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Words and Photos by Lee Lau
My earlier look at the Norco based on a very initial impression is posted on NSMB as a Gear Shot article. Further discussion on the review is on the NSMB bulletin boards .
I've now had a few rides on the Norco Fluid One. So far, I've ridden it in what I would term the cross-country mode. As recounted in my initial impressions of the Fluid One, the bike's geometry can be tuned from a relatively slack "freeride" geometry to a more traditional angled "cross-country" geometry.
I've been riding the Fluid One on typical 'Shore rooty, slippery aggressive cross-country trails, in toonie races, in the first North Shore Ripper of 2006 as a solo rider up and down 7th Secret and on technical Whistler trails. On all these occasions I have left travel adjustments at the minimum front and rear (i.e. 5"/130mm and 4.2"/110mm respectively).
Comfortably Numb, Whistler BC || Photo ~ Pat Mulrooney
I've then ridden the Fluid One with the "freeride" setup on trails on Fromme and Seymour, replacing the stock light wheelset with a budget heavier duty wheelset and adjusting the front and rear travel to maximum ((i.e. 6 "/150mm and 5.3"/135mm respectively).
You should know some of my background for this ongoing review of the Norco Fluid. I've raced cross-country, been riding Shore trails since the days of rigid bikes and cantilever brakes and have ridden more then my fair share of "free-ride" and "downhill" bikes. However, I've always regarded those who ride only downhill with barely disguised amusement, almost always preferring to pedal my way uphill. Now that I have my biases out of the way, on to the review.
Frame
When
I first saw the bike, it struck me that there wasn't a lot of standover on the
frame. I am a 32" inseam and the top-tube standover height is 31.5".
I can safely say that the lack of standover doesn't present problems in less
technical trails where at no time did I feel like I would have inadvertent contact
with the top tube. The same can't be said for more technical trails and skinnies
in particular where the lack of standover does cause issues particularly in
getting started.
The Fluid One's bottom bracket height is fairly high relative to standard x-c geometry. This is a sensible design; I still haven't stuffed the BB or big ring into rocks or trees on XC trails. The high BB doesn't appear to adversely affect bike-handling.
It seems a curious choice to put a non-quick release seatpost collar on any bike that is meant to be ridden aggressively. One of the first things I did when I got the bike was to put a quick-release collar on it. Later when riding the Fluid One on more technical aggressive trails I found out that even a low-profile QR will hit the rear linkage if you use up all your rear travel. This means you can't use a QR and you have to stick to the allen key seat clamp. Apparently this issue has been rectified in next year's frame.
Front End
 The Fluid series all feature a hydraformed downtube. || Photo: Lee |
The Marzocchi All-Mountain SL fork at maximum travel of approximately 6" makes the front-end of the bike awfully slack (69.0°) for technical climbing. This highly tuneable front fork has 4 air springs - letting you adjust travel height via a negative air spring; fork resistance (positive air spring), compression and rebound. Frankly the manual and web-site are not very good (overly complicated, suggested stock settings that don't appear to make sense, confusing layout) so I would highly recommend either playing with settings or asking your friendly bike retailer to tune the front shock to your liking. |
Unlike Fox's Talas or Manitou's Minute series there is no on-the-fly travel-height adjustment on the All-Mountain SL. Instead travel is adjusted by way of the negative spring. The good news is that once adjusted to minimum travel of approximately 5", the front-end of the bike is noticeably more x-c/climbing (70.5°) friendly. So far, the fork is hassle-free. The fork has noticeable stiction in the first few rides but has broken in nicely. I have to say that this is the nicest feeling Marzocchi air shock I have ridden from the performance point of view. My settings are for a 165 pound rider and are 180 psi in the negative springs, 35 psi in both positive springs and 25 psi in the compression spring.
