Introduction: November 2023.

I originally built this bike in 2019, and it was the predecessor for some of my more recent and more 'extreme' builds. The G1 chassis finally offered me a frame that I could adapt to build a bike I always dreamed of and had been asking for since 2006 when I first moved to the Alps. I’d bought a 'trail bike' and was horrified at how badly it handled compared to my DH bike. All I wanted since then was a DH bike with a wide-range cassette and quick-release saddle in a sensible place - I’m not sure if droppers even existed back then!

This bike evolved over a year, trying out many different parts, and eventually morphed into this 210mm travel weapon with custom-built suspension front and rear, mullet wheels, and a durable build pack that could ride up and down anything. Yeah, it’s a little heavy, but I’d take those couple of kgs for the ride quality on real tracks and just avoid the start line of any XC races.

This bike was featured on many websites, including VitalMTB, NSMB, BikeRumour, and even made it into MBUK’s print mag in their 'SuperBike collection.' My previous employer Pinkbike said the piece 'was not newsworthy at the time.' Since then, I had an overwhelming response, including over 20 people who had bought a G1 because of me to make something similar.

I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed building and riding it; it’s a massive article!"

My riding background is in downhill and BMX riding. I moved to Samöens in the French Alps when I was 19, around 15 years ago. I bought a Specialized FSR, some kind of 120mm travel 'trail' bike in anticipation of golden singletrack rumoured to be found in that valley rather than pure DH runs I was accustomed to. A few weeks later I had descended one of the steepest and most brutal hiking tracks I had ever seen on the aforementioned trail bike: I was still terrified when I got home and was tucking in to tea and cake in the safety of the apartment. I had questions, a lot of questions: if this was 'trail riding' on 'singletrack,' supposedly some of the best in the world, why did this bike petrify me whilst my downhill bike at the time made me feel like a hero that could huck into anything?

My housemate Nick, and I, spent the post-ride mental recovery time at the table drinking tea looking at the bikes – which were all stored in the living room of course – and talking about them: surely the perfect bike for us would be the downhill bike, but with the saddle in a position we could use to pedal up and lower using a quick release (we had no idea what a dropper was then or if they even existed), and a wide range cassette, which in those days was probably an 11-32t, 9-speed setup.

Fast forward fifteen years to now, and I have that bike we discussed that day. It's continuously evolving and keeps getting better than I ever could have imagined back then. I believe I have built the ultimate mountain bike: I have done 110km rides around Birmingham's canals during lockdown in the UK, raced enduro on it and also downhill. If anything, I believe this is the enduro bike of the future: we all hear the pro's say that the EWS tracks are harder than DH race tracks. Add to this they are also raced semi-blind with only one sighting run so the chances of charging over a crest and hitting the wrong rock are very high. Another addition is the fatigue factor which only increases the chances of a mistake, giving yourself maximum stability and travel increases the chance of a good race.

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Every single part of this bike has been chosen for a specific reason, and I have tuned, tweaked and tested as best as I can in my limited workshop with a limited budget. It's long, slack, heavy, overbuilt, over suspension-ed and not fashionable in any way. But it does everything, can be tuned for any situation and I cannot ride anywhere near its limits.

Frame: Nicolai G1 Large

Fork: Manitou Dorado RRT custom 29"x210mm

Shock: EXT Storia V3 LOK custom 250x75mm

Front Wheel: Newmen Evolution E.G.30 29" 32 spokes

Rear Wheel: Newmen Advanced Carbon SL A.30 27.5" 28 spokes

Front Tyre: Schwalbe Magic Mary 29"x2.35" Super Gravity Addix Soft 26 psi

Rear Tyre: Schwalbe Eddy Current Rear 27.5"x2.6" Super Gravity Addix Soft 26 psi

Inserts: Cushcore Pro

Cranks: Hope EVO 165mm

Bottom Bracket: Hope Stainless 83mm

Headset: Hope

Chainring: Osymetric 34t

Carrier: OChain 12°

Handlebar: SQ Lab 30x 780mm width 45mm rise 12° backsweep

Stem: Spank DM 25/30

Front Brake: Hope E4 203mm

Rear Brake: Hope V4 203mm vented

Gears: SRAM X01/GX Eagle

Seatpost: BikeYoke Divine 185mm

Saddle: SQ Lab 611 13cm width

Pedals: Pedalin Innovations Catalyst EVO

Bashguard: 77Designz 36t (with added velcro to stop noise)

Extras: STFU Trail and Bike Yoke Squeezy seat clamp

Price: €10,000

The geometry is as extreme as it gets. I have spent years fighting with bike setup. You can get a good setup with smaller bikes and more 'old fashioned' geometry, but I find if it is not perfect or you are not on-form it can be very hard to ride. When it's long, slack, and with a steep seat angle I have a good day every day I ride and my hips and lower back thank me for the upright seated position. No more battling with setup, I can completely mess with this bike's settings and it still rides comfortably and safely. An important point that I find nearly impossible to get across to people is how important it is to be comfortable: lots of people want a bike that has quick-handling, ‘poppy’ ‘playful’ or whatever adjectives they come up with.

