I had a similar experience today, I must have encountered 20 or so mutts within minutes of riding! Two groups were obviously dog walking businesses, letting up to a dozen dogs roam all over the trail, it looked like something out of a shite Disney film. One dog was blind and decided to follow me instead of the walker so I stopped to let the walker catch the dog. As I did so it walked completely oblivious into the rear of my tyre. The next dog walking business had a large brown dog that decided to glance my calf with its teeth and tried to pursue me. By now I was getting fed up of riding through the set of 101 Dalmations and realising that I would be unable to outrun the large brown dog wanting to “play” with my legs due to the amount of dogs and people, so did the next best thing. I skidded to a halt dropped the bike and turned to face the mutt, arms wide and giving off serious violence vibes. The dog stopped in its tracks and ran off, having to be caught by the walker. The bloke said “that’s one way of dealing with it” Sometimes dogs just want a chase, when you stop and face them, make yourself big, make lots of noise and ultimately be prepared to scrap. Don’t kick a biting dog, grab its neck and pin it down, it will make it mad as hell. So be prepared to really squeeze until it goes away. Nasty I know but I’m not ending up in A&E with no tendons on my calf, I’d rather take it down. I’m not a dog hater. I just cannot tolerate fools who cannot be ar*ed to control their dogs.

On the matter of carbon forks making the ride comfy, I thought that and used to use On-One carbon forks. Then I switched to a pair of Salsa Cro-moto’s and found that they were just as comfy and better at tracking and didn’t flutter under hard braking like the carbon forks.

Okay I’ll answer you. I’m similar in weight and in my experience over the years I reckon it comes down to how you ride and the skill of the wheel builder. I’ve regularly seen people much lighter than me trash wheels because they have no finesse. I’ve had wheels that are supposed to be bombproof unravel themselves within 2 days of riding. Only you will know if you are the rider who regularly dings and bends rims. Then you need to get a trusted wheelbuilder to build them.

Unlike Thorpie, Hillsborough is my patch. I’ve left a voicemail message for the owner, hopefully he will call me so I can get this thieving toerag myself.

Ian, admirable intentions that man, well done if you pull it off. Like I said, I wasn’t having a go at you, just others like you, but not you. If you know what I mean. As for the German hand built frame and Kashima coated forks, pfft, cheap as chips eh?

TJ, isn’t this kind of excursion with the charity bit stuck on the end just to alleviate the guilt felt by the rider as he pedals in the poorest country in the world on one of the most expensive bikes in the world… Not having a go Ian, good luck to you, enjoy it.

Now then, this is rumbling along nicely and everyone will soon forget the OP. The way I see her comment is that the encouragement of communities based purely on race with “leaders” leads to social division. When really we should be working towards integration and viewing communities as a whole no matter what race you are. Her idea of it being a white persons ideal is based on the past, when in fact my experience is that the continued division of communities based on race is something that is pursued by people in Equality Commisions and so on. Keeps ’em in a job.

I have worked three forces so far, starting with the Met, which was an eye opener where it was considered normal practice to get in peoples faces all the time. Then to West Mercia, where I had my first and only (so far) intervention with colleagues who were about to make an unlawful arrest, just because they couldn’t take the banter (which they started). Finally I’m in South Yorks and on the whole it is a much better place for the standard of officers. So maybe there is something in making your way north and coppers chilling out a bit. Now if we could just sort out the top brass, willy waving and bragging every run up to Xmas about which force will record the most breathalyser tests, a right pain in the backside that is.

The Soul is so aptly named, I sold my original one after 6 trouble free years, then had to get another one due to my FS breaking after a year. Riding it again made me realise that it is the best bike I have ever owned, it really is my Soul.

My last post, as the frame has provisionally been sold. The bike was only ever out of my sight while it was hung by the front wheel in my garage and on one occasion while at work, where it was in an office where nothing heavy enough could have been loaded onto it (I would have noticed immediately) The bike was never transported in a horizontal fashion, my car allows it to be stood upright. It has not been packed in a bike bag and taken on a flight (I wish!) There were no impact marks where the strut was bent. The strut was never fully examined other than a straight rule put against it and photographed with the report “bent… must have hit something”. I asked how much load would be required to bend it without leaving a mark, such as someone standing on it for example, never answered. If folk think that this is a reasonable way of concluding your business with a valued (?) customer then we will surely end up with the customer service that we deserve.

