the clamp for the front derailleur seriously disappointed me, uuuuuugly and not worthy of being mounted on a N frame... took half an hour to transform it into "acceptable".
I can recommend routing the rear brake hose through the horst link:
I couldnt' get a clean routing because the PM mount is so wide in comparison to an adapter that the fitting wouldn't clear the mount without having to go up-and-over...
got a 2 hour ride in yesterday during a sunny patch at round about freezing... nothing spectacular because I'm still having problems with my meniscus after a bouldering incident back in december
although I've done no training the past 4 months I was astonished how well Ion + I mastered the climbs, so I'll give that to the bike... rear felt plenty stiff when mashing the pedals and bob was almost non-existent. It does feel pretty slack with the "low" setting and 170 Lyrik, will flip it to "high" next round for comparison. On a ca. 500m stretch with lots of roots, some of them arm-thick, the rear felt nice, not cushy soft, just well damped and controlled, taking enough of the hits to let me stay seated (post fully extended) and pedaling, BB height was not an issue...
hope to get in some serious trail riding with airtime soon :thumbsup:
Here's mine at last , all built up but no chance of riding as everywhere is covered in snow.
The low stack height is very alien to me at the moment, I'm so used to a much higher bar height, but we will see how things are when I can get out for a ride.
It looks like I'm the only one who hasn't gone for the raw effect.
I measured the fork angle with my iphone (which is accurate enough) and very slack
........ at 63.5 ( un weighted) in 'low' setting, this is with a 170 lyric and Hans Damf up front and Conti RQ 2.2 at the rear.
That looks mint, sloanranger - it might have made my colour decision for me - I have Crossmax SX and Devilles on my Spicy to transfer over, white front triangle and black rear end was what I had in mind.
Is that decal setup custom, or do they include extra decals in the box?
well, finally got in 4 hrs of serious trail bangin'... still have the smile on my face
performance in the rear was awesome, felt bottomless (x-fusion vector hlr air), very controlled midstroke when hammering berms and pumping the roots and rocks, no noticable flex and had 2-3 mm shock stroke in reserve... got courageous and started hitting the 2 sections of trail that would justify using a dh bike at the same speed I would on my Ion20... WOW, that worked really well, of course not as stable and quite a bit heavier on the "bodywork" end of matters, but very composed and fast. it's matching my lyrik rc2dh very nicely and when I get more time on the new shock to find my setup, I'l probably have to do some tweaking of the fork^^
Are there any more reviews on how the bike rides? I try to read the German forums but google translate isn't too helpful and I can only make out problems with fitting shimano front mechs.
Not many ride reports about and I'm having second thoughts and thinking of cancelling my order as all I read is problems. :S
I have managed to ride mine about a dozen times and i have no negatives to report, i run a 1 x 10 setup so dont have any issues with drivetrain.
So far i would say it climbs exceptionaly well for me as my previous bike was a Helius AFR which has a very slack seat angle which puts your weight over the back. The downhill qualities are superb, again campairing to my AFR i would say it is better, this must be due to the head angle of 63.5 in low setting with a lyric 170.
My only issue at the moment is the crap monarch rear shock which is a temp solution whilst i wait for my Canecreek DB Air. But even with this lame shock it climbs and decends exceptionaly well.
which problems? my shimano slx mech fits perfect... german mtb-news forum is lacking ride reports as well, nobody (besides myself) has posted anything beyond "wow", "excellent" etc etc.
I'm not a heavy pedaler and doing the uphill is just a means for hitting the down in my case. I have no real comparison for uphill performance, but I met up with one guy from the german forum to let him test ride mine. he had a trek slash and ordered an ion16 right after riding mine, he was blazing fast on the up (I felt like I was going backwards ) and did a good job going down and said it was loads better than his slash up and down.
I recently did an all day shuttle assisted 8 runs on one of my favorite trails and have to say the dh performance is immaculate. it has a totally solid and reassuring feel that makes you want to go faster and faster, I was really blown away by the speed at which I could hit really gnarly sections and yet it still is flickable and nimble in the techy stuff.
german "world of mtb" magazine tested 14 enduro bikes in their latest issue and the ion 16 was deemed the "[URL="http://nicolai.net/files/mtb_05_2013.pdf]"testcrews favorite"[/URL]. their only gripe was that they felt it could have a slightly steeper seat angle. if you are desperate I could translate a synopsis for you but you'd have to give me a few days because I've got other things to do (like riding my ion16^^)...
I figure that the Ion16 is pretty much a enduro racers dream, maybe not the best on the climb but whoa, going down it's gonna be hard to beat.
On my Helius AM - model before the chainstay direct mount - I had to dremel out a corner of SLX short cage front derailleur to fit it properly. Long cage would not fit. I think they design it around SRAM. Not a big deal - most long travel bikes with front derailleur have some fitment issues. We do not hear about them a lot as most bikes are sold as completes, with an appropriate part already installed.
