Interesting

Nicolai Mojo

i saw that earlier, would love a nicolai again, you want to do me a favour again shredder……. 😀

Ha still time for me to call my favour back in yet Ton you is in debt 😉

it will be a pleasure mate.

Looks pretty awesome, the aftercare and set up days sound nice as well.

it is pretty cool, whats it for?
maybe im stuck in the oldskool geo mindset, but would a 63 head angle be ok for up and along or is it for the downs only, ie uplifted?

Meh, I believe TF tuned are doing a service whereby you can go on a test day with them so they can tune both the front and back to suit you.

I reckon I could buy a true custom Nicolai direct from them, get it in the color I want and then pop down to TF Tuned for a shit load cheaper. Especially if I went with a Pike up front with the Fast cartridge instead of the wildly expensive 36.

Also, have they upped the bracing/gusseting on that Nicolai? Stiffness goes down as frame length increases and that looks ridiculously long….

not buying it…need to try one first.

You’re gonna need a bigger van.

The package includes delivery via low loader

If that geometry is correct then why’s the saddle rammed right forward? Bollocks.

Looks pretty awful to my eye looks wise.

Soon to be stuck on a tight corner near you…

Awesome but it won’t fit in my car!

not buying it…need to try one first.

which is the whole point… you go to mojo, take your bike, do a few runs, time it, jump on the nicolai, get it set up, get used to it for a few runs, time it, and then see which you prefer…

they’re not going to be sold mail order, from what i know…

@Tom that TfTuned option sounds really good, but I can’t seem to find it on their site?

@Tom that TfTuned option sounds really good, but I can’t seem to find it on their site?

Give them a ring, can’t for the life of me remember where I’d read it.

The best one going was K9 industries a while back before they closed down, they’d hook your bike up to a full on telemetry package and take you riding. If I was spending 6 grand with one company on an aluminium bike, that’s the level of attention to detail I’d expect.

That bike begs to be ridden off things like a full on downhill bike, large step downs, doubles etc and based on experience with the frames my brothers managed to crack it wouldn’t last a year with that skinny tubing. These bikes will be great for serious enduro riders looking for a bike that will last a season, if you’re a park rider/ex-downhiller then I reckon you will have a cracked frame on your hands due to the riding that ridiculous geometry encourages. I hope the warranty is good.

That’s my feeling anyway and I could be totally wrong. Anwyay, I’d just buy an aluminium 2015 mondraker frame (the ones with the better bearings), whack an angle set on it and take it to Loco or Tf-Tuned for half the price.

Eeek, that one ugly looking bike, the closeup shots show some great workmanship though.
Interesting bike build/package concept.

That bike begs to be ridden off things like a full on downhill bike, large step downs, doubles etc and based on experience with the frames my brothers managed to crack it wouldn’t last a year with that skinny tubing. These bikes will be great for serious enduro riders looking for a bike that will last a season, if you’re a park rider/ex-downhiller then I reckon you will have a cracked frame on your hands due to the riding that ridiculous geometry encourages. I hope the warranty is good.

The tube diameter only tells you the approximate ratio of stiffness to weight. It doesn’t tell you how stiff a frame is and it definitely doesn’t tell you how strong a frame is!

For example, the downtube on my old Boardman XC bike is huge, much bigger than the downtube on my Spitfire (6″ enduro thing). Do you think the Boardman is stiffer? No, because the tube walls are much thinner.

And the strength of a tube depends much more on the actual amount of material in it, not the diameter. In fact if you increase the diameter without increasing the amount of material then the walls get thinner and increase the chance of buckling failure.

For £6K, you’re getting a Nicolai frame, 2 sets of MAvic wheels, 3 chainrings… it’s almost reasonable.

Hopefully you don’t have to take that hideous mudguard.

Tom_W1987

That bike begs to be ridden off things like a full on downhill bike, large step downs, doubles etc and based on experience with the frames my brothers managed to crack it wouldn’t last a year with that skinny tubing. These bikes will be great for serious enduro riders looking for a bike that will last a season, if you’re a park rider/ex-downhiller then I reckon you will have a cracked frame on your hands due to the riding that ridiculous geometry encourages. I hope the warranty is good.

Five year transferable warranty that covers racing.

For some reason it reminds me of this:

It’s pretty much the ultimate test of the theory that a longer wheelbase=having more of your weight between (rather than above) the wheels and is akin to a lower centre of gravity, as I was trying to convey in the reach/stack thread:

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/getting-my-head-round-reach-stack-after-years-of-effective-top-tube

That said, I reckon it’d be a pig on switchbacks and manuals and 360s would be out of the window.

Tom_W1987 – Member

it wouldn’t last a year with that skinny tubing.

Nonsense. Thaeir bikes are massively strong, are made form a different alloy to most alu bikes (hence the straight tubes, the alloy doesn’t like forming or bending) and can internally reinforce them (this is a factory option), not to mention the welding and gussets.

Ac you suggested, you’re totally wrong.

360s would be out of the window

I’m oot 😉

That said, I reckon it’d be a pig on switchbacks and manuals

It would seem that folks aiming to win Enduros have a different technique to us mortals and unweight the rear end to such an extent that length may not be as large a factor.
Watching some videos of the french riding switchbacks during competition is eye-opening.

Looks like some sort of roadkill on the front wheel.
I like the idea of tuning days. Setting up the suspension with an expert on hand could be useful.

Is it that radical?

large alpine 160: 1230 wheelbase + 65deg + 348 BB height

compared to the ‘longer’ one: 1290 + 63 + 340

Bugger all difference and probably near enough the same if you had a slackset on the alpine.

Even my 2 year old 140mm (29er admittedly) trail bike is 1185 wheelbase. Any cornering related problems I have are not down to the bike. DH bikes are the same length or longer and make it around switchbacks even with triple clamps.