TJ, I have never argued that the offers for repair were unreasonable but when it is for repairing something that has not been subjected to damage what then? What has irked me throughout this whole affair is that I naively thought that having spent 2.5K with the company that when I was presented with a claim that I knew I couldn’t prove, and one that they couldn’t disprove, that the benefit of the doubt would have been applied.

I hoped that Simon at Nic UK would have fought my corner with Germany (Something along the lines of “Hey guys I know this is a strange one, I’ve not seen something like this before but can we do a special deal, the guys bought two frames off me and he may buy more stuff in the future?”) This is not an unusual way of doing business, hell I’d say it is the norm if you want to keep customers.

It took *me* to contact Germany, I don’t even know if they read my e-mails as they never answered my questions or acknowledged any of the contents. It was Germany that offered the better deal for replacing two upper struts for £130 after chasing them up after a month of waiting. When I told them to proceed with the work I got an e-mail two days later to say that it was done and on its way back to me! Just how long would I have had to wait if I didn’t chase them up?

You can talk until the cows come home about the business model you work within, but if you can’t grasp cordiality and customer retention is something your’e not prepared to “take the hit for” then maybe a lesson from the likes of Silverfish, On-One etc is required.

SBZ, if your kids are scared of dogs then it will attract them I’m afraid. Scared people give off the right pheremones to a natural pack hunter like a dog. Heres a little story of my own. I used to ride past this farm which had a crazy ground missile of a snarling angry border collie chasing me every time I went past. I got fed up of this and one day decided to confront the dog. Prior to confronting the dog I thought about typical testesterone activities, fighting and shagging, and got off my bike when the dog came and shouted “come on” to the dog. It stopped and ran off. Never bothered me again.

B r probably because I didn’t **** my frame

Nice isn’t it Hora? I have worked retail before my current job, and that retail was in various bike shops. I have seen people with £300 bikes receive better and swifter customer service than I did.

If I ever find myself with the funds to buy another FS, it will be something from a large brand or maybe something that Silverfish bring into the UK!

At the end of the day the most important thing here is that *I know* that I have not subjected the frame to any horizontal loading while the rear dropouts were braced. That being the only explanation offered by Simon at Nicolai UK. That I am 100% sure of. So if standing by what you know is true, even though you know that you cannot prove this makes you an awkward customer, someone who shouldn’t be given the benefit of the doubt then thats my fate.

“sorry, I’m a straight speaking Northerner, welcome to the world of cultural diversity” <face palm>

billyboy: I have learned that money does not represent strength.

I fully understand the issues of proving my case and that of the manufacturer, my job consists of dealing with people who lie all day long. I just feel extremely let down by a German QC frame, considered overbuilt, that didn’t last as long as a £500 steel HT. Although I would say that just because you are a small firm, that it is more important to consider customer service than a large firm. I also don’t agree with the view that a fault must show itself within the first week or so of riding, metal fatigue takes time to fail does it not?

Just for the record this is the first time I have *ever* had cause to complain to a bike manufacturer over such an issue. First time in 22yrs of biking <shakes head>

Sorry for the absence guys, had to go and work my unsociable hours job :-(
Some interesting comments on here, especially Nicolai UK being unwilling to “take the hit” in regards to my “warranty claim” I guess this is my major disappointment, that after my supposedly bombproof overbuilt engineers wet dream of a bike breaking in less than a year.

There are several bike models out there that are like the car equivalent of Aston Martins, 911’s etc, they turn your head, if they are parked up you go and look at them, touch them and go “wow”. I considered the Nicolai to be one of those, its a prestige frame.

I found myself having the advantage of a one off bonus payment from work (and seeing how the economy is screwed I figured it would be the last for a good while) and decided to go for the Helius after much research on t’internet.

When I was told that it was faulty, this was after weeks and weeks of trying to establish what was wrong with the bike. I changed wheels and brakes in an effort to eliminate all possible causes. When I took the bike to 18 bikes I was a defeated man, broken and fed up. When I was told the rear end was bent, I felt physically sick inside. This was my one off payment prestige frame. My Aston Martin had a knackered chassis.
I had bought two Aston Martins, I was that happy with them. Did that make any difference to my cause with Nicolai UK? Nope.

The reason for my 2 week silence with Nicolai was because I was on holiday. I was told to send the bike to Germany 1 week before I went to North Wales, I was hoping to take my Helius. I frantically sourced a 2nd hand Soul (I had sold my original as I was convinced the Helius was “the” bike) and built it up to take on holiday.