It´s true , on my ion 16 the xtr front derailleaur does not work fine , I use a 24/36 sixc crankset with a xtr derailleur and I can´t adjust correct the chain with the 24 chainring , I tried differen combinations of spacers on the cranks and at this moment with the 24t the chain touch the derailleaur , I´m waiting for a response from Nicolai about it and I hope adjust the chain as soon as possible, on vid of last Monday with my ion.
yes, they do design around sram mech. that was recently confirmed by Vinc of N in mtb-news.de forum... I really don't see the problem either and others I know nothing of.
Thanks for the replies guys, certainly put my mind at ease. I guess I was getting attracted to all these new bikes being released and the 650b craze and wondering if i made the right decision.
But I still think the Ion 16 is what I'm after, something that has amazing downhill performance, but can still be ridden uphill, and looking at your reports it certainly seems to be the case.
If it makes you guys feel any better I ordered my Helius AC Pinion in December, was told it would be here in February. Still waiting. I'm looking forward to it though.
You lucky man! By way of thanks for your brave waiting you have now the chance to order the all-new for 2013 PM rear and 142x12mm through-axle standard upgrades for your Helius AC PINION, formerly seen already at Eurobike 2012 (Ion 16). The overall surcharge is € 100.00. Those upgrades were unveiled at 2013 Lake Garda Bike Festival (Trentino, IT).
No database yet for ION 16, what size frames have you bought?
I'm thinking hard changing my Trek for the ION 16 to my next frame and can't even decide the frame size.
I'm 171cm and my inseam is 81cm, my Trek Remedy's 17,5" frame is spot on with the 50mm stem, the ION 16 S-frame has shorter toptube and the M-size frame has longer toptube than the Remedy, the reach is the same with the Remedy and the S-size but the M-size frame has 15mm longer reach, which is about the maximum distance that I can move the saddle forward.
So, if there's people with similar measures, please share some information, thanks!
I think it is actually longer. 595 vs 585mm for Helius AM. And Ion has much longer reach - by 23mm. But is has 18mm shorter stack and steeper seat tube, so overall fit should be similar - just a bit more stretched. At ~174cm I ride M Helius with a 50mm slammed stem, and it is on the shorter side of my preference - but I do not ride at supersonic speeds..
Just received an update, my ION16 frame is out of anodization and should assembled shortly with an estimated shipment date of early next week! :thumbsup:
Would be interested to hear from those who have built frames, what they think of their shock and fork choices, anything they would do differently or things they could not live without.
Lyrik RC2DH 170mm / X-Fusion Vector HLR Air
the 170mil Fork does slacken the headangle noticeably, I ride it in the high setting at the moment. I love the shock and would buy it again with no second thoughts. What I would pay more attention to next time 'round is to not cut the steerertube as short as I did. the very low stack combined with ZS headset keeps the front waaaaay low. With the seatpost extended for "touring" my saddle is quite a bit higher than the bars and I'm having problems with my left hand fingers fallling asleep after 15-20min.
What I would pay more attention to next time 'round is to not cut the steerertube as short as I did. the very low stack combined with ZS headset keeps the front waaaaay low. With the seatpost extended for "touring" my saddle is quite a bit higher than the bars and I'm having problems with my left hand fingers fallling asleep after 15-20min.
Thanks for the info, especially the steer tube and stack height...I was planning to keep my steer tube longer so I can swap forks out between the ION16 and my 5Spot, but you just gave me a couple better reasons to keep them longer.
Thanks again, look forward to seeing the frame and starting the build.
Hope everyone is having great start to your summer. Well, I received my ION 16 yesterday after ordering it in February. Pretty stoked to have it! I cannot say enough good things about John Fagone at Bike Medics who made this possible. It was a pleasure dealing with him (John) he truly made it easy! I would highly recommend anyone in the USA considering purchasing a Nicolai to contact and use John. PM me if you would like John's contact information.
Cheers,
Thanks for the comment, the pics are at my local bike shop and with my mechanic (Phil). Phil stayed late (after closing) to help me...he was pretty excited to work on the frame. Hopefully I can finish it by Sunday and go for a ride if the weather holds out.
By the way, has anyone had any issues with the XX1 cassette? I think its one of the Hope EVO PROII XX1 freehub bearings binding when the cassette is on and mounted on the frame with the through axle fully tightened. My rear wheel will not spin freely, when I remove the cassette the wheel it does spins freely. Any suggestions would be most helpfull.
Cheers,
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Mountain Bike Reviews Forum
15.4M posts
515.2K members
Since 1990
A forum community dedicated to Mountain Bike owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about bike parts, components, deals, performance, modifications, classifieds, trails, troubleshooting, maintenance, and more!