I’m between my final two options, the Norco Fluid A2 and A4. I wanted help in knowing if the differences are worth the extra thousand dollars. Said differences are from [99spokes.com](https://99spokes.com) see below
Thanks!
https://preview.redd.it/u546w8cg0nlc1.png?width=1622&format=png&auto=webp&s=f003b72cd5c31014711c219e6f90e079e05ee27d
by Usernameislnvalid
9 Comments
Personally yes. The spec on the a2 is really quite good for the money and gets you a nice enough bike you shouldn’t be wanting to spend money for some time. The a4 has lots of room for improvement
Very good value for that extra $1000. Going from bottom spec to a solid mid level build.
I’d say it’s worth it for the suspension upgrade alone.
Yes! You can’t buy the suspension, drivetrain, brake upgrades between the 2 for anywhere near $1000.
Soooo, I just bought a A2 in December for $1000 offf and have had it out 4 times so far. I didn’t test ride the A4, so I can’t comment on it. But the A2 is fantastic for the price, maybe one of the best dollar-to-part specs out there. No sifting problems, suspension is great… just wish I had bought it sooner.
Just be careful, Norco has released also the 2024 Fluid‘s lineup (frame hence geometry remains the same, but spec wise different) and the build kits for 2024‘s A2 apparently a downgrade (NX drivetrain for an example). If you do want A2 as spec‘d above make sure it is really the year 2023‘s lineup.
I just bought an A4 and ended up swapping all components on it for higher end components from a bike I already had. So essentially I went from an A4 build to an A1 build.
Before I did the parts swap I went on one ride with the A4 build. The suspension on the A4 build felt terrible and was incredibly noisy. The brakes and drive train were surprisingly pretty good though. After riding it in the A1 spec, it’s really good! So… I would definitely recommend getting the A2 build.
Yes.
Yes.
In the long term you might want to change some of the parts, like suspension and brakes.
Getting the better spec bike might be cheaper.