I don’t consider my questions to Nicolai UK to be unreasonable seeing as I was told I “must have” hit something, something that would bend the strut and not leave a mark. The bike has not been transported in a horizontal fashion while I have owned it. I have been mtb’ing for the last 22yrs, and I have owned many bikes, trashed many bikes and been involved in the business of frame building. I consider myself to have a reasonable idea of how a frame while in my possession could be damaged. It was at this point that Simon directed me to question Nicolai in Germany, who never answered the questions. Karl Nicolai told me that his sales manager would sort the matter out. After a month of waiting for a reply I contacted the sales guy and that when he made the offer.

Either Nicolai UK were being treated badly by Nicolai in Germany and just passed it on, or I just got unlucky. Either way both Nicolai’s are going to be sold, one has never been ridden.

Z11, you are not STW version of Jeremy Paxman. You are a troll. Get back under your bridge.

Ultimately though this whole matter has been a learning experience. Recently watched Batman Begins “Why do we fall Master Wayne? To learn how to get up” I bought a frame that even without the shock was easily three times the cost a a Cotic Soul. I owned a Soul for 6 yrs without incident, and was for the most part my only bike. Did it develop an unusual deformation with no obvious sign of impact? No.

Did I really enjoy my biking to the power of 3 when I rode this bike? Occasionally yes. Was it worth it for the grief of this after less than a year? No.

Will I be returning to purchase 2K frames to pedal around the Peak district when a £500 HT is sufficient? I don’t know.

“but in the end he did buy direct from Nicolai, and got a significantly reduced price in return… what the lord giveth, the lord taketh away.”

Ultimately is this the answer? Don’t buy direct from Nicolai UK? What about any warranty issues stemming from purchases from dealers?

Z11, thats a black and white answer to a matter of varying shades of grey. Mrs Soulwood received her Helius CC one week before she came down with mycoplasma pneumonia. One year on and she can manage a 30 min walk. So by your reasoning, if on her first ride it developed a fault then she’s had it has she? Customer service is about dealing with people, not robots.

The difficulty is in assessing bike usage in pure terms of how long you have owned it. How many people use their FS every day? every weekend? especially when you have family and work commitments? I estimated that I had ridden the Helius less than 10 times in the 12 months I owned it, due to factors mentioned above and an illness over the winter. I have a rigid 29er for commuting duties and for rides where the FS was “over biked” so the Helius didn’t get used that much. But its just my word against theirs isn’t it? It’s for a business owner to weigh up whether they think its worth giving the benefit of the doubt to a (valued?)customer or to treat him like a child.

Sancho, fully aware of these facts, and also aware of the fact that Nicolai UK have used this knowledge to their (short term) benefit. I for one would not recommend the customer service from Nicolai UK.

Sancho, I agree that the quoted repair costs are reasonable, something I said to Nicolai UK from the beginning. However the bike while in my possession never received an impact to the right strut and has never been crushed while in storage or transport with a load that I would consider would have to be substantial to deform it. My question was could the tubing be at fault? Just because it didn’t fail catastrophically on day one of riding it doesn’t rule it out. Simon at Nicolai even admitted that he had never seen such an issue with any of the frames he had sold, but still refused to accept that it may be faulty!

I felt bad for 18 bikes, it was those guys that pointed me towards the Nicolai brand in the first place as they had just become dealers. I was limited to a frame that could match a 100mm fork as I couldn’t afford a new fork as well. I went on the Nicolai UK website and saw the CC’s for £1250 (usually at 2K with shock). I contacted them expecting that they would send it to 18 bikes for me to buy. But it was sold to me directly, and then I was told to take it to them to inspect for a possible warranty issue!

I usually start off any query with companies in a co-operative manner, and then if I have to get stroppy I can use such facts in the final case. However in this instance I just cannot be a***d to waste my time on this shower anymore.

Anyone interested in a large black & white Helius CC, due to arrive in the UK soon? Complete with a 4 yr warranty?!?

Oh and not take nearly 3 months to resolve it and not expect you to pay to send it to the manufacturers for them to inspect as well.

Crush damage seems the obvious answer, except when it is in storage it is hung by the front wheel. I tried to ascertain what level of load would be required to deform the strut without leaving a visble impact mark (in my mind the only thing that could do this is being run over by a car in a RTC) but this was not answered and I was told to ask Germany. They didn’t answer it either.

