Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 2,144 total)
  • Anyone ridden the Mojo Nicolai yet?
  • gaz552
    Free Member

    I called down with mojo to have chat about my shock and what improvements could be made and they were extremely nice helpful.

    While I was there I saw one of the Nicolai’s sitting with a Fox Float 2X on it, and another one of the Nicolai’s was being wheeled out, so I was wondering if anyone here has ridden one yet.

    pitchpro2011
    Free Member

    Cubemeup has

    gaz552
    Free Member

    pitchpro2011 – Member
    Cubemeup has

    Reckoned there would be a few stw people who’d have tried it by now.

    Forgot to mention the one that was outside had a set of Fox 40’s on it, so I’m guessing it was getting ready for some punishment.

    wrecker
    Free Member

    Resurrected for interest. Anyone had a cabby on one?

    P-Jay
    Free Member

    No, but I’d like too, if nothing else to confirm my prejudices.

    It did very well at an Enduro race at Cwmcarn at the weekend, especially on the sections on the DH track – but I guess moar slack is always going to help when the going gets supersonic, it’s the climbing and the tight twisty stuff I wonder about, I rode my DH bike on a tight twisty XC track a few times, it was a sod to get around, I just couldn’t turn it fast enough at low speed.

    Oh, and CC is about 5 mins from Mojo so their riders would know the course well.

    I’m intrigued though.

    wrecker
    Free Member

    I saw that they did well at cwmcarn. It’s the. Climbing that intrigues me too.
    I’m intrigued by the bike, but I’m put off by the £200 required to test one which is only redeemable if a whole bike is purchased.
    I may well be in the market for a new frame/forks soon,and there’s no way I’d but something which is such a radical departure from the other bikes have owned without a test ride (even a very short one) and I ain’t paying £200 for the pleasure. May as well get a custom geo nicolai.

    Tom_W1987
    Free Member

    Demo a mondraker, if you think its shit…dont go anywhere near the Mojo bike

    gaz552
    Free Member

    The cost for a demo is a bit steep, but then you are also getting an uplift and one of the tech’s to help you. Probably be a lot more takers at £100, but then that probably wouldn’t help them cover costs.

    wrecker
    Free Member

    It’s not too extravagant considering the whole bike costs, but disproportionate for frame and fork. Can’t help but think they’ll lose customers (like me) if they don’t let people have even a little rip on it especially considering how unique it is.

    recipher
    Free Member

    They only have very small batches of the frame for sale – the first batch sold out. So, at this stage, they probably aren’t worried about losing customers.

    wrecker
    Free Member

    they probably aren’t worried about losing customers.

    😆
    Yeah right.

    Northwind
    Full Member

    I’d love to try it… But £200 for a demo seems like what you do if you want your demos to be a revenue stream rather than an actual way to sell your product. Most people’ll be buying these unseen, based on hype.

    bigjim
    Full Member

    perhaps they are trying to put people off demo riding it in case they don’t buy it after #conspiracytheory

    jimjam
    Free Member

    In their defence they do say that you can ride the bike around the car park if you just want to get an idea for sizing. The £200 demo is stated as a 1-2 day option with a mechanic, your own bike and uplift.

    It’s expensive if you just want to piss about on someone’s expensive bike (as 90% of people on demos) but if you look at it the other way it’s a nice option to confirm it’s right you are genuinely interested in the bike. £200on a demo isn’t as bad as £6000 on a bike you can’t get on with.

    Having been involved with numerous demo days during my time with bike shops I can confirm it takes a lot of time, effort and resources often for very little tangible reward. The majority of people just want to mess around on new bikes, or you get parents dumping kids off using you as a child minder, or you get randoms berating you for not offering it on a weekly basis etc etc etc.

    wrecker
    Free Member

    Granted there will always be timewasters but for the serious buyer, isn’t the entire point of a demo to see if you like it or not?
    There is no guarantee that you will. I’d not buy a car without a test drive, and I wouldn’t pay to have one.
    At £2900 for frame and forks, you’re in car territory.

    £200on a demo isn’t as bad as £6000 on a bike you can’t get on with.