Rear End
The bike's geometry does not change between either rear-travel adjustment; a very nice touch. The seat tube's climbing angles are xc-friendly. I have always felt that a hallmark of a well-designed component is that it does its job so well that you don't notice it. In that regard, Fox's RP3 rear shock is amazing, both uphill and downhill. |
 ...the bike's geometry does not change between either rear-travel adjustment... || Photo: Lee |
Miscellanous
In general
the components work well; for example, the wheels are solid and so far have
remained true.. SRAM gearshifting is crisp and precise, quite a revelation for
me since I've been a long-time Shimano user. Some minor quibbles are listed
below:
- The Selle seat is hard and might not be to everyone's liking. Since I am a fan of hard seats this was not a problem for me.
- I'm personally not a fan of Hayes brakes. I don't like their feel - in my opinion they lack modulation. Having said that, they work well and are reliable, solid brakes.
- The rings on the FSA Cranksets are held on by non-standard Torx bolts. Not a good idea if you're on a long multi-day ride, and you have to service your rings. I replaced those bolts with standard allen head bolts. If you care about this sort of thing, the anodizing on the cranks is very easily worn away by bike shoes.
- The low-profile Hutchison tread are not confidence-inspiring. The tires are fine in dry conditions but not a performer in wet greasy conditions - having a tendency to break loose rather easily. Tires are very much an individual choice so I wasn't overly surprised that the Hutchisons weren't to my liking. I'll be swapping out and testing the bike with IRC Mythos's 2.1's.
- There is nothing wrong with the grips but it would be nice to see lock-on grips spec'ed on such a nice bike.
- Perhaps I'm simply used to Shimano but the Egg Beater Candy pedals were a disappointment (Note: I followed installation instructions, trimmed shoe tread and even installed a shim on the cleat). The pedal mechanism doesn't rotate freely within the body making clipping in a pain. There is no release tension mechanism so when you do finally get clipped in don't expect that happy situation to last for long. The cage isn't big enough for the shoe to grip if you're not clipped in and seems to interfere with the rotation of the pedal mechanism itself. For pure XC applications, the cage adds weight while not adding utility. Some products are compromises to try to deliver the best of both worlds, in my opinion the Eggbeater Candy appears to deliver the worst of both worlds.
Performance: Cross-Country
From my comments on the bike's components, you
might think that I didn't like it. Since I'm extraordinarily picky and biased
about components please don't take it that way; instead take it as an opportunity
to give colour to the rest of my review. As a matter of fact, I really enjoy
riding the Fluid, both up and downhill.
Where the bike seemed to really shine was on rooty, technical flattish sections of trail with multiple up and downs. It eats up that terrain letting you drive hard through tough sections. Once dialed, the suspension, the frame and the components mesh into a beautiful package of energy-directing aluminium fury. I rode a medium frame with the stock stem. Those who like to be stretched out might find the top tube a tad short but I'm sure changing the stem around for a longer one would help that.
Comfortably Numb, Whistler BC || Photo ~ Pat Mulrooney
The Fluid One is a well-mannered climber. It's not super-light but then, as an all-mountain bike, it's not sold as such. It's an adequate fire-road climber and superior when climbing technical rooty trails. Perhaps that can be attributed to the frame design; perhaps to the rear shock also - the back end of the bike seemed to hook up on loose dirt and roots exceptionally well. I could torque away grinding up a rooty section and the rear tread would hook up.
The bike suffered on greasy downhills with the OEM Hutchison tread. Premature releases from the stock Crank Bros. pedals and the difficulty of getting back into them did not help this rider's confidence. Changing pedals to the more familiar Shimanos' and changing tires to a more aggressive pattern transformed the bike in that regard. The height of the bottom bracket doesn't seem to adversely affect the bike in cornering. Where it really helps is in clearance. I didn't stuff the big ring or hit my pedals on downstrokes where I might have expected to have done so on another bike.
