Haibike Noon SL

by Paul Horta-Hopkins · 19/01/2015

I first spotted the Haibike Noon SL at the 2013 Cycle Show in Birmingham. Haibike have a huge range of bikes in their lineup, covering pretty much every sort of cycling you could want, including some amazing looking eBikes. The Noon SL is Haibike’s entry level cyclo-cross frame in a two bike line-up, the other being the Noon RX.

The 2013 NEC Cycle Show, where we first spotted Haibike, this is the Noon RX and is more race orientated than the Noon SL

The Noon SL has an Aluminium 7005 double butted frame, with a carbon fork and steerer. The fork is tapered 1 1/8″ – 1 1/4″, which is now pretty much standard in the bike industry. The frame and fork come in a business like gun metal grey with blue and grey highlights, including some neat looking graphic touches on the fork and chainstay inners – they don’t affect performance, but do look nice. Haibike have used a smooth weld finish on the Noon SL, which I much prefer to the more industrial raw bead you get on some aluminium machines.

A forward facing seat clamp to keep out the muck, mudguard fittings and some smooth welds

Drivetrain is provided by Shimano 105, one of my favourites. For the cyclist without a bottomless wallet, it does what it needs to do with no fuss, day-in day-out. The levers have a light touch and shifting is reliable and crisp, as long as you look after it.

Brakes are Shimano CX75, mechanical disc brakes with 160mm rotors front and back. This was my first experience of mechanical discs on a ‘cross bike and I was looking forward to seeing how they would perform.

Shimano’s CX75 cable operated brakes

Wheels are Rodi Stylus rims laced to XLC Evo Disc hubs with 32 DT Swiss spokes front and rear. Bars, stem, seatpost, headset and bar tape are all provided by XLC and, like the Selle San Marco ERA Dynamic saddle, are colour co-ordinated. Tyres are Schwalbe’s ever reliable Racing Ralphs.