However, if your bike feels nimble in the car park, when you're holding on for dear life in a rough, wet, off-camber, trying to slow down and set up wide for a corner (unless you’re Nicolas Vouilloz) there’s a chance you won’t have enough control and brain capacity to hit the mark you want, especially if you're hanging off the back of the bike fighting a steep head angle and a super short chainstay making front/rear balance very difficult. Meanwhile, if the bike feels lazy and slow in the car park then you’ll be able to concentrate on your line and riding on the trail. The biggest fallacy about the GeoMetron geometry is that it is for expert-level riders only, I believe that could not be further from the truth - it’s for everyone and beginners get the most advantage from it in terms of safe and easy handling.

The G1 uses 'Mutators' so I can manipulate the frame in many different ways. The mainframe pieces (mainframe, chainstay, seatstay and rocker link) are all the same regardless of the setup you choose: 27.5", 29", or hybrid, you can probably run 26"/29" if you like. This frame is straight off-the-shelf with no modifications, I added the longer 250x75mm shock and tried a couple of different seatstay Mutators until the bike's shape was in the right ballpark. These are also really useful if you are changing riding areas: for example, I live in Finale, but often go to bike parks in the Alps like the Portes du Soleil. Finale is generally mellower than the Alps, so once I have a good setup here I don’t want to change my suspension settings - I know I can switch a Mutator to lower the bike and change my balance for the steeper stuff. Then, when I come back home I change back to the original chip and my settings return to what I'm accustomed to.

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The rest of the frame is simple, solid, and overbuilt just how I like it. Nicolai has been making evolutions of this frame for more than 15 years so every minutia has been perfected. There are no threads in the frame (except BB and some cable mounts) so if you damage a thread in a pivot, brake mount, or ISCG tab, you can replace the piece and keep using your frame.

All the cartridge bearings in the pivots use standard o-rings fitted inside the frame on either side to prevent water and dirt ingress. A few weeks ago I stripped the frame completely and there was still plenty of clean, blue grease inside from the factory, after 11 months of use, and only two bearings were feeling slightly rough. I have now removed all the o-rings as they do create a little bit of friction which I wanted to remove, I wouldn't sacrifice the extra seals if I didn't live in an extremely dry climate, but I like to think I have gained a tiny bit more traction here.

The cable routing on this bike is perfect: fully external, and brakes and gear housing can be removed completely without even taking the wheel out, my record for a brake change is 4min20s.

Lately, we have these new clips that route housing through the centre of the main pivot which leads to less movement as the hose folds around the pivot point. I also like the way that all the fasteners can be reused instead of wasting cable ties.

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Fork

Manitou Dorado RRT, 210mm travel

RRT stands for Rulezman Race Tune, I like to call it the DorGnardo. Rulezman is a suspension centre in Liguria. 'Crazy Dave' the owner pisses a lot of people off by telling them the truth about the products they just spent a fortune on, he's focussed only on performance and measures everything. He's a helicopter pilot, and can strip and rebuild a Cane Creek DB shock blindfolded; that should give you more idea of the kind of guy he is. Anyway, he loves the Dorado and believes it is the best fork on the market and has taken this fork to the extreme: extended 210mm travel, fully customized and modified damper and IRT triple air spring, every single sliding surface and seal has been worked on, ti-bolts everywhere and even the bushings have been reworked for less stiction on fore-aft movements - the legs must be set so the Rulezman sticker is exactly on the outside for the lowest friction. Dave thinks this is the closest thing to a factory supercross fork in the mountain bike world and would cost around €3000 if he were to sell them.

My favourite thing about this fork is that even though it's years old, it has lots of technologies that other brands are only just becoming the norm: 'Trailside Relief' buttons to bleed air, triple chamber air spring, and floating/MX style axle. It also has hydraulic bottom-out damping, which works in the last 50mm of travel, which matches the shock: the custom Storia's HBC acts on approx the last 31mm of travel.

