Bought this bike (Nicolai Helius AM) ex-hire – it had been ridden (apparently) 26 times. I’ve ridden it in the UK maybe 10 times and for 2 weeks in the Alps.

Reckon this frame is a warranty claim? I’ve heard Nicolai’s customer service is superb – guess I’m about to find out.

And this is what my stanchions look like – same age. This is inside and not visible until the lowers are removed. Nae bonnie. I’m trying to be cool – these things happen – but should forks used this much (little) look like this? 🙁

you are being cool about it mate. Good luck.

26 times round the world, maybe…

Ouch! Where did you get it from?

They haven’t been looked after very well IMO – 40-50 rides and suspension forks need at least one clean and lube under the seals. I’m not sure about the frame but I would expect wear and teach suspension pivots to be replaceable, and worn pivots not to permanently knacker the frame itself. You are being cool – I hope you got a good deal 🙂

As the old car joke goes – “yes it’s had one careful owner……………..& 30 terrible ones”

That’s mullered. Good luck with a warranty as you’re not the original owner.

I hope you got a good deal

I thought I did but now not so sure!! Have emailed Nicolai so we’ll see what they say. Dunno what to do about the forks. I think I’m going to have to take that on the chin and rag them till they die – I have no proof of original purchase – they may have been on more than one bike for all I know. More concerned about the frame!

do you use bike cleaner?

edit: not a troll, in reference to stantion wear

Nicolai are pretty good to be fair, the warranty is 5 years and It’s transferable.

Your screwed on the front forks, but as others have said, nicolai provide a five year transferable warrantee. Have you actually spoken to them before posting on here? It’s one of the first ones I have seen which is broken.

Wow – a transferable warranty? That’s extraordinary

Not really. Turner do it too.

Those pivots are lack of maintenance – not warranty.

IMO.

Cleaner – have used Muc Off maybe 3/4 times on it, but generally use washing up liquid and plenty of rinsing. On a separate note, I have used Muc Off disc brake cleaner and it has stripped the paint off other forks and removed the black anodising off spokes! Really nasty stuff.

Muc Off managed to turn the shiny gloss red paint on my Giant to a very matt red effect in seconds. Now using Pedros, only on the chain and cassette.

Very interesting, any chance of a photo of the outer race inside the rocker housing ❓

Does it also have damage or were the bearings forced out via the inner/bore race only ❓

Very interesting, any chance of a photo of the outer race inside the rocker housing

Will do in daylight – but it appears the damage is inner only then wearing through the linkage plate too.

It occurs to me that the BB seized and was replaced in Les Gets too – not having much luck here!

Looks like maintenance issues, I’ve seen tyres go right through thick chain stays. The forks could be the bushes or more likely looking at the ware patterns lack of lubrication.

What will you do now for a bike?

For 26 times, read 26 weeks?

If you had a rental bike would you show it any mercy?

And why service it when you can sell it on as they have for what they paid trade?

You wont buy a hire bike again im sure

RE Forks, if Nicholi’s warrenty is as good as the peeps above say it is, what warrenty did the dealer offer?

Frame parts are now damaged due to bearing/bush replacement not being carried out when it should have.

The fork is the same story.

Over the 20+ rides you have had it,have you never noticed a bit of play in the pivots developing? Going by the state of those,i would guess that they may have started to “go” when you bought the bike.

The uppers show that they might have had bike cleaner around them and left stationary for that to happen.Either that or its been winter road use then left to dry out.demo bikes usually get a hard time when it comes to cleaning as they get washed far too quickly.. and to wash a bike quickly means turning the power of the hose or jetwash up a lot more than you would dream of doing to your own bike! Its usually someone that doesnt own the bike (possibly another shop thats blasted it to death to get it looking “clean” as quickly as possible)

They dont care,as long as its clean.

Still speak to nicolai and see what they can do. I’m sure they will sort you out something though if it is down toack of maintenance then they might charge you a bit. Just to give you an idea, stripping a bike down, sorting out an issues with the frame, new bearings and a new coat of paint costs £400 but then the frame is basically as new then.

Try your luck with the frame, but as regards the forks…if they work just run them. It might not look pretty, but you could try the old nail polish trick. If they hold oil (air?), it wouldn’t bother me, just chalk it up to life’s great learning curve. Intresting to see what they say re: the frame.
Classic example of why pressure washers should be given a wide birth. If the bearings have had the grease washed out & seized then something’s got to move, & that centre pivot looks like its bore the brunt.

Dazzlingboy – take it this was an ex-hire bike from Glentress hub? Just that the 26 ride reference rings some bells. Would be useful to know for people who might be considering buying an ex-hire bike like this.

I looked at doing so a few years back and IIRC they’re not cheap, even as ex-hire…

IIRC – washing up liquid is a really bad idea due to the salt content and it’s effect on unprotected aluminium parts; you’ve washed off the grease and replaced it with salt… oops.

I have heard of one other Helius AM with worn bushings… the owner who is a good friend of mine let his back end get sloppy and kept riding it like that for six months. When he came to service it he discovered that the wear was bad and traded the bike for a Helius FR which has bearings instead of bushes. I believe the AM was fixed up as all the damaged and worn parts were replaceable. This had me paranoid about sloppyness in my back end; I spoke to my dealer and got the details and hence in the year I’ve had my AM I’ve checked it frequently and nipped it up a few times. I’ll do a big service soon but I don’t expect to see any problems as I have seen no sloppyness.

