[springfish]

Howdy all. This is my first full season riding Nicolai bikes, (UFO and Nucleon ST). I have to say that I'm totallly in love! Both bikes are exceptional for every task I force upon them. Aside from slow service (Danny where's my UFO replaceable dropout?) I couldn't ask for more.

ON the other hand...

Last year I recall a lot of the team riders talking about their Nucleon's with great praise. This year, I haven't seen many people talking about the Mpire very much. I've rode one 2 months ago and thought it felt great.

How do the Mpire owners out there feel about them? Any mid-season reviews?

 

[Orvan]

Last year I recall a lot of the team riders talking about their Nucleon's with great praise. This year, I haven't seen many people talking about the Mpire very much.

I'd love to do a "review" on my well ridden Vam-Pire but that's doing public service for Danny and that's just distasteful. :redX:
But!!!..
-it's great to be back on the Dorado
-loving every single minute of the new Romic shock
-and definitely am an E13 SRS devout now...
.if that counts?

fronj

 

[adrenalinerush]

Yea,

I should be getting mine hopefully in a couple of weeks, thats if they stay on schedule deadline :/, bad luck so far deadlines. I cant stand waiting, last night I honestly I had a dream were i got the frame, and it was the wrong color, had a scracth in the paint, and wrong size. It was truly a nightmare.

Ovren did you ever get the measurement of the Ringle hub that comes with the hub, Im still waiting for my hub and I want to get my spokes before I get my frame.

 

[Freak]

Love the bike and the way it rides, but HATE the company and his US distributor.

 

[Orvan]

last night I honestly I had a dream were i got the frame, and it was the wrong color, had a scracth in the paint, and wrong size. It was truly a nightmare.

Rabie is wishing that his nightmare is just that bad... Talk about frankensteining a frame..

About the hub, do you just need the spoke length??? Danny gave you all the hub info he leeched off of me before he dogged us.. but if you need just the spoke length, the length (I think) is relative to what rim you will be running. I really wish Nicolai had a better dealer in the US.

 

[adrenalinerush]

Naw I never got any of that info he got from you guys, interesting.... But i dont need the hub info anymore, because supposly I got an email saying the hub is leaving Ringle this Mon, so hopefully everything goes good and I will recieve my hub in soon, and then my frame "i just hope, fingers are crossed"

That sux you guys didnt have a good expierence with the rep, hopefully he reads some of the stuff that your write and sees that he might want to change a few things. The bikes looks so nice that would be unfortunit(sp) if the custmer service didnt macth it. But all in all I have no complaints about the service/rep, he has speedy replies and I like that, "MY FINGERS ARE STILL CROSSED, AND IM KNOCKING ON WOOD"

Randy

 

[punkassean]

What happened with Danny? I just realized that I haven't seen any posts by him in a long time? Fill me in...

 

[Rabie]

Rabie is wishing that his nightmare is just that bad... Talk about frankensteining a frame..

At least the I can ride the frankenbike. At this point, that feels like I won the lottery.

 

[spookydave]

What happened with Danny? I just realized that I haven't seen any posts by him in a long time? Fill me in...

Yeah, that and all the cheerleading has seemed to have stopped.

Wassup with Danny?
I will say he's a nice guy face to face. Never done any biz with him though.

 

[MikeD]

At least the I can ride the frankenbike. At this point, that feels like I won the lottery.

You have a bike again? That's frankin' cool... I'm sure Supergo is upset at your change of sponsor, however.

MD

 

[Everybody]

I dont post here much but I was all set to buy a Nicolai bike then I heard all these horror stories about Danny and his shady business practices so I backed of. Its to bad because I think Nicoali bikes are the coolest bike designs but I dont want to get ripped off either. mybe they will get a new distibutor and things will turn out better.

 

[punkassean]

what shady biz? I am curious to know what happened?

 

[UiUiUiUi]

whats up with danny up to this year i allways thought he was doing a good job as a distributor.

what happened?