I haven’t been trying to pull a fast one, if I stack a bike and its mangled, fair enough I’ll pay to have it repaired. But in this case I bought two bikes from Nicolai UK (one for Mrs Soulwood) and as such I would have expected a “benefit of the doubt” to be applied rather than the “Its been hit pay up” response. I can’t help but think that if I had bought a Trek or some other brand then they would have weighed up the customer service/satisfaction side first.

aren’t you allowed to be homophobic if that is part of your religion?

Depends on your religion…

I had a horrible dream a few weeks ago where I fell into some kind of well, that was just like a large pipe in the ground with no brick structure on the top. I remember the feeling of the cold water and the inability to climb out as the sides were smooth and slippery. I woke up sweating and thought how awful that would be if it was for real. Imagine my surprise when two days later on the BBC news website I saw how a young Chinese kid had fallen into an exact looking well, luckily he was rescued. Dreams are freaky.

(Mrs Soulwood here)

Just read this thread with interest as I am 15 months into my recovery from Mycoplasma pneumonia. I was fortunate that my GP took blood samples to check for mycoplasma and diagnosed it. It is resistant to the antibiotic which another GP prescribed which means it went unchecked for even longer in my system, causing more havoc. People told me to rest and I did, for me, which meant walking around the park / moors with the children and avoiding mtbing.

Six weeks after the initial onset of the pneumonia and I was still unable to walk further than around the house and I was a moody zombie. My GP diagnosed Chronic Fatigue Syndrome which has been caused by the mycoplasma.

I really hope you don’t end up going down the route I have. If I could have my time again I would have rested much more to let my body fight this ugly bug off, rather than fighting to keep myself active.

Some really useful advice I’ve had is to stop before you get tired, and take very small increases in exercise (i.e. increasing a walk by one minute at a time).

Since I’ve become ill I’m amazed at how many 30-somethings have had pneumonia and everyone says it’s a long process to recover. As for when you’ll ride again, worry more about getting better first, life without a bike isn’t so bad, although I do miss mine and hate looking at it all dusty in the garage when my husband comes home all muddy and sweating with a big adrenalised grin on his face!

Here’s mine, I returned to the Soul after owning an original for 6 years, without incident and with lots of good biking memories. Got FS curious and plumped for “the best engineered frame you could buy” which lasted 6 months before breaking. Back to the soul then, and it’s interesting after riding an FS then back to the Soul to see how they compare. Needless to say the Soul, despite costing 1/4 of the FS, is a supremely better bike.

Me and my brother loved the Terminator 1 & 2, and when we left home and began to move around different addresses would always call up and say “Give me address there” in our best Austrian cyborg from the future voice. Heh, we laughed anyway.

KZP, is that an older XL model?

Had mine done a couple of years ago. Bloody horrible. Can’t remember what was worse, the anaesthetic injections not working when the female doctor made the incision, or that same doctor asking me to sign the disclosure form before the op, the part which read “A small minority of cases may result in permanent intense testicle pain”

I would love to go back to a time when all of England was woodland, probably Medieval times. Just how awesome would it be to ride Sheffield to London and back on singletrack! Only problem would be avoiding all the robbers and Dick Turpin.

This is my second one, first one lasted me 6 years before I succumbed to temptation and bought an FS and sold my Soul. Didn’t realise that I had actually sold my Soul so bought another 18 months later. Running it with 120mm forks and its nice to have my Soul back again.

A return to a Soul for me, after having a brief affair with an FS.

In reply to the OP’s post, I think the same probably goes for MTB mad blokes trying to make small talk with blokes whose idea of exercise is pulling the ring pull off a can of lager after walking to the fridge. If your’e not obsessed with a bunch of overpaid mincers kicking a ball about for 90 mins, and not interested in discussing the finer points of telesales middle management theres not much to say.

I’ve previously owned a Mk1 Soul, and that was with a Salsa shaft seatpost. It needed an initial tweak of tightness of the seat q/r after the first ride but that was all. However this time on a newer Soul, the seatpost needed several tightening tweaks, which I thought was probably due to the gloss surface of the post. I did have a 31.6 spike in a Helius which showed no signs of slippage from the get go. I also examined the fractured area to see if I could find a dark spot, to suggest that a crack was present for some time, there isn’t, it just failed catastrophically.
Okay so I wasn’t on Curbar Edge, I haven’t been there before and after checking the map I was on Baslow Edge, just got to the bottom, slowed down looking for the gate to the lane sat down then ‘pink’ (luckily not followed by a brown) The Thomson layback post fits nicely though, had to back off the q/r which may suggest the spike was undersized?