Nicolai Helius AC
Price: £1,700 – Frame only
From: www.nicolai-uk.com
Here she is. It’s taken an age to get it built for one administrative reason or another but today I indexed the gears and gave it a car park spin. Tomorrow the hills and all the tweakery that will be done.
I’ve gone for a reasonably mainstream build and I wanted a general trail bike with a slant towards some steeper, technical descents. So we have Fox Talas 32 forks so I can drop the front for the longer climbs. I’ve selected the longest travel setting for the shock mounting – I’ll rely on the platform ability of the shock to keep things calm on the ups rather than limit the bob by limiting the travel – just doesn’t feel right to me to have a bike with lots of travel and then set it up with less. There’s DT Swiss Tricon wheels with a Maxle rear and a 15mm bolt-thru front, so I’m expecting full on Germanic stiffness throughout… as it were.
The Helius is a true Four Bar suspension bike, which is going to be interesting as it turns out that the majority of my long term full suspension experience has been on single pivot bikes. Nothing deliberate – just the way it’s gone really.
Groupset is pretty much XT all the way. There’s a variation in the chainset in that I’ve gone for a Gusset BB instead for no other reason than for a bit of variation and curiosity. It does have company with a Gusset 70mm stem though. The groupset is 10 speed. I tested the SLX 10 speed on a Genesis Altitude earlier this year and I loved it. Now I’ll get to see how better the XT system is and also to test out the claim that 10speed gets the most out of your rear suspension.
I have a rather wide set of carbon bars at 720mm and I suspect that may be where the first change comes, but we’ll see. I want a bike that will handle technical DH well. It’s quite short, with a 21.5inch top tube length, but I like short bikes.
So there it is. I have a month to get it tweaked and poked before I take it to Morzine for my annual week of uplifted laziness. I’ll report on the ride as soon as I’ve done some beyond the car park.
Some other numbers for you..
Top tube length is 21.5 inches
BB Height is 13.75 inches
Mark
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Sure youy’ve spotted this already but the damper is currently set in the shortest travel setting, not the longest.
The longest travel is the top hole and the shortest the bottom.
And that is a ‘C’ not a ‘K’.
Either way will be interested in your thoughts on this – have 3 Nicolai’s in my garage and an AC frame in the box ready to build.
Looks tiny and theres no brace on the top tube, is it a small or custom size even?
I test ride one a while back and found its really important to get the shock just right otherwise it feels wallowy and you get pedal strikes.
This and Matt’s Blur are on my short list, so this one will be followed with interest.
I’m Nicolai’s biggest fan but that is minging! sorry Mike and Simon. The hugeo mech makes it look cack too. Holy crap, £1700, behave!!!
Looks short, tall and insanely steep. EEUGH!
Is the rear mech bolted to the mech hanger properly? It looks as if the rear mech should be in more forward(/downward) position than it appears here. Shadow mechs do seem to have a tendency to twist back when you tighten them up
Or is it because its 10speed?
geetee.. yup, spotted that as soon as I sat on it and rode out the car park. It’s been put in it’s ‘correct’ full travel position now 🙂
Looks nice Love the paint scheme, are Nicolai smoothing out those lovely fishscale welds now, or is it just the picture
No – just received my 4th Nic and it still has the trademark welds. Stand out even more if you go anodized.
Do Fox not angle stanchions relative to the crown? All the offset is in the dropouts?
Though Rock Shox seem to just achieve offset from the dropout, so perhaps Fox are the same.
I’d like to know what it’s like in the other travel settings, so do you fancy playing about with that, just for me? 😀
Small travel for local stuff and bigger travel for uplift days and Alps trips.
I will be playing about with the travel settings so I’ll let you know what happens 🙂
Good point Brant, shouldn’t head angle be measured on the actual head tube to avoid these discrepancies?
shouldn’t head angle be measured on the actual head tube to avoid these discrepancies?
That doesn’t work if you have a lumpy head badge (or a tapered head tube)
Might be the angle of the photo of course but it looks tall and steep to me. Not something to take to the Alps with uplift on offer.
The headtube is parallel to stanchions.. I measured both. Both read the same 69 degrees. I took the photo on the stanchions because, as Chipps said, it’s a smoother surface due to the head badge.
Must be a small based on the top tube length and lack of brace.
Are your other long term tests on this size bike?
I’m 5’6″ and I’ve ridden quite a few bikes that I’ve preferred in small.
‘I’m 5′6″ and I’ve ridden quite a few bikes that I’ve preferred in small.’
That’ll be because at 5’6″ you are small.
Small bikes are great
simple unfussy suspension designs are great
like a lot 🙂
“That’ll be because at 5′6″ you are small.”#
Yes! A truism 🙂
“That’ll be because at 5′6″ you are small.”
Yes but hung like a donkey by all accounts.
Someone called Dave told me befor you ask.
That is a terrible pic of the bike! Makes the head angle look ridiculous!
Much better here:
http://www.nicolai.net/products/e-frames/e-helius-ac.html#heliusac
I have one of these and I love it!!
You’ll love it!
Seat looks a bit big and fat though!
The saddle (seat?) is a WTB Lazer. Quite common and very comfy. It does look a bit big though on this bike although it doesn’t on my Sanderson. I reckon it’s the telescopic seatpost and the narrowness of the top section which makes it look slightly out of proportion.
looking forward to your comments – my AM is a stunning bike, but too much for normal duties – considerinjg an AC [for a while] now.
Not sure why you would both changing from or getting an AC if you have an AM. Seems like a waste of money given that you can drop the AM to 130mm travel.
@dirtynap – it’s more about shedding the weight, but agree, it’s unlikely i’ll downsize.
can we get some feedabck please ? any increased pedal strike ?