 

[Everybody]

ok I've lurked here for a long time. I'm just not a big long time poster. So you can beleive me or not. But I know that he really gave rabie, Mike D and a few others a pretty raw deal. You might also want ot check with Freak who posted about it ojn here. Delayed shipping, changing prices, empty promises and so forth. I don't want to spread any mis-information so maybe the victimized people will speak up.

 

[MikeD]

I wouldn't call myself a victim. I did have some major delays in 2 frame deliveries, I'll say that much.

I think we should let anyone who has had problems speak for themselves if they so choose...I prefer not to discuss such business on the Internet. If I'd have felt completely ripped off, I would have no such compunctions.

 

[Edvard]

For all those who live in Canada; try to contact Atrokz from Pinkbike etc.: nicolai_canada@hotmail.com. Angelo really does care about customer service and I'm pretty sure you can't go wrong with him.

 

[Toshi]

For all those who live in Canada; try to contact Atrokz from Pinkbike etc.: nicolai_canada@hotmail.com. Angelo really does care about customer service and I'm pretty sure you can't go wrong with him.

there's something fishy about using a hotmail account for business. also, assuming you just changed your sn slightly, where are my monster t springs?

 

[BMXman]

I prefer not to discuss such business on the Internet.

I agree if people have problems then they need to work them out between one another and not here, online in a public forum. I think it's completely unprofessonal to air one's business here....To do so only creates flame wars and damages both parties credibility. It's one thing to warn someone if you suspect someone of shady business but unless you have hard proof it really doesn't belong on here....JMO.

I'm not writing this because I ride for Nicolai either I would say the same thing about any other company........D

 

[springfish]

ANYONE looking for a Nicolai should just contact Karl directly in Germany. There's no better person to deal with then the man behind the curtain.

 

[Guess?Who]

I don't know Danny personally, only over the phone or emails and he has been very helpful with all my needs and inquires . I think the only thing that sucks about the company or distrubution is the exchange rate for the high euro, oh and also the dropouts that everyone wants. We shouldn't point fingers at one individual person for changes in price or delayed shipping, actually it is none of our business . I would like to get back to Springfish's thread because I rather read about M-Pire reveiws. Can we take the thread even further and add in some Helius FR reveiws and pics. I'm thinking about building one up for next season.
If you want my early Nicolai reveiw, I'm loving :heart: my Nucleon and Ufo, especially after a few races where I can pin point what fine tuning and upgrading need to be done. On the Nucleon I already switched out the Romic for an Avy w/ a Ti spring, 20t rear Ti cog, Mag pedals, Minions F & R (for Plattekills riding conditions), a lighter Satelite seat, and a Dorado. I'm liking the Dorado bettter than my previous Shiver espesially when a friend lets you borrow it because he just has it laying around.

I would post pics but it won't allow me to brouse thru my pictures after I click on "insert an image" tab. How should I do it?

 

[911]

I just got a UFO through Danny. Through the whole process he was super cool about everything, scored me a good price, and delivered as promised. On the other hand, it's obvious he's got a lot of other things going on, and the Nicolai thing isn't his sole responsibility. My only complaint really was that at times he wasn't super-quick to reply to my e-mails, and since the frame took a long time to come there were times when I wasn't sure what the status of my order was. That being said, when he did contact me he was really nice and always seemed willing to help.

All in all he just seems like a busy guy who's doing the Nicolai thing as a side deal, and can't really devote enough time to it. It'd be nice if Nicolai really stepped up their distribution in the States, so getting their bikes wouldn't be such a long process.

 

[Rabie]

But I know that he really gave rabie, Mike D and a few others a pretty raw deal.

Do I know you?

 

[evilbob]

....... but HATE the company and his US distributor.

what happened, I thought you were in there again. I missed something while keeping myself out of the loop I guess. Sorry not trying to stir things J but I thought things got worked out with you guys. Last I heard it sounded like you were finally getting a pretty upscale deal with the Nicolai/Manitou team. What happened, PM if you don't want to post in the open.

