We’ve got a number of new dealers joining us for 2007:
Wheelspin Cycles in Huddersfield, who have just taken delivery of a Helius CC and have one on order that they’ll be building as a demo bike.
The Hub at Glentress have joined us and have just built up the Helius FR with the lovely camo paint job that we posted about a few weeks ago.
Eighteen Bikes (formerly Bespoked) in Hope have a Helius FR in stock and a Helius CC demo bike on order.
Last but not least, Real Cycles in Belfast are back on board to bring Nicolai to Northern Ireland.
Links to these and all our other dealers are on the dealer page.
December 16th, 2006
Categories: News . Author: Simon . Comments: No Comments
The Engineer ran a piece on bike gearboxes recently.
November 24th, 2006
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“This bike was a dream”
Descent World have just published a gearbox/Rohloff feature on their website. As part of it they took a spin on Head for the Hill’s Argon FR Rohloff.
November 22nd, 2006
Categories: News, Reviews . Author: Simon . Comments: No Comments
Not all of the colours in this chart are standard Nicolai colours (check here) but pretty much any RAL colour can be ordered on request - there’s an upcharge if it’s non-standard.
November 20th, 2006
Categories: Technical . Author: Simon . Comments: No Comments
“a bike for hard riding…unfazed by big terrain”
“the design, back up and image of Nicolai takes some beating”
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November 12th, 2006
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“suspension action so good we didn’t really notice it”
“an exceptional partner for some pretty epic riding”
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There are a few changes to the Helius CC for 2007 that address some of Singletrack’s concerns.
The bike becomes longer for a given size (so most people will take a size down and get more standover), the bottom bracket drops slightly and the head angle is corrected for 140mm forks so it will be slightly steeper run with anything shorter. This all adds up to a slightly racier feel despite the capability for longer travel at the front.
November 12th, 2006
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Nicolai’s new powdercoater, Jan Hendrik Heitmann, is doing some great work on the camouflage paintwork - have a look at this one, destined for The Hub in the Forest.
We’re getting all web 2.0 on your ass so there are more photos on our flickr page (click on the image).
This “Super Camo” finish with overlapping colours is £200 rather than the £145 for standard camo as it takes a lot longer. Jan does great looking standard camo as well - see this
Camo FR he did for Moonglu.
I love both of them. My next bike will be is camo.
November 12th, 2006
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Endura Thermastat clip bibs
Pearl Izumi windproof gloves
Buff
Merino base layer
Defeet Woolie Boolies
Shimano Winter Boots
Ride on.
November 11th, 2006
Categories: Ramblings . Author: Simon . Comments: No Comments
The anodizers that Nicolai use is having trouble with the process for Silver ano so we are not taking orders for Silver ano at the moment.
Hopefully we’ll be able to offer this again in future. We’re going big on powdercoated frames this year - it’s a top quality powdercoat and every time we get something new in looks great. We’ve just taken delivery of a White Helius CC with a glitter clearcoat and Katie’s new frame is night camo. Both look trick.
November 2nd, 2006
Categories: News . Author: Simon . Comments: No Comments
If you’ve looked closely at the 2007 range you’ll see the sliding dropouts on our Argons are now fitted with chain tugs. Most people have had no problems but we know of a few people who have had trouble keeping the rear wheel in place. In line with Nicolai policy all updates to frames are retrofittable to existing bikes.
If you’ve a Rohloff or singlespeed Argon and would like a set get in touch - cost is £25 direct from us.
October 6th, 2006
Categories: News, Technical . Author: Simon . Comments: No Comments
We’ve finally got some more clothing in stock - if you’ve asked in the past get in touch again. T-shirts in all sizes and a variety of colours, black and blue hoodies and black long sleeved t’s.
Very few race shirts left - large sizes only - and it doesn’t look like we’ll have any more. If people are interested we might do a UK only race shirt (Endura kit) so let us know.
September 7th, 2006
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We’ve been away. 
Katie and I went on a road trip to Scotland and rode our bikes. It was ace. There is so much trail buiding going on in Scotland that it needs repeated visits. We took in Kirroughtree, Mabie, Innerleithan and Glentress as well as some natural riding on Skye and at Bridge of Allen.
