Norco Fluid Two - 2009 Review by Lee Lau and Sharon Bader

Overview

One of Canada’s biggest bike companies (and also a major distributor of parts and accessories), Norco is surprisingly not as well known south of the border as other celebrated Canadian bicycling brands. Formerly a company more focused on the recreational and family markets, Norco entered the world of high end bikes over the last decade by capitalizing on lots of local knowledge, smart targeted research & development, an understanding, generous and patient warranty department (dude I was just riding along!) and consistently superior customer service. However, even till a few years ago, Norco mountain-bikes were either known more for pure xc racing (mainly for East-Coasters) or for tough heavy, downhill and free-ride tanks (for West Coast hippies).

The introduction of the Fluid all-mountain lineup of bikes went a long way to changing this perception. In 2006, Norco re-designed the Fluid line by mating traditional front triangle s with four-bar Horst-link Specialized-licensed rear ends, refined frame details and used its buying power as a distributor to spec a bike that rode uphill and downhill exceptionally well yet was still reasonably priced. Now in its fourth generation with essentially the same design, the Fluid line is Norco’s bread and butter bike in the all-mountain category.

Summary

Norco has achieved the holy grail of a mature design that lives up to marketing expectations ie a one-bike-does-it-all for a rider on a budget. The Fluid Two is very versatile and is at home in an exceptionally wide variety of trails and situations. It can be ridden in cross-country trails or multi-day epics yet can also handle more aggressive technical trails (short of massive airs, or dirt-jumping). Although Norco markets the Fluid lineup as more biased to XC trails, this bike can be more appropriately described as a competent downhiller that also happens to climb very well. Simply adding a heavy duty wheelset or a heavier set of DH-casing tires would expand the Fluid Two’s range significantly .

Drive-side profile of the Norco Fluid Two

Lee Lau’s biases

I am 155 lbs and 5′ 11″ and have had over 15 years experience riding bikes in North Vancouver, Squamish, Whistler, the Chilcotins and many other areas in B.C. and Alberta. I’ve also made many bike trips to Utah, Washington, Oregon, California and Ontario (for example) so I’ve had some experience biking in a variety of terrain. My bias is towards pedalling up and unlike many people who learned to ride bikes on North Shore trails, I actually enjoy riding (and sometimes bushwhacking) uphill.

Lee on the Fluid Two riding PHD, Pemberton, B.C.

Introduction

As Whistler is one of the premier mountain-biking destinations on the planet, it’s no surprise that there’s lot of information about rides and the trails available both on-line and in print.

However, there are no current comprehensive guidebooks for Whistler; the last effort was compiled circa 1997 (by Rob Cocquyt and Dave Kelly, “Squamish-Whistler Mountain Bike Guide) is difficult to find and not current. As one can discern from the many questions in online bike forums, the need for a comprehensive guide is evident. “Whistler Mountain Biking” by Brian Finestone and Kevin Hodder, a new guidebook on the topic, is current, comprehensive and fills this information gap.

Available from the Knee Deep Productions (Whistler Guidebooks) site or from your favourite book store the guidebook is priced at $ 22.95 if ordered directly.

Cheap Thrills on the West Side ~ rider Lee Lau

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Commencal Canada are extremely proud to announce their factory race team for 2008. Commencal is dedicated to giving athletes all the tools they need to make it to the top level of mountain bike racing across Canada.

“Our season couldn’t have been better, we had Matt Zdriluk secure the Junior Expert podium at both O-Cup and C-cup races. Plus our new elite riders were pushing some of the veteran elite racers of their usual podium spots!” Said Peter Appleton. Not only did the team succeed on the race course but they gave back to the cycling community by implementing a FREE race day skills clinic for new and old DH racers. Over 60 riders attended and all of them left with some new skills and a couple tricks to take a second or two off their times!

2008 Team Members:

Josh De Cloet - Elite DH – 5^th O-Cup DH #5
Brian Serneels – Elite DH – 2^nd O-Cup DH #4
Tom Grzesik - Senior Expert DH – Top Ten National Champs
Peter Appleton - Veteran Expert DH/4X/XC/Road – 1^st O-Cup 4X #1
Paul Meiklejohn - Veteran Expert DH – 2^nd O-Cup DH #5
John Summach - Veteran Expert DH/4X – 1^st O-Cup DH #4

Robert Bailey – Junior Expert DH - Cadet Ex Provincial Champ
Sam Gazeille – Junior Expert XC – Quebec Provincial Team

Tyler Rowlands – Junior Expert – 1^st O-Cup DH #4

2008 Team Sponsors:

Commencal, Hutchinson Tires, Sombrio Clothing, Impac Gloves, KMI, Lake Shoes, Fizik Saddles, SRAM, Kempter Marketing Inc

Events the Team will be competing in:
The Commencal Canada Team will continue attending Canada Cups, Ontario Cups, US Open and Crankworx as its major events for 2008, come by the tents and say hello!

source: Peter Appleton