James from Fisher Outdoor's Nicolai 650b
I popped by the Fisher Outdoor expo yesterday to check out their newest offerings – but the stand out item wasn’t even for sale.
This brand new Nicolai belongs to James Leader, the brand manager for SRAM Mountain Bike. We can only assume any time outside the 9-5 he gets to ride this work of art. However, this might be a bit of a bold statement as I’m sure he puts the hours in at the office!
The bike is the first ever Nicolai 650b bike and is spec’d with the brand new dedicated 650b RockShox Revelation fork. Other stand out features are the headset, which is an extremely pricey Reset Racing number (it comes in at over €200). The gear outer and brake hoses are all colour matched to white – a fantastic touch – and I’m a big fan of going the extra mile just for aesthetics. Those with a keen eye will notice that the wheels don’t look quite right, that’s because SRAM haven’t released a 650b XX1 compatible wheelset – but James told Bike Magic to watch this space.
What do you think of this dream machine?
Dropper seatpost ??
Found it now. not sure of the stem. and 1 front chain ring still looks odd
With that gear range do you reckon we’ll all be using just 1 ring in the future though Serge?
Shame about his trousers!
My 650b Nicolai also arrived at the same time,Amazing bikes. Pinion gearbox is mine is the way forward
Guess it depends on the riding James, trail centres appear to only put in climbs that are doable, whilst nature does some nasty ones, Wonder how this would cope with some climbs in the brecon beacons. but it all comes down to the rider, and as single speed has shown, remove the gears and people do get strong legs, After all people were riding 40 lbs rigid butcher bikes around 50 years ago and managed to get up hills.
Sam
Pinion gear box would be worth looking at, willing to post up any details.