Demoing this over the weekend
Nicolai Helius AC 650b in raw finish
Thanks Moonglu.
Very impressive think I might be sold 😀

Enjoy 😀

The AC range are fantastically capable bikes. I’m coming up for a year on my AC 29er and it still makes me grin like a loon every time I ride it……and nothing phases it, not even DH tracks. The new ION’s look bl**dy good too.

Really want to try an Ion 16 with that wheel size but it’s not going to happen 🙁 . Going to try an Ion 15 (29er) soon though 8)

Enjoy!

I’m with yetiman, my custom AC 29r is excellent, just not as good as my non custom AC 29r IMO.

That’d look good with some Pikes and a CCDBAir

That’d look good with some Pikes and a CCDBAir Devills and a Kirk

It will look good with some Pikes, CCDB CS air , and Enve rims 🙂
Now to decide on colours

Anodized orange, got to be !

Looked at that my CC is Red front black rear.

Quite like Ano bronze front ano black rear, or ano titanium with black rear or sea sick green or ……
This is the hardest bit with these.

Let us know if the trails come alive.

shredder – Member
Looked at that my CC is Red front black rear.

Quite like Ano bronze front ano black rear, or ano titanium with black rear or sea sick green or ……
This is the hardest bit with these

O had that dilemma. I cleverly solved the issue by having no colour at all. Best way to go with Nicolai.

Just out of curiousity did you find any truth in following comment from bikeradar’s review..?

The long wheelbase and back end mean it’s not a natural hop-and-pop machine though, and even with relatively light wheels it’s more plough-like than playful.

Im coming from a CC so it instantly felt more planted and stable coming down some interesting bits. Down to the more relaxed angles im sure, also haven’t had a bike with this amount of travel before.

It didn’t feel tank like to me was able to pop off lips and put it just where I wanted. But I have found the CC like that, for me out of all the bikes I have had the Nics seem to go just where you want them.

To sum up it felt bombproof, nice and precise and lively.

Maybe the trails came alive 😉 But picked up speed very quickly. Give it another ride tmrw over some local rocky rooty bits.

Another pic not the best.

Find my AC 650b a fun and playfull bike.
Looks good,rides well,Takes the Abuse.

Running Revs at the moment but my new Pikes just arrived,so will try and fit them next week.

Ion 16 is a stunning bike,Very tempted..Loved my old Ion ST Dh bike..And the Ion 16 looks like a perfect play bike,Looking at a 28.5 lb build with 1×11, Thats what Nicolai Germany’s Test/Demo bike weighs..

Nicolaisam, what size pikes did you go for? Am debating on whether to go for 150 as suggested by nicolai or up it to 160. Mostly ride aggresive xc so my thinking is that 150 might be a quicker repsonse. Any help would be good as I’ve got dipper ordering me 150 at the mo thanks
Andy

I do really like the look of Nicolai bikes, very purposeful or something (quite like the Ion 16). Also like Liteville bikes but will probably go with the YT Wicked 650b due to unbeatable value for money and rather limited funds.

ballas – Member

Nicolaisam, what size pikes did you go for? Am debating on whether to go for 150 as suggested by nicolai or up it to 160. Mostly ride aggresive xc so my thinking is that 150 might be a quicker repsonse. Any help would be good as I’ve got dipper ordering me 150 at the mo thanks
Andy

I have gone for the 160mm versions,Decided that 10mm would make very little difference so went for the longest travel.
They are here and still sat in the box..Havent had time to fit them.

What’s the build on that Ion 16 test bike, Sam?

^^ I wouldn’t mind knowing either! I’m ordering my Ion 16 650b next week, just struggling with colours lol!

HG thanks for getting back to my email!

Still struggling with colours here as well 😕

Haha, I think I’ve decided on final colour choice at least a dozen times 🙄

Got to be jagermeister with ano blue extra love.

Would love to get my cc done in this

Nice cable/hose tidy type thing. Like.

Honourablegeorge can’t remember exactly on the demo but its not carbon wheeled etc. XX1 but then generally standard non exotic stuff, hope hoops running flows, hope hardware, Pikes, Monarch piggy back when I was there.

If you specced it like my Ion15 maybe with Derby rims, tubeless, carbon bar, ESI grips, lightish saddle. XT brakes and decent weight pedals you should be looking around 27lbs even with chunky tyres.

Honourablegeorge can’t remember exactly on the demo but its not carbon wheeled etc. XX1 but then generally standard non exotic stuff, hope hoops running flows, hope hardware, Pikes, Monarch piggy back when I was there.

If you specced it like my Ion15 maybe with Derby rims, tubeless, carbon bar, ESI grips, lightish saddle. XT brakes and decent weight pedals you should be looking around 27lbs even with chunky tyres.

And is it a plough, nothing like exaggerated language, it has 7mm longer stays than the Bike of the moment the Bronson, which in the UK means mud clearance with a big tyre…the other wheelbase factor is a function of headangle and toptube length, and that’s a horses for courses trade off between flick ability and stability, depends what you like. Long, low , wide bar etc…all sorts of set up factors make such a difference..

philbert31 – Member

HG thanks for getting back to my email!

