Pinkbike’s Value Bike of the Year
The 2023 Norco Fluid FS1. Named Pinkbike’s Value Bike of the Year, Vital MTB’s Bike of the Year, and most recently, Bicycling Magazine’s Best Value Trail Bike.
I was looking to upgrade from my 2008 Kona Coil-Air and managed to nail down that this “new” Trail bike category where where I would be spending my money.
I spent a lot of my winter months reading reviews, watching videos and comparing specs off all kinds.
This was going to be my first expensive bike and I wanted to get the best bang for my buck and make sure this one lasted me as long as the Kona did.
I have been riding it for a few months now and compiled a short term review.
If you are thinking of hopping on a new bike soon you definitely should take one for a test drive.
Spec breakdown
I could post a long list of specs but instead here are the highlights;
- 140mm in the front with a Fox FLOAT Factory 34 GRIP2
- 130mm in the rear with Fox FLOAT X Performance Elite, 2-pos, Custom Tune
- 6061 Alloy frame UDH, Hangerless Interface Compatible, Ride Aligned
- 170mm 34.9mm SDG Tellis Dropper on my Large size frame
- Shimano XT drivetrain
- TRP Trail EVO, 4 Piston, Organic Pads with a 203mm rotor up front and a 180mm in the rear
- Wheels are Stan’s Flow S1 29″ 32H with a Vittoria Mazza 2.4″ Trail G2.0 in the front and a Vittoria Martello 2.35″ Trail G2.0 in the rear
For a detailed breakdown Norco’s site is the way to go. There you can find all the geo numbers you may crave to do a comparison to any other bikes you may be looking at.
This thing is very well equipped for the price of $4,999 CAD. It compares to other models at twice the price in ride quality.
What do I think
Setup
Setup was a breeze with Norco’s Ride Aligned system. Simply input your height, weight and riding style. Norco will hook you up with everything from recommended tire and shock pressure to handlebar width and stack height.
Being a fairly average sized guy I didn’t have to make to many adjustments from stock. Of course these are recommended numbers and personal preference will come in to play a lot here once you get out and ride the bike.
Ride Quality
This thing is a beast. With the long slack geometry this thing can take anything I throw at it and still climbs like a champ.
Climbing
I took it on its first real ride this spring around the Hinton Bike Park and Bighorn Trail Network and started with a nice long climb up Stairway to Heaven. While the rear shock does have a climb switch I didn’t feel the need to bother. This thing climbs like a spider monkey. As long as my legs could push the pedals up it would go.
Descending
Once we hit the top of the flow trail Blowdown Flowdown I was ready to send this thing down and see how it could handle the fun parts.
This thing shreds!
I am in no way a high level rider (experienced blue is where I would put myself) but through the flow trail I found myself going faster then I ever thought I could. This thing almost jumps itself into the air. The settings provided by Norco’s ride align felt great and I was setting new PRs for trail times all over the place on this trip.
On a later trip I was taking this thing on through chunky technical descents I would have never rode on my old bike.
It is hard to believe after the way the bike climbed that it could descend so well. It ate up the small hits and gobbled up the big ones. This bike is awesome!
Park stuff
I have never felt that comfortable hitting features and jumps but this bike fixed that right away.
The first time I rode down Flow Master, Hinton’s machine built flow trail, I was shocked at how easy this thing could get in the air. I was suddenly clearing things that typically in the past I would just pump and roll.
This bike is an instant confidence booster for me. I will be hitting more jumps and drops as the riding season goes on and ensure I share my feedback with a future long term review.
Comparable Bikes
I put this thing side by side with a few models during my search. A couple of these models offered things like carbon frames and “better” spec brakes. Even with that the Norco Fluid FS1 just felt more nimble and more suited to my local trails and riding style. To narrow down your comparison shopping here are the models I stacked this up against
All three of these bikes are awesome in their own way. I found them to feel a bit less nimble and more bulky than the Fluid on my test rides. I’m sure I would have been happy with any of these models but I am loving the Fluid I chose.
Summary
If you are looking to get into one bike that can do it all and not leave you broke I feel the Norco Fluid FS1 is a great choice. The spec is solid, setup is a breeze and ride quality stacks up to models triple the price.
There is a reason this thing won so many awards
I will be heading to Sun Peaks later this year and will give this thing a true test in the bike park.
Make sure you check out my other posts and subscribe to my newsletter to ensure you don’t miss the long term review I will put out at the end of the riding season.
Long Term Review – One Year Update
Overall the bike itself has been great. I got the opportunity to test it out at Sunpeaks Bike Park and do some riding during Valemount’s Fall Bike fest. The bike performed well on everything my skills could throw at it. This mainly included blue flow trails with a sprinkle of black thrown in where I was comfortable.
Nothing in life is perfect however and I do have to knock some points off my review based on a couple of items.
The paint on this bike isn’t great. Specifically the decals. I actually had them chipping off in the first few months. Norco was solid and swapped the frame out on warranty so kudos to them for standing behind their product.
However even the new frame seemed to be missing a level of clear coat. Almost feels like you can peel the decals right off in the bike shop. I have checked out the 2024 model in store and they moved away from these foil decals and the paint seems much better.
My solution for frame #2 was a ride wrap but it was some extra money I didn’t really enjoy forking out.
Next is the TRP brakes. The bike comes with TRP Trail EVO, 4 Piston and Between the noise, and leaks these things have been in and out of the shop multiple times on warranty. My local bike shop has been taking care of me and the warranty process there but not ideal. The brakes do work great when they work but it has really soured me on TRP products moving forward.
I will get the bike back soon here after they fix my leaky lever and continue to update this post if anything else changes pops up during my ownership.
*** Brake update **** The TRP were hung in warranty for about 3 weeks. I found a nice set of used SRAM Code R, made the swap and so far they have been great. While some people may have luck with TRP I did not and will stay away from that brand in the future.