    Still £200 less to spend on a bike though!

    Rorschach
    Free Member

    /\x1000.
    If you are serious about buying one you’ll likely get one and get your money back.If you don’t it’ll be a very informative and interesting day out.

    jimjam
    Free Member

    wrecker

    I’d not buy a car without a test drive, and I wouldn’t pay to have one.
    At £2900 for frame and forks, you’re in car territory.

    You’re in 10 year old used car territory. Whereas the bike we’re discussing is a limited edition custom geo collaboration between a very niche specialist manufacturer and renowned suspension tuner. So I don’t think the car test drive comparison is valid. The other thing is, car dealerships tend to be surrounded by roads, the ideal testing ground for cars.

    If you went a company who built extremely rare, expensive high performance off road racing machines (I dunno, Milner or Bowler) and expected them to offer you a free jolly around the forest in one of their £60k machines out of the blue it might be a fairer comparison. I doubt they’d just throw you the keys.

    AlexSimon
    Full Member

    If you went a company who built extremely rare, expensive high performance off road racing machines and expected them to offer you a free jolly around the forest in one of their machines out of the blue it might be a fairer comparison.

    hmmm – I know which one I’d rather spend £200 on.

    wrecker
    Free Member

    Yeah, it was a ropey comparison.

    If you went a company who built extremely rare, expensive high performance off road racing machines (I dunno, Milner or Bowler)

    That’s not much better though!!!!

    If you are serious about buying one you’ll likely get one and get your money back.If you don’t it’ll be a very informative and interesting day out.

    Eh? How are you likely to get one just because you are a serious buyer? It’s not like you’ll be riding something run of the mill, this bike is radical. What if you want a frame & forks? No money back.
    Doubtless informative and interesting, but expensive.
    I like the bike. I really like the bike. I like Mojo and I like Nicolai. A day with a mechanic for £200 is good value if you want a day with a mechanic.
    But before I’d consider throwing £2900 at frame & forks, I want to ride one (briefly; quick up and down would do) without increasing the price by £200.
    That’s just my opinion (and I will be looking at a new high end bike/frame in the near future).

    gaz552
    Free Member

    So is it the main issue with the £200 demo cost, is that should you like the bike, you only get the £200 off the price when your buy the full bike, not off the price when you are only buying the frame or frame and fork option? (Which I imagine a lot of people on here would go for)

    wrecker
    Free Member

    For me, yes, but it would also be nice if you could get (perhaps an hour?) demo for ~£50. I bet there’s enough interest to fill up a few demo days around cwmcarn. If it’s as good as they say it is, then they could well get some sales from it.

    jimjam
    Free Member

    wrecker – Member

    it would also be nice if you could get (perhaps an hour?) demo for ~£50.

    I think the problem is they aren’t a bike shop or bike rental company. So organising a one hour demo probably entails as much work as a day. Phone calls and email exchange with prospective customer. Arranging time/dates. Scheduling other work/manpower to take up slack for whoever is dealing with demo. Meet and greet customer. Yak about bullshit. Sign releases and waivers. Take them to the trails….set shock/fork/tyre pressure and cockpit to customers liking. Wait about for an hour, maybe two if the customer decides to dick about. Listen to customer yak about bullshit for an hour after demo and pretend to care 🙂

    I bet there’s enough interest to fill up a few demo days around cwmcarn. If it’s as good as they say it is, then they could well get some sales from it.

    I think it says somewhere on their site they only have 3 demo bikes. So logistically pretty difficult to organise a demo day of any meaningful size. Even when you ask people to demo a bike for 20 mins in order to let other people ride it, they generally take 40mins to an hour. Maybe two.

    wrecker
    Free Member

    Very validjimjam, all good points. I’s a shame though eh?
    Will likely take the geometron out of contention for me.

    jimjam
    Free Member

    wrecker

    Very validjimjam, all good points. I’s a shame though eh?
    Will likely take the geometron out of contention for me.

    Well yes. Especially if you really want one. As a long time fancier of Nicolai bikes I’d personally love my own custom one, and I very much doubt I would be replicating the Geometron, certainly not the chainstay length. I’d have to throw some green somewhere on the bike too.

