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The Norco Search is among the best one-quiver bikes we've ridden.
The Norco Search is among the best one-quiver bikes we've ridden. (Photo: Jen Judge)

6-Month Review: Norco Search SR

This might be the finest all-around gravel bike you can buy

Published: 
The Norco Search is among the best one-quiver bikes we've ridden.
(Photo: Jen Judge)

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Well-known and loved in Canada, Norco has been quietly racking up an American audience with its refined but not-too-expensive line of bikes, including the Range and our 2014 Gear of the Year winner Sight Carbon. Now, with the excellent gravel- and adventure-oriented Search, the company continues to burnish its reputation.

The Takeaway

The Good:聽This is one quiet, compliant, steady carbon frame, and kudos to Norco for the front and rear聽thru-axles.聽Shimano聽Ultegra聽disc聽brakes continue to set the standard. Easton UST tubeless-ready wheels are the most elegant solution for quick setup and easy maintenance.

鈥婽he Bad:聽We鈥檇 rather sit on an anvil than the brutally painful saddle. We love the shape of the聽, though carbon would have been welcome instead of alloy. And how about a third water聽bottle mount?

The Verdict:聽聽is one of best one-quiver road bikes we鈥檝e tried, second only perhaps to the聽. It鈥檚 an absolute hoot on dirt, stable and totally in control on even the most rugged descents, but also snappy and quick uphill. It pinch-hits for聽cyclocross聽just fine. And with lighter wheels and slicks, it鈥檚 plenty fast enough for group road rides鈥攁lthough聽we had so much fun blasting around on gravel that we wonder why we ever ride pavement at聽all.

The Frame

(Jen Judge)

Aluminum is durable and less expensive, but carbon is the material of choice for mixed-use bikes like the Search because of the comfort that can be built into the frame. This bike is particularly cushy, with a sloping top tube, shaped tubes, and arced seat- and chainstay junctions that take the bite out of rough roads, even with those aluminum wheels.

The geometry is less aggressive than some of the competition鈥檚. There鈥檚 a shorter cockpit, longer chainstays, and that deep slope to the tube for huge stand-over鈥攖hough the steep headtube means the steering is still plenty quick. The one downfall of that sloping top tube design is less usable space in the main triangle for bags, water, and cargo鈥攄ifficult if you鈥檙e bike packing. Still, it鈥檚 all middle-of-the-road angles and configurations, which is a smart choice, as the bike manages to do everything well without leaning too far to either the racy or laid-back sides of the equation. The only other niggle: While you can fit up to a 40c tire, which is pretty good, we鈥檇 like to see clearance for even more rubber.

Detailing is top-notch, with polished internal cable routings that are angled wide at the headtube to prevent rubbing on the frame and rubber gaskets that secure the lines and keep them from rattling. Direct-mount front derailleur and post-mount front and rear brakes are also a nice touch. With so much care taken, we were surprised Norco didn鈥檛 add a third bottle mount under the down tube. That capacity is de rigueur for events like the Dirty Kanza, and too many manufacturers neglect this easy detail.

The Build

(Jen Judge)

Norco does a nice job picking top specs without unnecessarily inflating the price. I鈥檝e written plenty about Shimano Ultegra components, so I won鈥檛 dwell on that here except to say that after eight months of pretty hard riding, I didn鈥檛 need so much as a barrel adjustment on the drivetrain. Disc brakes on a bike like this are a must (and frankly should be standard on all bikes), and for modulation and power, Shimano BR-RS785s are still the best.

The , which are actually a 29er mountain model, aren鈥檛 the sexiest hoops, but we absolutely loved them. They鈥檙e the simplest tubeless system around, with a totally sealed rim bed, so there鈥檚 no messing with tape. I set up four different tire models without even a hiccup. And at sub-1,600 grams for the set, they have an excellent weight-to-value ratio. The included Clement X鈥橮lor tires were fine, but I prefer more volume and switched immediately to .

We loved the shallow drop and shape of the Ritchey WCS Evo Curve bars, but on dirt we generally prefer carbon for the vibration damping. Obviously the choice was price driven, and we appreciate that.

The only outright miss in the entire spec: the . Yes, this is a personal preference, and yes, this saddle probably fits someone, but we didn鈥檛 find that person out of 20-odd testers. One poor guy likened it to 鈥渁 historic relic from the Spanish Inquisition.鈥

The Ride

(Jen Judge)

After riding a three-hour dirt road loop on the Search, one tester said it was the most fun she鈥檚 had on a road bike in a dozen years. That鈥檚 because this bike has the handling and relative comfort of a rigid mountain bike聽but still feels poppy and light like a roadie. In fact, she rode the loop 20 minutes faster on the Search than she did on her full-suspension mountain bike.

The Search also descended surprisingly well. On a 1,500-foot, high-altitude聽dirt road screamer that鈥檚 beaten me up on plenty of cross bikes in the past, I felt fast, comfortable, and locked in. Credit the carbon frame and fork, which silence bumps and ruts, as well as those shallow-drop handlebars that let you tuck and muscle the bike through the rough.

To be fair, the Search is not as crisp or responsive as a road bike, in part because it weighs 19 pounds, and the handling is slower than a cross bike. But for adventure riding where you鈥檙e churning up long climbs and careening down the other side, the easier-going sensibility is welcome.

Fit/Sizing

(Jen Judge)

Like the geometry, sizing on the Search is middle-of-the-road and should fit pretty much anyone except outliers. Those from a road background may prefer a slightly longer stem: We switched from 100 millimeters to 120 millimeters (size 55.5) and flopped it to a negative rise for a more aggressive road feel. For others, everything felt good out of the box.

The Competition

(Jen Judge)

The adventure road market is only a few years old, but it鈥檚 already clogged with excellent options. Last year鈥檚 Specialized Diverge is arguably the highest-performance iteration money can buy, but at $8,500 (for the S-Works model,聽discontinued for 2016), it鈥檚 probably out of the question for most people, especially those after a second or third bike. Our 2015 Gear of the Year聽winner聽GT Grade is more in line price-wise than the Spez聽and definitely worth a look, but it leans more toward the pavement side of things. And of course there鈥檚 the top-notch , which keeps up well with the Search for almost half the price聽but isn鈥檛 quite as forgiving.

Probably the most comparable bike on the market is the , which got an upgrade to carbon last year and in some ways has to be considered the benchmark in gravel bikes. It鈥檚 a little more race-oriented than the Search and聽has bigger tire clearance聽and triple-bottle capacity, so it鈥檚 worth a look if endurance stuff is your thing. Otherwise, there isn鈥檛 much of a difference between the two bikes鈥攁nd the Search XR wins out when it comes to aesthetics.

Before You Buy

(Jen Judge)

If we had to pick a single gravel bike as our favorite from 2015, the Search XR would be on the short list. It鈥檚 fun as hell to ride and a solid value at $3,700. And Norco offers a second, even more economical model with the same frame and Shimano 105 components for just $2,250.

Worth noting: Norco has unveiled the 2016 Search range with no changes to the frame, which underscores just how good it was in the first place. The biggest switch on the top-level model, now called the Search Ultegra, is to . While I鈥檝e yet to try those hoops, on the face of it they seem like a downgrade relative to the EA70s given the additional weight, narrower internal profile, and taping necessary for tubeless. So it could be a good time to look for closeouts on the 2015 edition. On the other hand, the top聽spec drops in price next year to $3,450, and you can never complain about paying less.

Lead Photo: Jen Judge

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