'THE BEST LONG TRAVEL CROSS COUNTRY FRAME OUT THERE IN 2006'
Strengths: 1. You can sprint this bike 2. You can ride big hits fast 3. You can build a long travel bike for 26lbs 4. The build is phenomenal (welds and pivots are the best I've seen)
Weaknesses: Price The waiting (they are hand built and you have to wait months for one). Not as good as a downhill bike in the downhill (there is a Helius FR for that) but pretty close.
Overall: The best all mountain bike out there which doesn't compromise speed up hill or on the flats.
Having test ridden every bike going in the mid to long travel categories - I was deeply dissapointed in all the long travel bikes ability to be ridden quickly.
This bike allows you to sprint and have sufficient travel to simply glide over the biggest drops.
Strengths: Fabulously made, solid as a rock, good clearance, agile, stiff, loves being ridden fast & aggressively, looks bad ass.
Weaknesses: Logo not lacquered over.
Overall: I replaced my Klein Adept Pro with this frame. I got it in Slver Ano with a black logo, had a Fox RP3 fitted (I didn't like the DT Swiss shock) and built it up with the following: Fox Talas RLC forks, King headset, Easton bars, Shimano XTR Chainset, SRAM X0 mechs, Avid Juicy Carbon brakes and a Thompson seatpost. Wheels are Mavic rims with Hope hubs.
I love the bike; I really do. It's just a dream to ride. I'm far from a pro, but it just seemed to feel "right" from the outset. I've ridden it around Epping forest but also Mount Tam and a couple of other places in Northern California and it just seems at home anywhere. Rocks, mud, loam, leaves, roots, snow - The suspension sucks up pretty much anything I throw at it with no hassle - In fact, I never even think about what it's doing, which is the best compliment I could pay it. Part of this must be the RP3 but the shock and bike seem so well matched. It's very stiff and agile - You just put the power down and away it goes. Pretty amazing.
The faster I go and the harder I ride, the more the Helius appears to respond. It's nice to feel a real pay off from your bike when you do something a bit more ballsy than you normally would, or push the envelope a bit. It's given me a lot of confidence and more to the point, it's bags of fun.
Being German and hand made it is flawless. The anodized silver finish is a bit of a pain to clean (needs a brush) but it's hardly fair to call that a down side. The only issue I would have is that the logo is just stuck on, so it can come off easily. Apparently you usually end up replacing it once a year at a cost of about a tenner. That's pretty poor for a bike of this quality but then I bought it to ride, not look at and I'm really scraping the bottom of the barrel to come up with that one......
It's going to be a long time before I consider another frame, and when I do swap it will probably be for another Nicolai. Theyre not cheap, but quality costs money and I'd rather cough £1500 for a hand made German frame, than £999 for one that has been knocked up in a Taiwanese factory by a guy who has no interest in whether the frame's owner is going to enjoy it or not.
I can't urge you enough to get one of these out on a test and put it through it's paces; It's a great bit of kit. For a cynical git like me it's rare to have nothing bad to say about something, but having owned the bike since November and ridden the buggery out of it since then, I couldn't be happier.
Performance
100%
Reliability
100%
Value
100%
Overall Rating
100%
MY REVIEW
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Average Rating: 5 out of 5
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