Wor lasses Nicolai is creaking. We’ve had the headset, bb, cranks, seatpost, wheels all out and its no better so it must be the rear suspension. I’ve had a look at the Nicolai website and although there’s diagrams there no guide to stripping/cleaning/reassembly or is it just common sense? The bike did stop creaking when it was raining, but its not really a solution she’s happy with! 😆

Pic, because i can…

Nicolai Helius CC by ahsatb, on Flickr

When my Helius CC did this it was a little bit of dirt around the pivot preload covers. Taken them off – clean and regrease and it’s sorted it.

I use the CC all year round in all conditions so I guess you expect to have to do some basic maintenance. It’s still on the original pivot bushes after 2 years so I’m happy with that.

I also had a little bit of creaking from the shock bush when it was new – some gt85 sorted that.

Have you adjusted any of the pivots at all? The preload caps on all the pivots are designed to be adjustable as the bushes wear and bed in. The one on the BB is most likely to need attention.

If you have adjusted Them then the creaking is most likely from having over tightened the preload cap.

If you havent done so already, You should be getting the pivots serviced maybe once a year and it’s best to have an authorised dealer do it. It’s not especially difficult if you’re a half decent spanner but you need the right drift set to get it all apart. The pivots press fit together with bushes (there are needle roller bearings in the rear horst link pivot) and the bolts are just there to preload them. You can’t service the pivots just by taking the preload caps off.

I have had the cover off the main pivot about a month ago a it had some play in it. I didn’t fully understand the whole cover and grub screw thing to be honest. Any idea on how much a service is at the main dealer and who the dealer is for the north east (it was purchased direct from Nicolai uk)

Your nearest dealer will be Moonglu in Ripon I would imagine. I think it’s about £90 for a pivot service there as you have to pretty much disassemble the back end of the bike.

One regular cause of creaks from the back end is the axle moving in the dropouts. Before you go down the service route, try getting a bit of grease in and around the rear dropouts and see if that sorts it

Stem – both steerer and bar clamp – take appart clean – re-fit.

Seat – take off, clean and re-fit.

Even grips are known to creak so do the same with those too.

If it still creaks after that god knows…

It’s had the stem, bars, grips, seat post, seatclamp, bb, cranks, rear wheel, headset cups, all removed, cleaned and regreased and reassembled. I wasn’t prepared to strip the rear end in the campsite!

If you’ve take off the pre-load caps then it will almost certainly be that. I remember when you’re wife got the bike as you/she posted it on here. If it’s not had a service since you bought it, then it’s prudent to have one now as I think it’s getting on for 12 months old IIRC?

If you don’t think it needs one and want to try sorting the pre-load cap problem, then here’s a quick run down for how to do the BB pivot one.

It is possible to do this without removing the crank set but it’s a bit more of a faff.

Undo the two grub screws that bisect the pivot from the back of the BB shell; back them out maybe one full turn or a bit more.

Put your allen keys in on both sides, I think it’s a 2.5mm on the drive side and 4mm on the left.

Holding the non-drive side stationary, unscrew the right hand one until it is almost all the way out.

Now hold the drive side stationary and screw the non-drive side in until you feel the whole thing compress together.

It should really only be finger tight; hard to judge without experience, but it will come with time. It’s also a lot easier to judge this without the shock in as you will know if it’s over tight as the back end will feel distinctively stiff.

Note that Nic’s don’t have super free movement in their rear triangles even without a damper in; there is still a bit of stiction, like a Turner 5-Spot has.

Once you think you’ve got it tight enough, but not over tight, put the bike on the floor (with damper and wheels back on of course!) and test the back end for play. If there is some, then just nip the non drive side up again, making sure you also have the drive side allen key still in place and holding it stationary.

Repeat until there is no more play.

Finally, when everything is sorted, don’t forget to do the grub screws up gain!

Ride and enjoy.

p.s. I just got my new fully tailroed Helius AM (as well as a new son!) Happy Days.

Here’s my new one ive just built up today (except for rear brake) and it’s also creaking!! It sounds like the front shock attachment. Need to take shock off anyway to route brake hose so I’m sure it’s an easy fix.