A series of polynorbornenes (PNBEs) with 1,4-bis[(3'-fluoro-4'-n-alkoxyphenyl)ethynyl]benzene mesogens (n = 1-12, where n is the number of methylene units in the substituents of the mesogens) laterally attached to polymer backbones through a one-carbon spacer were previously synthesized by the ring-opening metathesis polymerization of the corresponding norbornene-based monomers. Differential scanning calorimetric results showed that the first-order transition temperatures exhibit an odd-even alternation, especially when PNBEs have lower values of n. PNBE (n = 8), similar to the previously studied PNBEs (n = 9-12), shows a smectic C (S-C) phase at room temperature (Kim, Pugh, and Cheng, Macromolecules, 33, 8983, 2000.) According to one- and two-dimensional wide-angle X-ray scattering experiments, PNBEs (n = 2-7) exhibit a nematic (N) phase with S-C fluctuations, whereas for PNBE (n = 1), only an N phase is observed.