I have another friend who managed to bend the linkage plates on his FR and this lead to some problems with wear and binding, but the problems were fixed with new linkage plates. Hopefully all the damaged parts on your AM can be replaced but I would be very surprised if this is warranty? I’m sorry but it looks like wear and tear from poor maintenance

PS. I don’t jetwash my bikes… I use water only and maybe a little citrus degreaser where and when I need it…. my bikes always look dirty 😛

Well, can’t fault Nicolai on their speed of response – emailed at about 7pm last night and I had a nice reply before midnight!

They can’t tell from photos what caused it or if it is a warranty job or poor maintenance or poor setup or whatever – so I’ve got to pack it off to Germany and we’ll see what the boys at Nicolai HQ say.

On the forks – yes as others say above I’ll have to live with them, but as they’ve been only been ridden maybe 20 times since they came back from the Magura service guys (and maybe 50 outings in total) I’d be surprised if lack of maintenance is the cause. But as I have no original receipt, I’ve no option to go for warranty – at least with the Nicolai they will consider the warranty claim.

What Taki says – Forks work fine so I’ll give them a bit of wet n dry and nail polish and keep on riding – once I have a frame to attach them to! I’ve certainly never used a jet wash on my bike, but I know hire places do, so maybe that is the root of the problem.

The frame looks like it’s suffered from a total disregard to basic maintenance. It’s very easy to check and adjust the bushes on the Helius frames but it’s obviously never been done on that one.

Looks like it’s got very slack and the free movement has trashed it.

As above the Nicolai repaint/refresh/renew service should get it back to new again but galling to have to shell out so much cash.

I struggle to believe that it’s only been hired out 26 times unless it was for a week at a time.

Looks like it’s got very slack

I certainly have never been aware of it being slack – at least during my period of ownership – and have always kept the pivots tight. But then again I’m no pivot expert!

Well – an update as I’ve heard back from Nicolai today.

It would appear that my frame is properly and definitely FUBAR. And as it was ridden while damaged, (thus potentially making the problem worse) they have thrown out my warranty claim.

I can’t believe that I caused this damage (unless the frame is made of cheese which it certainly isn’t) given the handful of times I rode the bike. I can only assume therefore that it had had a much harder life as a hire bike than I was led to believe when I bought it.

Alternatively the bike IS a dud one from the factory and the issue lies with Nicolai but I can’t see how I can prove that.

A total pi$$er. They are going to give me a quote to repair the damage which I can only assume is going to make my eyes water. We should have a sweep – guesstimate how much it’s going to cost me!

So that is going to make my ex-hire bike “bargain” a bit less of a bargain. Wish I’d just stumped up and bought a brand new one instead of being a cheapskate and trying to save a few quid.

Moral of the story. Don’t take anyone’s word for it when they tell you that the ex-hire bike has only been out 26 times and has been fully serviced each time etc etc unless you open the pivots/strip the forks and check it all out yourself.

I’m not Nicolai bashing BTW (just bought another CC frame from here) but I would agree with posts above that lack of maintenance is the issue – but not my lack of maintenance – lack before I bought it unfortunately.

Still – we’ll see what price they come up with!

Can you use what Nikolai siad to get a bit of recompense from the dealer? Or was it a “sold as seen?” In which case look a bit harder next time!

I think it’s probably time to name and shame the place you got it from…

Ouch. Bummer, mate.

So that is going to make my ex-hire bike “bargain” a bit less of a bargain. Wish I’d just stumped up and bought a brand new one instead of being a cheapskate and trying to save a few quid.

Aye, I have also learned this lesson over the years. Has not put me off second hand, but I am very fussy….

Can you use what Nikolai siad to get a bit of recompense from the dealer?

I could try but how can I prove I’ve only ridden it 20 odd times? They could say that for all they know I could’ve been razzing it 6 days a week in axle deep mud. Chalk it up to experience and as you say look harder next time!

I think it’s probably time to name and shame the place you got it from…

Agreed.

Did you do any maintenance in the 2 weeks you had it in the Alps? I reckon I could do well over a years worth of UK trail type suspension abuse within 2 weeks of uplift assisted Alps riding. If anything was very slightly unhappy then it would have been mullered after days and days of uplift beating. You can easily do 1000s of meters of rough downhill in a day out there. Should probably think about proper interim servicing when doing so much riding in one hit.

As you say, you should not take anyones word and have a proper look before use. Fingers crossed Nicolai feel for you and do the repairs at the cheapest possible cost.

Ouch, bad luck mate.

You’d better say where it came from I agree. It’s not about naming and shaming but making sure it doesn’t happen to anyone else.

That sounds pants, but i’d kind of side with Nicolai as the damage looks due to neglect to maintanance.

I would however be having some serious words with the people you bought the bike from as i woulod seriously doubt it is solely neglect by yourself. It doesn’t look like they have done any real maintance on it at all, maybe repaird the odd puncture or 2.

Hopefully Nicolai come back with a favourable price for the repair