Highlights? Theres some wonderful singletrack at Kirroughtree. Riding through the Cuilans across Skye was stunning and there was a beautiful little trail in the woods just above Bridge of Allen that some locals showed me. We hope to have a few new Scottish dealers over the next few months that will give us an excuse to get up there again.
Mike and I have also been over to Eurobike to catch up with Karl and the guys from the factory and have a look at the range for next year. We’ll be posting an update in the next few weeks but the best news is that we think we’ll be holding all prices for the coming year.
September 5th, 2006
Categories: Ramblings . Author: Simon . Comments: No Comments
“No-one builds bikes as brutally beautiful as Nicolai”
“This is an outstanding XC bike that will stand up to anything you throw at it”"
July 1st, 2006
Categories: Reviews . Author: Simon . Comments: No Comments
We don’t pretend to be a mass market brand and, building predominantly to order, we can’t be. Nicolai frames are in demand worldwide and this means that sometimes the waiting list gets long. We’re not talking Morgan cars year long but it can be a few months at certain times of the year.
We try to hold some stock of the most popular models and keep track of what our dealers are holding. The easiest way of finding the current delivery time is to drop us an email – there’s no point ringing each and every one of our dealers since all they’re going to do is call us and you’re going to get the same answer from all of them.
June 14th, 2006
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“just buy one - it’s the future and it works”
June 1st, 2006
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“fresh thinking combined with stunning quality”
June 1st, 2006
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Rohloff have a very nice animation of the insides of a Rohloff hub on their web site. I know there are a lot of people who buy Nicolai frames due to the dropouts that take an OEM Rohloff, this link gives a good idea of how another German company with a fanatical attention to detail build their hub!
May 22nd, 2006
Categories: Technical . Author: Simon . Comments: No Comments
This is the most inspiring bike we’ve ridden for ages. It’s a true all-rounder and manages to be as supple as anything else without taking all the fun out of things ….. Superb.”
For 2007 we reckon the Helius CC is even better after a few tweaks to the geometry. More here
Link to Bikemagic
May 1st, 2006
Categories: Reviews . Author: Simon . Comments: Comments Off
I casually mentioned to our friends at Moonglu that iBike were particularly good at building up ultra bling builds. Eduardo and Dave at iBike (www.ibike.co.uk) built this bad boy for one particularly lucky customer - http://www.nicolai-uk.com/2005/12/pimp-my-ride-ibike.html
and it would seem that it ruffled a few feathers at Moonglu in Rippon (http://www.moonglu.com).
They set out to beat ‘those Shandy drinking southern ponces’ at iBike by producing not one, but two high end builds in as many weeks. Click below and drool…..
http://www.moonglu.com/custnic.html
Dave at iBike refused to be drawn into any kind of competition claiming that ‘if you live on deep fried Mars bars you are bound to be envious of us Southerners’. He claims to have another one in the pipeline, lets just wait and see which shop comes out on top…..
The jury is still out, but that Moonglu FR is particularly nice…..
April 28th, 2006
Categories: News . Author: Simon . Comments: No Comments
I’ve been riding my Argon FR for a few weeks now and am loving it. Mine is an XC build - Marzocchi Marthons XC, Race Face Deus kit and a Rohloff. A weekend in Wales saw it swallow the trails at Afan as well as the classic Gap route in the Brecons and it’s been years since I’ve enjoyed riding a hardtail this much. The geometry is slack enough to give loads of confidence downhill (which is handy if you’ve got overly reliant on full suspension) but not so slack it can’t handle steep ups. We reckon this is the ultimate winter bike - with a Rohloff hub there are no drivetrain worries and running Conti 2.3’s as I was there is masses of tyre clearance.
The customer who took the first bike of the production line mailed us after 600miles to say: “the bike with the Rohloff is superb - it’s now known as The Tractor by my local club as it seems to keep grinding on when all other bikes are failing in the Chiltern mud. My daughter unfortunately has taken to calling it The Clockwork Mouse as a result of the gear-7-and-lower whirring noises, but either they’re going away or I’m getting used to them. Overall, it’s every bit as good as I’d hoped.”
My older Rohloff hub is almost silent - they really do get better with age.
February 8th, 2006
Categories: News . Author: Simon . Comments: No Comments