    Having said that, if they offered a free demo near me, I’d be all over it, just out of curiosity.

    clubby
    Full Member

    wrecker – I think the problem is with this bike that a quick up and down wouldn’t do. It’s so radically different that a certain adaptation in riding style will be necessary to get the best out of it. I had a couple of runs in Whistler on a proper DH bike and rode way slower than I did on the same trails on my 5″ trail bike. As for the frame and fork deal, £200 represents a good %age of their margin, no wonder they don’t discount it. On a 6 grand complete bike it’s not such an expense.

    iffoverload
    Free Member

    read all the posts. was hoping someone had ridden it.

    a day with Mojo and a tec on a Nic. would make a great surprise gift.

    * leaves laptop open on coffee table while getting a drink….

    Northwind
    Full Member

    jimjam – Member

    Having said that, if they offered a free demo near me, I’d be all over it, just out of curiosity.

    Suppose that’s the problem isn’t it, if I could scam a go on it I would too, but there’s no chance I’d buy it. So it’s about deterring the purely curious timewaster, while not putting off the serious, and after that it’s just a matter of sliding scales.

    jimjam
    Free Member

    clubby – Member

    wrecker – I think the problem is with this bike that a quick up and down wouldn’t do. It’s so radically different that a certain adaptation in riding style will be necessary to get the best out of it.

    It’s not THAT radical though is it?. In trail/Enduro bike terms maybe. Maybe it’s just slightly ahead of the curve. Something like a GT sanction isn’t a million miles away in terms of geometry, and could be made closer with an angle set and/or offset bushings. Also, I seem to recall seeing a few long medium Nicolais kicking around on the uk distributor’s site. It seems like a custom Long tt/ Med st Ion would give you a good indication of how the bike would function at least. Might be worth seeing if anyone has one of those they’d be willing to lend for a spin.

    wrecker
    Free Member

    It’s not THAT radical though is it?

    I think it is. There are outliers like the mondraker and the sanction, but these aren’t so popular that the average rider is likely to have had a go on one.
    63deg HA? XXL TT length with a super steep SA?
    I honestly have no idea whether I’d love or hate it.

    gaz552
    Free Member

    I am very tempted when I have some spare cash to treat myself and book a demo.
    I raced motocross most of my life, so if the geometron manages to feel anything like that and still be decent for pedally trails I’d be happy.

    recipher
    Free Member

    So, I have one. The longest one. I’ve not had it long but it’s pretty spectacular (of course, might just be new bike syndrome 🙂 ).

    I’m 6’5. Most XLs aren’t big enough. My previous bike was an XL Yeti SB95C (amazing bike). To get seated reach with short-ish stem, I had the saddle pushed all the way back on the rails. All my previous bike had been this way, so I was used to it. But still, seated steep climbs meant riding the nose of the saddle to avoid the front lifting. And when descending, the top tube, though fairly long, was still not long enough.

    Now the trend is for longer top tubes, but still, there is only really one production bike long enough – the Mondraker. And then, along comes the Geometron and it looks great. The big difference in the reach between it and other long bikes (Mondraker, Strive Race, Kona Process, Transition) is the steepness of the seat tube means that the length is forward-biased.

    My geometron climbs amazingly. I expected the front to wander and flop a bit, but it’s pretty easy to stop it from doing that. It pedals really well (and not just for a long travel bike, for any bike). The frame is bombproof and the suspension bearings are huge and stiff. Out of the saddle sprinting is impressive.

    Going down, on my limited time with it, and my limited diagnostic skills, it’s very, very impressive. Super stable, as you’d expect – get your weight over the front (not difficult when you are my size) and it corners brilliantly. I have 800 wide bars and a 35mm stem. It’ll take a while to get used to the extra width when I’m in the trees. Going off drops, the bike doesn’t even blink.

    In the end, the chainstays are at 445 which isn’t *that* long (same as my Yeti).