No worries.

Chainline – Member
Honourablegeorge can’t remember exactly on the demo but its not carbon wheeled etc. XX1 but then generally standard non exotic stuff, hope hoops running flows, hope hardware, Pikes, Monarch piggy back when I was there.

Interesting. I had mine at 31 (Crossmax SX, Deville, Vip’r, XTR 1×10, carbon bars, light saddle, reverb, HDs) but on a fairly ropey scale. Must weight it properly.

Honourablegeorge. The deville is a bit heavier than a Pike , just under 1lb in fact, ( love the deville damping tho. Still my favourite) . Carbon wheels even with a Hope would be 100ish lighter with a cxray spoke. Using something like DTSwiss another 100g. lighter than that. So 1.1/2lbs there. Most saddles, even claimed light ones are 250g. Whereas if your careful mid 170g is doable on someing like a Ti-Fly SDG or if you’re a bit sad like me 72 g for my carbon one (its the most comfortable saddle I’ve owned! The bugger is I’ve broke it and need to get another (my own fault when trying to re-lacquer it) dale not the best place to lose weight tho, no point if its not comfortable.

There is 100g in lock on Vs ESI grips, its easy to lose 75g with careful stem selection too (Pointone is very light but still very strong) whereas my Easton 35 is a bit of a brick!
Tyres obviously make a massive difference, 400g in a heartbeat between different size/make tyres and also brake discs. I run Magura storm SL, which are again about 100g lighter than a shimano pair but still one piece stainless and not skinny, but you can pay for it a bit in brake pulse at low speed.

Is a bit of an incremental gain in many ways. The last pound or two often needs careful thinking about and it never comes that cheap. Best value weight savings for me, grips & brake discs.

I should say I didn’t weigh the demo as a disclaimer…

There’s only 200/250g between the Pike and Deville, closer to 1/2 a pound. And the 100g thing with ESL grips is a bit of a myth – ESL quote 60g for their lighter grips, set of ODI lockons with clamps is 108g. I wouldn’t give up lock ons for 50g, love the Troy Lee grips I have.

TBH, I don’t think there’s much on the bike I’d swap for lighter stuff (XX1 aside). Am wary of rotors being too light. On Hans Dampf at the moment, been cutting them of late though, nothing that hasn’t sealed with tubeless and putting a bit of air back in, but I’d go heavier in tyres before I’d go lighter.What saddle are you on? Had a Ti-Fly before, but it frayed quickly and ended up with some sharp edges, binned it.

Got one of these stems – it’s a bit of a bargain, can be had on EBay for 50-60 quid, lighter than anything else out there, Ti bolts standard, and good for 800m bars and DH use – 122g in 50mm.

http://www.syntace.com/index.cfm?pid=3&pk=2050

Blimey, Wiggo to the thread”…..!

Nicolai germany’s build is

frame size L
Pike Solo Air
Monarch Plus RC3
Reverb Stealth 150mm seatpost
wheelset Hope pro 2, ZTR Arch EX (on the picture). We are a bit short on wheelsets at the moment but the Flow EX rim is already ordered.
XX1 groupset
X0 Trail brakes
Continental Rubber Queen 2.4 front
Continental Mountain King 2.4 rear

The prettiest Nic I ever saw was done in matt black, really brought out the detail in the frame while still looking a bit like a barbeque. If I could afford one, that’s what it’d be.

Like this ?

IMAG0406 by the_lecht_rocks, on Flickr

This thread has my mouth watering

My next bike will be an Ion 16 or an AC both with ‘that’ wheelsize’

Will be for Enduro racing as well as just ‘normal’ technical trail riding (same thing – I know)

Truly love Nicolai’s – my 8 year old CC and 7 year old FR are in superb condition. Wish I could test ride both options but will likely come down to a gut feeling . Nice problem to have I know 🙂

nicolaisam – Member
Nicolai germany’s build is

frame size L
Pike Solo Air
Monarch Plus RC3
Reverb Stealth 150mm seatpost
wheelset Hope pro 2, ZTR Arch EX (on the picture). We are a bit short on wheelsets at the moment but the Flow EX rim is already ordered.
XX1 groupset
X0 Trail brakes
Continental Rubber Queen 2.4 front
Continental Mountain King 2.4 rear

Hmm. Arch wheelset is probably a nice few g lighter than my setup, ans XX1 saves a bit, and the Pike.

I should buy a proper scale, and disappoint myself with it.

I’m a bit disappointed with Nicolai’s current XC/Trail line up. I was considering a replacement for my CC and wanted to stick with Nicolai in 27.5

120-130mm travel with 27.5 wheels. The TB is 29er in my size (medium) and the AC has more travel than I want.

I’ll probably just stick with my CC a bit longer for now and hope that they revise the range.

Might get Nicolai to weigh my bike for me, be the cheapest upgrade all year 🙂

Any ideas on how much more a painted frame weighs than an anodised frame

I had heard that because Nicolai does such a solid job on the paint work it could be approaching 1 lb. Seems high to me.

240g I believe….