give http://www.bikeflights.com a go

sent my Nicolai to Germany (one way admitedly) but it was fully insured for £2000

tracked, shipped and no problems at all – i posted on here a while ago about them

i would have thought from UK to UK they’d be cheaper and they do round trips too

Black forks would look ace, but i reckon the chain needs to match the pedals

you need to take the bearings out of the BB cup first, then take the dust seal off, the you will see one side of the adapter is more proment of the other side – get a flathead screw driver in there and prise it off, then with the other side a home made drift would work to tap the otherside out – i used an old set of handlebars with 4 cuts in the end to make a kind of small headseat extractor, bashed through with a rubber hammer

worked a charm

as my username would suggest – i fall off alot – and now have a full face helmet 😆

yep i’m one of those, i should have an XL frame, but i prefer a slightly smaller frame so i can chuck it around on the downhills and then the seat height doesn’t matter

if you are in the portsmouth area – visit the oakley factory store – its well worth a visit, you can pick up some stonking bargains

Psycleworx in Cotham is my go to shop for any mechanical issues

+ 1 for crazy-legs

funny coz its true

<<goes off to re-think riding terminology>>

BOOM! – IN THE FACE!

Nettles were brough to this country by the Romans, because the stings would bring them warmth – FACT!*

*i might have made this up

I have the parktools book and its excellent at explaining how something is done – but youtube is excellent at actually showing how things are donre, im my case it is monkey see, monkey do 😆

I send my Frame back to Germany (close to Austria – so figure its relavent) a month ago, i used http://www.bikeflights.com, who where excellent – i got an email at every transfer point and could track the frame all the way back to Nicolai, cost me £85 and that was tracked, 3-5 working days and fully insured for £2000

couple of things – the company is based in USA, so the time difference means they only reply afternoon evenining time, and once you have paid for the lables, they get emailed and can arrive next day so don’t panic about the little contact

in short everything worked perfectly and they even do round trips.

yeah sounds like there might be some air in the system somewhere, but they are so easy to bleed and a really good guide on youtube

since late 80’s:

had a kids bike that i learned to ride one, then donated to my brother to learn to ride and my first ‘proper’ bike was
a BMX – cannot remember which one, then i wanted a MTB
so had a couple of Ralieghs, the first one was stolen
then a Baracudda that was my first ‘new bike’ it had suspension, 27 gears and V-Brakes and it was amazing, bikes couldn’t get any better…
A Trek 3400 – my first bike with disks, replaced under warrenty by
A Trek 4900 – replaced with
Cannondale RZ120 (currently for sale)
my current bike is a Nicolai Helius AM
oh and my pub bike is an Allstars – circa 1997
so currently own 2 and a half bikes

Yellow in particular is a favorite of flies

i bought mine from Chainreaction as they were cheaper than Wiggle – they were £16 each if memory serves

yep drove to Carlise from Bristol and back (via a trail visit at Kielder) to buy my bike – 600 mile round trip

but my folks live in Hexham so i suppose its cheating as i stayed the night with them

I have a mate who rides a DMR on 24″ Wheels (yes they are definitely 24″) and single speed does CwmCarn, Afan, FoD with no problems at all – he is much slower than me – but still hits bigger jumps – but then he has more skill!

i’m sure you’ll be fine, just be prepared for a bumpy ride and to be travelling slower thatn the guys on the DH monsters – will certainly improve your line choice

no i haven’t only becasue it’s not actually on the threads, its actually wedged into the bottom bracket

sorry it is pretty difficult to explain and i don’t have pictures, but basically the its the inner bolt that pushes against the axle that is stuck, the actual bolt that screws into the crank arms is fine. the inner bolt is wedged inside the axle body

just rebuilding my Helius AM – jagemister orange and White Chainstays and white decals – god it looks good – cannot wait to ride it again

messiah – loving your work, very jealous

thanks guys – probably better to get new bearings

i’m a size 12 so am on the cusp, and its not a big market so not much choice

probably the best bet would be to call the companies direct and see if they have any suggestions, i suspect it will be expensive, but worth a shot

if the bearings are stuck can you re-lube them easy enough? or do i need new bearings?