    It’s a DH bike which pedals (very well). It’s heavy but I don’t think that matters (my weight is far greater). The suspension is top notch, having been given the Mojo treatment. I have mine set up for steep trails, but it seems pretty good on the flatter, pedally stuff too.

    Biggest drawback – it’s too long for my workstand! (Feedback Sprint) unless I clamp it at the rear wheel (painful). It only just fits on my roof rack.

    In the end, I bought mine because it promised to fit me, be bombproof, and offer something (fairly) different to your standard trail weapon. I can always lower the travel if I need it steeper (and shorter). But I suspect I won’t.

    gaz552
    Free Member

    Thanks for the post decipher. Always good to hear feedback, from someone who owns a bike.

    Your comment about it being a downhill bike that pedals is one I’d guessed would be the case due to reviews of the ION 16, the geometry and other enduro bikes these days. E.g. the GT Sanction commonly gets comments like that.

    recipher
    Free Member

    It’s also a downhill bike that pedals *really* well, I have to say. I’d race something like the GT7 on it, I think.

    wrecker
    Free Member

    Thanks for the post recipher, very informative. Glad to hear you’re happy with it.

    mudfish
    Full Member

    Hey Recipher,
    great to hear you took the plunge. I’d been hoping for someone’s feedback of real world experience. You must have enjoyed that all day testride.
    “A DH bike that pedals really well” seems a good summation of what you’d expect looking at the geo. I’ve read that the XL Sanction is fab on downs, but doesnt make an ideal “tallish guy” all round trailbike, but it seems the Geometron might.
    I’m 6’2″ and very tempted. I have a nicolai AM now (65 head angle) in Large and I love it, but I do feel I’d like more length and reach when the downhill gets steep.
    So, my question, how about riding in the trees, tight woodland singletrack? Do you do that?
    Or is it a bike for the wide open trails only?
    I have fiund that slacker bikes need to be pushed over harder into corners (tough with trees either side on a tight trail).
    Could your Geometron be a one bike solution? I’d imagine once youre used to the longest geometry you’d find a “normal” bike a hard switchover?

    And if you don’t mind another question – do you find the suspension setup feels quite hard, or forgiving? Both ends?

    I used to love my 160mm VAN36 with Mojo tune, but swopping bikes and moving to BOS both ends (Deville and VIP’r) really did make for a more compliant ride, smooth and forgiving, but good support too. The Mojo style setup (at that time) was pretty stiff. Which I understand is how top pro’s like Gwynn ride but was too much for my aging bod on Alpine trips.
    Maybe the new generation Fox kit is more like BOS, from what I read the Pike has gone in that direction – and the new 36 has the crown I beleive. I really do hope Fox has moved that way.
    Thanks for any comments mate.
    Neil

    recipher
    Free Member

    The suspension setup is bang-on. Very plush in the initial stroke, very sensitive to small bumps, but very progressive and a solid platform in the mid-stroke. Can’t fault it. Particularly the fork.

    I’m still getting used to it in the tight steep stuff. You definitely need to get over the front and lay it down more than I’m used to (or can). But I’m getting there. I think the 800 wide bar is a bit of a hindrance at the moment, but I’m persevering – maybe I’ll put it at 780. The wide stance is useful for getting weight over the front.

    On wide open trails, it’s in a league of it’s own.

    I’ve gotten into trouble with it a few times, where my previous bike would have spat me out, but I’ve managed to save myself with this one.

    tooFATtoRIDE
    Free Member

    Now, if Nicolai could make this bike with one of those Pinion gearboxes, that would be awesome and well suited for the UK all year round riding.

    Chainline
    Free Member

    tooFATtoRIDE 😉

    groundskeeperwilly
    Free Member

    bringing back the thread….

    Mudfish – at 6ft2 what size of the 3 would you be looking at? Longer?

    tooFATtoRIDE
    Free Member

    Now, if Nicolai could make this bike with one of those Pinion gearboxes, that would be awesome and well suited for the UK all year round riding.

    Now Nicolai has this Nicolai ION 16-GPI Pinion Gearbox Prototype (LINK)

    Some pictures here:

    It is heavy, though. 16.4kg (36.1lb)

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