Norco has given their full-suspension Fluid FS trail bike a full refresh, updating the aluminum 120/130mm mountain bike to make it even more of a singletrack shredder. This is Norco’s go-to bike for everyday mountain bike riding, and it becomes even more capable with updated geometry, size specific wheels, and room for bigger tires to take on the most technical trails.
2019 Norco Fluid FS 120mm travel alloy mountain bike
One of Norco’s best-selling everyday mountain bikes since its original introduction sixteen years ago, how we ride trail bikes has come a long way since then. The affordable Fluid FS needed to be brought up to speed, so Norco has given it a ground-up refresh.
The new 2019 Norco Fluid FS shares the same basic Horst-link four-bar suspension design and 120mm of rear wheel travel. But even that gets updated with an improved main pivot location optimized for 1x drivetrains. Now more playful and plush than ever before, the Fluid FS also gets totally new modern trail geometry for a more balanced ride, both climbing and descending.
2019 Norco Fluid FS updated Geometry
The Fluid FS gets much of the same geometry updates we’ve seen dominate aggressive trail bike sin recent years – a longer reach and steeper seat angle for a more forward position on the bike, improving both pedalling efficiency and front end control. The new Fluid also gets a slackened head angle to 66° and longer 130mm travel forks to soak up more techy trails.
2019 Norco Fluid FS alloy mountain bike Tech Details
The affordable Fluid FS features a light, yet durable double-butted aluminum frame with size-specific tube, scaled to deliver the same stiffness and ride quality across the wide six frame size range (XS-XL). Carrying over the same size-specific wheelsize concept, the new Fluid FS uses 27.5″ wheels for the smaller XS-M bikes and 29″ wheels for the larger M-XL sizes. Paired with size-specific tubing, that let Norco’s team engineer a consistent handling & ride feel for a broad group of mountain bikers.
Not something we hear about much even though most bike makers do it to some degree, Norco specifically put together an easy to understand suspension setup guide for the new Fluid FS to help riders to set up their bike quickly and efficiently based on their weight, terrain & personal riding style.
Together with contemporary geo updates, the new bike finally gets updated to Boost spacing and thru-axles. The new Fluid FS features a tapered 1.5″ front end, a threaded 73mm BSA bottom bracket, and a 31.6mm seatpost. The new 1x-specific bike gets internal cable routing in the front triangle, including stealth dropper routing.
Norco continues to offer the Fluid FS in women-specific builds. The Women’s builds seem only to get a different saddle spec and different paint job (no pink, mostly all black instead.) And they come only in the smaller XS-M size range, while still including the size M 29er option.
2019 Norco Fluid FS alloy mountain bike Pricing, Spec & Availability
Norco says that delivering high performance bikes at reasonable prices in a core principle for the brand – and the alloy Fluid FS is a good example. With eight complete bikes at four spec levels on offer, the most affordable Fluid FS 4 & Fluid FS 4 Women’s retail for just $1650 / $2000 CAD with an SR Suntour XCR34 Air fork, X-Fusion O2 Pro R rear shock, a Shimano Deore 1×10 drivetrain with Tektro Hydraulic disc brakes, a TranzX dropper post and 2.6″ tubeless-ready Goodyear Escape tires on tubeless WTB STP i29 rims. It’s surely not the lightest trail bike in the world, but that’s a pretty solid spec at a price that can’t be beat.
The next step up Fluid FS 3 & Fluid FS 3 Women’s upgrades to RockShox suspension with a Recon RL fork & Deluxe R shock, plus a NX 1×11 drivetrain at a still affordable $2050 / $2550 CAD pricepoint with nicer 2.6″ Maxxis Forekaster tires.
The Fluid FS 2 & Fluid FS 2 Women’s again get a spec boost at $2700 / $3000 CAD, this time to a RockShox Sektor RL fork & the Deluxe R shock, the same 1×11 NX drivetrain, but an upgrade to SRAM Level T brakes.
The top-end Fluid FS 1 & Fluid FS 1 Women’s aren’t super cheap at $3050 / $3600 CAD, but they do get a nicer complete build with a NX Eagle 12 speed group, a RockShox Revelation RC fork to go with the Deluxe R shock, and an upgrade to Guide T brakes as well.