 

[BMXman]

I don't know Danny personally, only over the phone or emails and he has been very helpful with all my needs and inquires . I think the only thing that sucks about the company or distrubution is the exchange rate for the high euro, oh and also the dropouts that everyone wants. We shouldn't point fingers at one individual person for changes in price or delayed shipping, actually it is none of our business . I would like to get back to Springfish's thread because I rather read about M-Pire reveiws. Can we take the thread even further and add in some Helius FR reveiws and pics. I'm thinking about building one up for next season.
If you want my early Nicolai reveiw, I'm loving :heart: my Nucleon and Ufo, especially after a few races where I can pin point what fine tuning and upgrading need to be done. On the Nucleon I already switched out the Romic for an Avy w/ a Ti spring, 20t rear Ti cog, Mag pedals, Minions F & R (for Plattekills riding conditions), a lighter Satelite seat, and a Dorado. I'm liking the Dorado bettter than my previous Shiver espesially when a friend lets you borrow it because he just has it laying around.

I would post pics but it won't allow me to brouse thru my pictures after I click on "insert an image" tab. How should I do it?

well as far as the Helius line is concerned I owned one for a whole season and it was great. I had the Dh model and I used it for everything from trailriding to slalom and of course Dh. The suspension is very smooth and progressive enough that I never bottomed out. I ran a Romic in the rear and the suspension action was great...no pedal feedback and you had the option of 4-6" of travel.

All the pivots stayed tight and I didn't have to replace anything as far as the frame was concerned.....D

 

[Micro-Sanjay]

wow.
i thunk you guys need to just ride more and just stick with the bike stuff.
one time when i just finished highschool I had this beef with aaron chase but didn't post it on the best forum at mtbr bec i thought i could work it out among ourselves so i called aaron chase's cousin and told him what my beef with aaron was and then he told aaron what I told him and aaron told his cousin to tell me to shut the hell or he'b beat my lil punk ass up, so, i said cool and we rode urban two weeks later and he still didn't give a hoot. so we resolved it.

back to nicolas vouliouz bikes, i went to his site and saw this, please explain

 

[Edvard]

I've just read that Nicolai advises not to put an SPV-like shock on the M-pire but rather a Fox vanilla RC or Romic/... Can anyone second that? Orven?

 

[p-spec]

there's something fishy about using a hotmail account for business. also, assuming you just changed your sn slightly, where are my monster t springs?

I know angelo.He is and amazing dude!
I was gona buy a M-pire from him.He always gave me all the feed-back i wanted and always had everything to say at the rite time.

Unfortunetly someone baught my frame before me.

Hopefully wen all get a better paying job all order my nicolai one day......


So don't be hacking on Angelo.

Hopefully soon he's gona come back to bromont

 

[BMXman]

Just rode my M-pire for the first time yesterday and it was quite a shock since I was coming off a Nucleon....D

 

[MikeD]

Just rode my M-pire for the first time yesterday and it was quite a shock since I was coming off a Nucleon....D

Meaning what, exactly?

 

[BMXman]

Meaning what, exactly?

Once I get it all figure out I will start a new thread....this one has too much negativity to keep bringing to the top...D

 

[p-spec]

Um k............................

 

[springfish]

??? F the negativity. This thread wasn't about negativity and doesn't need to continue to be. I simply asked for impressions as I was thinking about one for next season. If we can't continue on that topic what good is ANY thread?

 

[crashing_sux]

I wonder if the progression on the M-pires is that much different than the Nucleon ST? I have a Swinger on my Nucleon and friggin love it. Everyone who has ridden it thinks it feels incredible with the exception of shootr who rides a hardtail so I wasn't surprised that he didn't care for it.

It was harsh out of the box but I quickly figured out that I needed to set the swinger up with as little progression as possible to make up for the progression of the linkage so I backed the high and low speed compression down to the minimum, backed the air chamber all the way out (high volume, low progression) and run only 50 lbs of pressure in the shock.

I was bottoming a bit hard on the larger drops like Dirt Merchant and Clown shoes so I turned the air chamber in about 3 turns and now it's fantastic everywhere on the mountain.