On a dry toonie race course and several laps of the flat rootiness of Seymour's lower trails, the bike came to life. Its got a tight flickable feel to it; probably attributable to the relative lightness of the Fluid One. It accelerates out of corners and the front end feels incredibly solid even pushed through rooty babyheaded downhills. It's a confidence - inspiring descender and handles tight technical trails well. When Norco first brought out the Fluid line, it had slack freeride angles; great for getting back on the steeps, for bombing straight down the mountain or for high speed. With the Fluid One, I feel like I'm back on an old-school bike, a bike that can handle twisty, narrow singletrack, that can be flicked around from switchback to tight turn to grinding uphill. A bike that can react quickly to changing terrain. I like it!
Performance: Freeride
My thoughts are that the Norco has the potential to be a one-bike-does-it-all
for the rider on a budget. This type of bike should be rideable for multi-day
epics, able to take the abuse of more aggressive trails while stopping short
of all-out hucking. This hypothetical rider might want to broaden the sweet
spot of the Norco Fluid One by buying a heavier duty wheelset for more technical
trails, keeping the light Mavic Crossrides for xc outings.
Comfortably Numb, Whistler BC || Photo ~ Pat Mulrooney
I stuck a set of Sun Rhyno Lites on Formula Hubs with older 2.5 Maxxis tires on the Fluid (a budget set of freeride-ish wheels if you've ever seen one) and increased front and rear travel to the maximum. Then I rode the bike on some trails on Fromme and Seymour.
With the slacker angles and meatier tread, the Fluid handles technical steep, rooty trails and drops a lot better. Clearly changing geometry and tires helps a lot, but that could be true of any bike. I rode the Fluid pretty hard, perhaps less gently then most people who actually owned the bike would treat it. But then, I felt it would be a worthless review if I couldn't attempt to find the upper boundary of the "all-mountain" definition.
In terms of fast trails, the Fluid is very good in moderate speeds and shines in slow speed. Hauling down faster trails gets rather "exciting"; the multiple big hits simply overwhelm the suspension and the bike isn't quite slack enough for all-out, pin-it, speeds. At slower to moderate speeds, the bike responds telepathically; as in the xc-mode described above, where the Fluid really shines is in bike-handling.
In terms of jumps and air, at my weight of 165lbs, you can safely sail off 4 to 5 foot jumps without overwhelming the bike. (Note: If you have a quick release, the QR will hit the linkage before you bottom out the shock). The Fluid suffers in multiple drops or smallish stutter jumps; the Fox RP3 is a good rear shock but it is, after all, an XC shock and not designed for bigger, frequent hits. Even with the heavier wheelset, the bike is light so it is easy to control and move around in the air.
The Fluid does remarkably well in steep trails; only the steepest trails will give you pause. Curiously I didn't find that changing the front fork's height (and consequently the head-tube angles) particularly affected handling in steeps. That may be a reflection of the stiffness of the Marzocchi All-Mountain and the front-end of the bike.
Lee finishes off a North Shore Ripper with a grin. || Photo ~ Cam McRae
Climbing isn't a chore with the Norco even with a heavier wheelset and slacker angles. There is a lockout feature on the front and rear shocks so it's entirely possible to grind out fire road climbs. That said, there is room for improvement. Sorely missed is a height-adjustment on the All-Mountain SL. I would personally spring for the upgrade to an adjust-on-the-fly front shock just to bring the bike's tall head angles down.
Conclusion for now (Long Term review to follow...)
The Fluid One is an able cross-country machine.
You won't be tearing up the world cup circuit with it but if you can't climb
and descend well on this bike, well then - it may not be the bike's fault.
In "freeride" mode (ie. with travel set to full and a heavier wheelset) you may not set a course record on the Garbonzo downhill but the useable range of the Fluid One is very large.
Personally, I feel that the Fluid is biased a bit more to cross-country then to downhill. Riders who wish to bias the bike more to downhill could potentially make a few more component changes.
The Norco Fluid One is available from Norco retailers at a price of $ 3369 Canadian.
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Rating Guide: |
Detailed Specifications for the Fluid One
Fluid 1 Specs
Fluid 1 Geometry
Source for specs & geometry: norco.com