yep – i have cleaned my bike in the bath – but its a real PITA – so now i ride with mates who have an outside tap, then road ride back with a clean bike and have an old heavy duty rug – to tincker and lube the bike on in the flat

works a charm

I dont really understand im sure the rotors have nothing to do with boiling your brakes, that is more to do with the callipers – you said in your OP that you had the V2 callipers, yet in the post above you mention X2 – im think,but the Hope website will tell you, but the X2 is for XC riding

so i hate to say it but you might need to upgrade

but if you want to run the brakes, then yes Mount G is the correct one to run 203 on the rear and you’ll need the 6-bolt adapter

less helpful answer – stay off the brakes 😆

+ 1 for the Nicolai’s

the Helius has adjustable rear travel though, which is pretty useful for shortening the travel around local trails, then big travel for Alpine trips – combine it with Lyriks or Talas and you have a massivly cabable do it all bike

it is heavy though, but as you are not competing cross country, you should be fine just work the legs more ;)!

and they have 5 year transferable warranty….

i’ve managed to crack the chain stays on my AM!!

it was second hand and i dont have the papwerwork and after the trouble i had when i broke my cannondale i was expecting a fight, but Simon at Nicolai UK has been ace and long story short the chain stays are being replaced under warrenty, with no problems at all!

Evans are doing 10% off at the moment

i had no end of problems with the BB30 on my cannondale, i absolutly hated it.

it might be the sleeve that holds the BB, rather than the cranks – the BB cups tighthen into the sleave, which is in turn held in place in the frame by loctite.

on mine the water got into the space between the sleeve and the frame and as the water pulls in the grit, combined with a spray of lube, the loctite perishes and then the whole crankset will wobble and will feel like the crank is loose – on mine the entire assembly came out of the frame half way down whites level

the good news is you don’t have to replace the BB and it doesn’t damage the crank or frame, but it is a pain to fix as you need a special tool to get the sleeve out, but your LBS should be able to do it no problem – see if the seller will knock £50 to get it fixed – or better still get him to fix it before you buy

having said all that – without seeing the bike i dont know if that is the case, but it was with mine, so you might want to see if the LBs will have a look at the bike first

Did he say why he can’t box it? are you sure he’s geniune and you are going to get a bike?

its very easy to go to a bike shop and ask for a bike box, they get them in most of the time. my LBS gave me a box with all the packing still in it, and it cost me a packet of biscuits and i’m sure somewhere on here, the mods had a pictures ofhow to wrap a bike

As woodycannondale said, the guy could go down to his LBS and get them to pack it

I bashed one out last night….guffaw, guffaw

seriously though, old seat post through the top of the steerer and rubber mallet bashing the nuts out the bottom combo worked a treat – new nut went in absolutly fine

no damage to the steerer or the forks, the star nuts will deform before the steerer!

My Nicolai Helius Am adjusts from 120mm to 160mm

currently in 140mm guise, so i am very baised but its a great bike

Impact 2s are fine in the wet, as long as you are not submerging your feet you’ll be ok. they shrug off the puddles i ride thorugh, and no problems with cold or wet, but i do only ride man made trails so can’t comment on natural riding, where the mud and puddles tend to be deeper

once i can afford some coil lyriks i will be totally happy with my bike and will never feel like replacing it

but

still read reviews as i like bikes and hey if girls are allowed to window shop……

carbon is way stronger and much lighter than alu, there is a vid in that there internet that will show the differences

For me though i’d always pick alu:

because i fall off a lot.
alu dents rather than cracks
also i like the feel of a heavy bike, it just feel s more study and solid, i know its all in my head, but confidence is 60% of the battle with riding

would get carbon for road and XC though

ha ha amazing, yeah will say hi

Sweet, thanks guys

boots do syringes for a quid

yep defintly bling factor

sounds like you really want the Nicolai – really not suprising, but then i’m biased – but you’d be equally happy with the Cotic, it is a nice looking bike and a £750 saving is a fair chunk of cash

i would see if you can test ride both (or all 4) decide which you like the best and if its still the Nicolai, trawl the classifieds and see if you can pick up a bargain – or put in some more overtime 🙂