I’d try one if I wanted a bike for mainly downhill and I had the cash.

Is this the same spec. bike Jones tested in dirt?

Powa mudguards although pricey and ugly if that’s really an issue, are the best guards on the market by a long way been using one since they came out.

Have ridden longer and slacker bikes, switchbacks aren’t a issue it’s just takes a bit to change your riding style to match the bike.

As a package it’s would be nice if you have the money as it’ll make the customer feel ‘special’.

Thing is you with it being almost twice the price of a Capra a lot of people will have trouble seeing past that. (shame the YT’s don’t come in big enough for me)

That is one ugly biek – I know that’s not the most important, but if your’re dropping £6k on a bike, you want it to look good.

I was wondering how long it would be before Mojo / Porter put their money where their mouth is given how vocal he has been about the geometry issue.

LoCo – Member

shame the YT’s don’t come in big enough for me)

They have XLs now – in Aluminium, at least.

Looks like a Liteville 601

Would have to be a carbon if was in the market for one, just bought a new house so no new bikes for a while… 😉

Nonsense. Thaeir bikes are massively strong, are made form a different alloy to most alu bikes (hence the straight tubes, the alloy doesn’t like forming or bending) and can internally reinforce them (this is a factory option), not to mention the welding and gussets.

Ac you suggested, you’re totally wrong.

I’m still not entirely sure, most aluminium downhill frames are much heavier than this, even without a shock. I’m not an engineer, why is this aluminium so much stronger? How much stronger is it compared to the usual alloy?

But I am cynical and I’d love to see a long term test/here feedback from people who have bought one. I’m not going to be the first to try though.

Does the 5 year warranty just cover enduro racing, or does it cover hitting up full on downhill tracks as well?

The tube diameter only tells you the approximate ratio of stiffness to weight. It doesn’t tell you how stiff a frame is and it definitely doesn’t tell you how strong a frame is!

For example, the downtube on my old Boardman XC bike is huge, much bigger than the downtube on my Spitfire (6″ enduro thing). Do you think the Boardman is stiffer? No, because the tube walls are much thinner.

And the strength of a tube depends much more on the actual amount of material in it, not the diameter. In fact if you increase the diameter without increasing the amount of material then the walls get thinner and increase the chance of buckling failure.

Great post cheers, always happy to learn new things.

If that geometry is correct then why’s the saddle rammed right forward?

This +1

Powa mudguards although pricey and ugly if that’s really an issue, are the best guards on the market

But they’re not. The best that is, they are expensive and they are very, very ugly. And it is an issue when better looking (ie smoother, lower profile, less IN-YOUR-FACE-UGLY) ones that are just as good are available for less money.

“Nonsense. Thaeir bikes are massively strong, are made form a different alloy to most alu bikes (hence the straight tubes, the alloy doesn’t like forming or bending) and can internally reinforce them (this is a factory option), not to mention the welding and gussets.”

I had one once. Bent it within 6 months. Not covered by warranty even though I had no idea how I did it.

Is it rammed all the way forward though? Look like the ‘seated’ position is directly over the BB, which I was under the impression this is the correct position to be in… Just because were all used to seats rammed all the way back (mine included), it looks weird I reckon

But they’re not.

The comment was based purely on the functionality I.E keeping mud off the bike & out my face, all mudguards look a bit crap TBH.

So much to answer…Having had one very close to that for a year now (Mine is steeper HA at 65/slacker ST at 74.5) its easy to make judgements before riding one. It isn’t for everyone thats for sure but for some you wonder how you rode anything else.

As Loco said, switchbacks aren’t a problem, neither is frame stiffness. A large Alpine is over 30mm shorter, the XL is close, but I’m 5’10 so the seat tube is ridiculous on an XL.
My bike has a 430mm Seat tube but 665mm ETT with a 200mm dropper post, 30mm stem, just gone up from a 10mm as I wanted more reach..this means you can get very low between the bike on steep stuff, you don’t need to hang off the back and lose all that braking traction on your front wheel.

8mm in BB height is a big difference in feel. swopping between low and high is 10mm different BB height as well as head angle and makes a huge difference in how it rides as well as impacting pedal strike-ability….340mm is as low as practical in my view and on some terrain I’ve had to lift mine.

It pedals well, definitely not just for DH but it does excel on fast, technical and steep terrain.

Frame price for a Nicolai even Custom is not wildly different from a Santa Cruz.

As for durability, much of the weight is derived from the front end and the travel, upping the front fork travel results in stronger, heavier downtube, possible gussetting, heavier top tube, same scenario at the rear, which is why your DH bike in alloy is heavier…220mm or more of travel is a lot more than 160mm/170mm.

Nicolai do the analysis for you if you want bigger forks etc and wont sell you a frame that isn’t durable just because you want it lighter…I have had requests refused on that basis….

Is it rammed all the way forward though? Look like the ‘seated’ position is directly over the BB, which I was under the impression this is the correct position to be in…

If that was the case, bikes would have a 90 degree seat angle, which would make for some interesting ergonomics…

… really…

seated directly over the seatpost is what I meant, a mistype, I apologise

I wouldn’t be surprised if the seat is all the way forward. This bike is designed to be ridden fast, down hill, stood up with saddle dropped…. And no geometry compromises for anything else including saddle position.

Having the seat all the way forward is just a necessary adjustment made to a long wheelbase bike to facilitate it’s secondary function…… Peddling back to the top of the hill.

That’s how I run my seat. Much better seated climbing. No other drawbacks as that’s the only time I’m in the saddle. Quite a few friends who’ve tried it have adapted their own setups accordingly, especially the ones with longer tts.