax be that good?  Is it a headtube gusset away from greatness, maybe a stylized 'N' or something to connect the top and down tubes at the headtube?  If they'd asked me, I would have gone with a 73* seat angle to go along with that gusset and probably would have decided to go with the cables anywhere other than the underside of the downtube, but jesus, those are firmly in quibble territory, especially considering the Truax is 1/2 of  the price of a Canfield One or the Knolly that doesn't exist or the other similar frames.  I can't remember when the last time I bought a bike shop bike, except for the kid bike last year.  I had a Bianchi road bike and a Diamondback mountain bike, but after that it was customs and framesets and shit.  Holy Christ, it has been a while since I've gone to mass-market land, but that Norco is a wicked fucking beast.

Is The Norco Truax As Kick-Ass As It Seems?

Awful name, shared with a Koch-sucking propaganda children's "book", but 180mm of travel, coil shock, and available as a frameset.  Is it too good to be true, especially for the price?  The geometry is okay, but I'd like a slightly steeper seat angle.  Still, when compared to the alternatives--I'm talking to you non-existent made-in-Taiwan Knolly Delirium, Canfield One, and Intense Uzzi--it seems like a kick-ass frame for a nice price.  There are no dealers around here, but kinda like the Scott kid's bike last year, I can beg an indulgence and get a deal done, I think.  Could be cool.  Or I could just keep overthinking this and not get anything.  (Eventually, I'm probably gonna have to buy a bike the shop actually sells...)