10/3/06 Nicolai Fleet

Our Nicolai fleet is growing rapidly; we already have in stock the Helius CC and Helius FR frames, along with full builds of the Nucleon TFR G-Boxx, Argon FR and Helius CC. 

We thought now that we have all these bikes in the shop we should do a short overall review as most people will never have ridden a Nicolai. If you have any more questions or comments about these bikes please contact the shop and we will happily discuss them with you.

Argon FR: £900 (frame only). This is Nicolai's version of a hardcore hardtail, overbuilt in the right places to make it strong enough to do just about anything yet light enough to be built into a sub 30lb bike. We've fitted a Rohloff hub to it, as it does such a great job of keeping the bike moving, no more chain suck, mis- shifting or drive train being effected by less than regular maintenance. 

When we were ordering this frame we chose to go with the Rohloff frame guides as we new that the hub would be used in the complete bike. These really make the Rohloff easier to fit than retrofitting it onto a standard frame and it makes all the lines on the bike look super clean.

The main advantage of the Rohloff is that you can change gears without pedaling so if you come to a surprise climb on an unknown trail you can easily change to the correct gear without any of the awful wrenching and mashing noise. The Rohloff also moves most of the weight of the drive train to the rear of the bike and with the weight of the forks at the front this really helps to balance out the bike as a whole and makes it great at trail riding.

The rest of the build was quite simple to choose as there is no need to worry about gear options on whether to go with Sram or Shimano, instead its simply a case of picking cranks, bars and stem of which Race Face do the honours. The forks up front had to be Fox Vanillas. Rims and the front hub is all DT Swiss' new all mountain range, as this all makes for a nice light yet strong package, finished off with the always-predictable Nokian NBX rubbers and very solid Magura Marta brakes.

So how does it ride? This bike as mentioned is built as a hardcore hard tail, the weight of the Rohloff helps with the traction of the rear end and helps keep the whole bike planted on the ground and stable over the rough stuff. The bike will not flex with such a solid frame and simple drive train, making it a very reassuring and predictable ride as it will stick where you put it. The short top tube makes the bike easy to move around and control when the terrain gets tight and twitchy. All in all the bike is built to be light enough for XC yet more than strong enough to do anything else you want to throw at it, meeting its description perfectly as the ultimate hardcore hardtail. As well as being available to demo Dan will be riding this as his main bike now, so will right a longer review of it's ride in a few months once it's been properly tested.

Helius CC. £1550 frame only. This bike comes with either the DT Swiss air shock or the RockShox giving a very plush and comfortable and adjustable 4-5in of rear travel, which we have this matched up with the Fox Talas RLC fork for a very balanced ride. Our bike has the DT Swiss shock fitted and the shock has a great lockout facility as well as spherical bushings helping it to work whatever angle you hit it at. The bike can also come with a Ti-Mag kit which will change all the bolts to Titanium and linkage plates to Magnesium, helping to lighten what is already a very svelte frame.

The build is again very predictable using the Sram Trigger shifters and Race Face component mix, finishing with the Hope Mini Mono brakes and a Magura wheel set. The whole build comes to a 28lb ride, but it is possible to knock a few pounds of this using different part options for a more racer light feel.

So how does it ride? Well BIKE MAGIC just gave it 5/5 for there test of this same bike so I was keen to get my leg over it. I started off my first ride on this bike on a very steep and long road climb up to Ranmore Common behind the shop. This climb will really test how efficient the bike is at pedaling and even with the DT Swiss shock not locked out there was minimal movement from the rear end, so with the lockout on this bike it definitely climbs effortlessly. As I turned off the road and threw myself into the first bit of bridleway the steering of the front end pleasantly surprised me and the bike was a pleasure to move around over the rough terrain. The bike was predictable yet lively with a very solid rear end cutting out the lateral flex, the bike really was ready and willing to go further than I had time to take it. 

Helius FR £1559 frame only. We have had the FR in stock for a couple of weeks now and there has been lots of interest in this brilliantly machined 5-6inch-travel frame. This frame is the big brother of the Helius CC and the little brother to the TFR so is light enough to be very fast but without the G-Boxx, and it is still strong enough to take just about anything. Sadly we have not had the chance to built up and ride one yet, but when we do you’ll be the first to know.

Nucleon TFR £3800 frame only. Wow, is there any other way to describe this bike? Some people will say money cannot buy you everything, which is true, however money can buy you a Nucleon TFR, after this is there need for anything else? The Nucleon has a very similar travel range to the Helius FR, with 4.5-6.5in of fun filled movement, the big difference between the two being the G-Boxx (or Gear Box) on the Nucleon TFR. The internals for the G-Boxx are made by Rohloff and work in the same way as their rear hub (as found on our Argon) giving a 14spd option and a very effective drive system. Other manufacturers are also trying to perfect the gear box system however none have had as much experience in this as Rohloff so Nicolai have done great being able to secure this partner.

The chain line on the Nicolai means the chain can go around the rear pivot to cancel any possible suspension ‘bob’ and have the suspension pivot in the right place to make a better suspension arc. All the gears being inside the frame again means all the great advantages of a Rohloff where there is less chance of a slipped chain by being able to use thicker, stronger chains, better chain alignment and more chain tension.  

 So what components are worthy of going on such a frame? The bike is fitted with a Fox 36 forks, Hope Mono M4 brakes and Easton finishing kit. This all makes for a very solid bike yet for such a big bikes weighs in at a surprising 40lb.

In testing this bike I was lucky enough to take it up around Leith Hill and also over to Cwm Carn in Wales (you can read about our Wales Trip here) When taking the bike out up Leith Hill and around the XC trails there were lots of doubting faces into whether such a big bike could actually be pedalled up hill, and this bike shone through with mega traction from the rear end and the almost bob-less action from the suspension. However this bike is not built for riding up and going down it stands alone. I have ridden many other big bikes before but have never ridden anything that even comes close to this. The suspension digs in where it needs to yet will effortlessly role over anything, there are many bigger travel full suspension bikes out there, but after riding this there is no need for anything bigger for any UK riding, and even abroad there are few places that will be able to challenge the action of this bike. Truly amazing…

If you’re interested in finding out more about these bikes please feel free to call or email the shop.

-Oli