I spent Easter week riding in the Lake District with a Monarch 4.2 on my Helius CC. It’s an impressive piece of kit. Very nicely made with good solid adjusters and switchgear. The sag markings on the shaft (like the travel markings on Rock Shox forks) make getting the correct air pressure much less hit and miss than usual and the pivoting air valve means the valve is easy to get to when you need it and safely out of the way when you’re done.
Switchable ‘floodgate’ platform damping, with a big range of adjustment, is there if you like to have a more solid suspension when climbing or on the road. I much prefer the option of platform damping to a lock out – it’s far less of a problem if you set off downhill without disabling it. Performance was excellent – I didn’t notice a change from the Fox RP23 I’d been riding recently. Weight is exactly the same as the Fox (c275g with bushings) and Rock Shox say it’s fine to use for everything except downhill. The price is keen as well – we’re recommending this for both the Helius CC and AM now.
April 5th, 2008
Categories: News . Author: Simon . Comments: No Comments
A hot new Nicolai frame joins the fleet (and the single pivot Saturn retires). Whilst the Helius CC is an allrounder suitable for everything from short blasts and races to all day epics (with travel adjustable from 85-130mm) the RC is a focused on a single purpose – racing.
Naturally, we didn’t just take a file to the CC and shave some metal from the tubes – each machined part was redesigned under strict dietary criteria. Then we added exclusive features like ceramic axles, titanium bolts and a DT Carbon shock (the lightest on the market) giving an all up frame weight of 2.44Kg (medium size, anodised, with shock).
Travel is 115mm or 95mm (adjusted by moving the bolt on the shock linkage) and it’s compatible with all current XC and race forks. Available to order now – price still TBC but we expect it to be around £1800.
April 5th, 2008
Categories: News . Author: Simon . Comments: No Comments
We’ve popped the corks on the Champagne – it’s done! The factory have the hard work behind them and have started production of the new G-Boxx 2 transmission system. 95% of the parts are manufactured in house on Nicolai’s own machines. More info and pics on www.g-boxx.com.
The Nicolai team are now testing the system on the Ion G-Boxx 2 and we hope to be offering it to the public soon
April 5th, 2008
Categories: News . Author: Simon . Comments: No Comments
A Rohloff equipped hardtail makes a great touring bike, whether off or on road. Previously we offered welded mounts as an option but these had to be specified at manufacturing. For 2008 Argons with pivoting dropouts we now have a retro-fittable adaptor to allow the use of racks.
April 5th, 2008
Categories: News . Author: Simon . Comments: No Comments