I would like to try a Romic on someday for comparisons sake but it seems like every Romic I see is blown. I actually own a Romic which came with the bike but it was blown when I got it (I don't think Donnie would have shipped it that way, I'm thinking it happened in shipping maybe). It's back at Romic being rebuilt now so whenever it comes back I'll have to bolt it on and see how it feels.

 

[BMXman]

??? F the negativity. This thread wasn't about negativity and doesn't need to continue to be. I simply asked for impressions as I was thinking about one for next season. If we can't continue on that topic what good is ANY thread?

Good point..ok well I have only had one ride on it so here is my intial impression. I owned a Nucleon all last year and loved it....except for the weight I couldn't ask for anything more. Having said that I immediately noticed a huge weight difference. My M-pire weighs in a 41lbs. but that was with a breakout+. I like the headangle but the rear stays are a bit short for me. I use to run my Nuc at 18" and the M-pire at full length is only 17.5

I have had to adjust my riding style from the middle of the bike when cornering to hanging over the bars to weight the front tire. I also immediately noticed the chain torque. I ride flats about 80% of the time and I must say it's quite irritating. Although I was getting more comfortable with it as the day progressed....I still just don't like it...I will throw a couple of more links in my chain and that should help short of running a 50t chainring.

One advantage I noticed with the shorter stays and the breakout+...I could manual pretty easy and bunny hop over anything. The bike runs very quietly and there is minimal chain noise as long as you protect the upper and lower stays (see Pic). Hmm what else can I say....oh the cable routing is clean...it may seem like a small thing t most but I think when a manufacturer is asking a couple grand for a frame the least they could do is have nice clean cable routing.

The romic shock works well with the suspension and helps eliminate some of the skipping of the rear during braking...also the M-pire pedals pretty well I was able to really stomp the pedals without a lot of suspension action. This could be because of hte Romic of the suspension design....I'm not sure.

That's all I can think of now...if you have specific questions ask away and I will do my best to answer them....D

 

[The Kadvang]

That is quite a nice bicycle.

 

[Orvan]

.also the M-pire pedals pretty well I was able to really stomp the pedals without a lot of suspension action. [/IMG]

all that on one day of riding with tons of breaks???

In all honesty, I've been riding the Mpire for some time now and I think it's one of the most inefficient pedaller out there, say compared to my Lambda (or blong's compact Ellsworth Dare). I have ran the Swinger and Romic on the same frame and the pedalling is 'practically the same'. The Romic does make it more livelier and responsive and suit my riding style. It's a single pivot so chain torque and brake jack is prevalent. Drop this bike in the wrong gear (low cogs), chances are you'll snap the chain...just like you would on a bullit or super8. Now I think I know how the Nuc St would ride with standard drive train.

ViolentVolante, just keep the scratches on that Lambda to a minimum, aight!!

 

[Edvard]

Anyone ever tried the M-Pire with a 200mm 888r?

 

[Edvard]

Any further impressions yet?

 

[Orvan]

Any further impressions yet?

Yup, I am liking the 2.3 Octopus Tubeless DH/FR tires Front and Rear. The black Evil bashguard is cool as hell too.

 

[Dog Welder]

all that on one day of riding with tons of breaks???

In all honesty, I've been riding the Mpire for some time now and I think it's one of the most inefficient pedaller out there, say compared to my Lambda (or blong's compact Ellsworth Dare). I have ran the Swinger and Romic on the same frame and the pedalling is 'practically the same'. The Romic does make it more livelier and responsive and suit my riding style. It's a single pivot so chain torque and brake jack is prevalent. Drop this bike in the wrong gear (low cogs), chances are you'll snap the chain...just like you would on a bullit or super8. Now I think I know how the Nuc St would ride with standard drive train.

ViolentVolante, just keep the scratches on that Lambda to a minimum, aight!!

When I saw you at BB a month ago you said you were loving it...or hadn't you sorted it out yet?