Norco says that the new Threshold has a shorter top tube and reduced chainstay length, leading to better manoeuvrability on tight, technical cyclocross courses. It’s also followed the trend to increased fork rake and a slight decrease in head tube angle, which it says leads to more predictable handling, particularly in deep mud.
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Norco has lowered the bottom bracket for increased stability, while the seat tube angle has increased, positioning the rider more over the bottom bracket for sharper acceleration. It says that the sum of these changes is a nimble ride, but with the stability to inspire confidence in difficult conditions.
Top of the Threshold tree is this single ring model with SRAM Red eTap and a Quarq chainset
Norco has also beefed up the Threshold’s tyre clearance, allowing the use of wider tyres – or the accumulation of lots of mud. It includes hidden mounts for mudguards too, if you want to use the Threshold as a ruggedized all-weather machine.
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The new Threshold incorporates Norco’s ARC Race tech. Found on Norco’s road race bikes, this is designed to reduce rider fatigue and increase the predictability of handling.
Other features of the frameset include oversized head tube, bottom bracket and chainstays for lateral stiffness and maximised power transfer. The frame tubing lay-up is also different between sizes, for consistent ride characteristics across the size range.
The new frameset uses the 12mm thru-axles front and rear and flat mount disc brakes that are pretty much the standard on cyclocross and road disc brake bikes now.
The Threshold range includes builds with SRAM Force 1, Rival 1 and Apex 1 as well as a single ring eTap variant. There are also double ring 105 and Tiagra versions and a singlespeed option, although UK importer Evans Cycles may not sell the whole range in the UK.
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Paul started writing for Cycling Weekly in 2015, covering cycling tech, new bikes and product testing. Since then, he’s reviewed hundreds of bikes and thousands of other pieces of cycling equipment for the magazine and the Cycling Weekly website.
He’s been cycling for a lot longer than that though and his travels by bike have taken him all around Europe and to California. He’s been riding gravel since before gravel bikes existed too, riding a cyclocross bike through the Chilterns and along the South Downs.
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