Done a lot of searching. 90% of riding will be Houston trails. I enjoy the technical bits as much as the flowy jumps and drops. Will do a few (less than 10) bike park trips a year but I want it to still be capable. I am 240lb
I have a longer travel fork I'll be putting on either of these (150mm fox36 factory)
Current bike is a 2024 Trek Roscoe 9 size m/l (I want size L 480mm reach for the FS)
Ari's customer service has been fantastic when I have contacted them. Same with DVO when I asked about their suspension when I saw it on the Ari.
I want to sit a little more upright and feel part of the bike. Don't want super hunched over. Ari has lower stack which can be offset with higher rise bars.
Rode a 2023 sight carbon and it felt nice but was put off by the leverage. Shop had tough time dialing in the suspension for me to even test ride. Rode a Polygon T8 and the steering felt twitchy for some reason.
Norco would get switched to Shimano slx
Pretty torn on which way to go. I feel like Norco will be suggested purely for tribal mentality reasons but let's see!
Thanks guys!
by FoxTwoX
11 Comments
I’m a big Ari fan. I’ve had 3 of their bikes and they are amazing. Best value you can get IMO.
Ari makes great bikes, can’t go wrong.
Dont buy a bike to just rip all the drivetrain off and replace it with something else..
Id go with the Ari.
people who say the ari have not read the post and juste looked at the pictures.. norco makes more sense
I personally would get the Norco because it looks cooler, not much of a fan of horizontal single pivots like the ari. The Norco is a few hundred cheaper as well so i would go with the Norco, but both bikes are good trail bikes that will serve you well 🤟
Norco
Get the red one
My $0.02 as someone who worked in a shop and currently owns a Norco Optic. I’d agree with your statement about the shock being hard to setup, a lot of my other fs bikes were set and forget and it took me a long time to get dialed in on the optic. I love the bike, but I’m going to go Ari here. For one the SX is complete dog shit, I get that you’re swapping it for slx but that’s more money on top of the purchase. My main reason is that you’re upping the fork travel. That’s going to increase the stack (slightly) and slacken the seat angle. I’ve never increased mine but I’ve heard from a few other Optic owners that increased fork travel had a negative effect on handling, could be an issue on the Fluid but I have no idea, I’d suggest a forum search for that. The one thing I will say, I’ve beat my Optic pretty bad all over the east coast including Pisgah where I cracked my last Giant and it’s held up really well, I’m 215 lbs. I have no personal experience owning an Ari but a couple of heavier set guys had Fezzaris that came to my shop and I never heard them have any issues
The norco is far better suited to your needs by the sound of it. The new fluids are a great bike with modern geo, and they ride well above their class in capability. If you like tech stuff, then the fluid is definitely the go. Id pick it any day of the week.
I had a fluid, absolutely loved it. It was a bit more aggressive than I needed, but a great bike
Whichever one you end up getting, pick up a coil shock to swap in for park days.