People worry a lot about torsional flex on USD forks but the first time you hit a big square edge it flows through it with less of a stiction spike as the fork bends backwards less than you are used to, the worry of flex is replaced by a smile as you feel like you can ride into anything. This fork feels better than anything else I have ever ridden in most situations: it's stiffer under braking, it tracks incredibly across rooty off-camber and has guided me safely through situations that had hospitals flashing through my eyes. I have never had a fork setup so firm with compression damping and had so little arm pump, which can only be a good thing too.

The massive top crowns and upper legs give an insane amount of stiffness around the stem and headtube area of the bike, I think this is much more important than having stiff lowers and a flexy steerer tube - now when I go back to a single crown fork I feel like I struggle to steer the bike where I want it as the handlebar/stem flex a lot on top of a single crown steerer. This is especially noticeable of very short and tight corners with good support, you can load the front and steer exactly where you want, the wheel will load, grip, then fire you out the corner.

The downsides: it will feel vague compared to a traditional fork on fast berms and long flat corners, but on those long flat corners it is much calmer or quieter when hitting small bumps, especially little rocks or roots that can make the wheel skip out and make you tense up. It's not very user friendly as the lower legs go all over the place when you want to put the wheel in, and the cable routing is a faff if you can't find a suitable bit of plastic tube to keep it straight despite visiting more than 10x hardware stores. The worst part? people will come and tell you all the time that it's too flexy then put the wheel between their legs and twist the bars to prove it...

A dual crown on an enduro bike? Why not? Unless you can barspin or x-up then there is no problem. I can only recall two times that I ever hit the bump stops in a corner with dual crowns - and at that point this frame/fork connection was the least of my problems.

Rear Suspension & Kinematics

EXT Storia V3 LOK (Custom-tuned by Mojo Suspension) • Custom length: 250m x 75mm = 210mm Travel

The Storia is a fantastic low-pressure, single-tube shock and this version was designed in conjunction with the G1 frame, it has spherical bearings and coil negative spring upgrades over the standard Storia. The spherical bearings make a noticeable difference when leant over in the rough, on off-cambers and under big compressions, when the bike is twisting and compressing in all directions. Adding spherical bearings won't automatically improve your suspension, though, if you have a bike design like a Trek Session, for example, as there is less side load on the shock, and due to the pivot locations and open-angle of the rear triangle keeping the back end of the bike very stiff. The G1 frame shape allows great torsional flex at the rear wheel: the shock, rocker, and seatstay are aligned, but the short chainstay tube and angular contact bearings keep the frame stiff laterally – all these factors together mean this bike tracks like something else.

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The coil negative spring inside the main shock body helps with the initial touch of the wheel striking a bump as it overcomes any stiction as the wheel starts to move into the travel. It has about 10mm of negative sag under the weight of the bike. It also has hydraulic bottom-out control that acts on the last 31mm of wheel travel - I have never felt either end of this bike bottom out.

The length is custom at 250 x 75mm (EXT makes DH shocks in this length but not this enduro version with the Lok lever) and gives 210mm travel. The original tune on this shock was pretty spot-on, but after a solid winter of riding and building confidence and speed, I ended up with all the adjusters closed to get the support I wanted. I added an O-Chain in February which meant it was lacking support due to the reduced anti-squat holding the bike up in the travel. I took the shock to Mojo Risin in Monmouth for a stiffer tune. This was great for a few months but this bike keeps giving me more confidence to go faster, and now I am back to fully closed on the dials – time for an even firmer tune!

Why so much travel? Essentially, the travel itself doesn't weigh anything, so I think it's better to have more even if you rarely use it - you will be glad of it one day. More travel means more sag, and more sag means more grip as the wheels can stay in contact with the ground for longer on bigger bumps or deeper holes, and grip is what you need to go fast on gnarly tracks. As I said earlier, enduro racing is as gnarly as downhill and usually, you're more tired and less knowledgeable of the incoming track, so why not use a DH amount of travel?

My favourite part of using more travel is the consistency: there is more travel to go through smoothly before hitting the end of the travel or an air-spring ramp up. With shorter travel bikes I find that running enough compression damping for a stable bike and enough spring rate or ramp up to prevent bottoming means a harsh ride. Using more travel to absorb the terrain, and then more damping for stability, response, and efficient pedalling works exceptionally well.

Handlebar, Stem, and Steering

SQLab 30X, High Rise 45mm x 780mm wide, aluminium bar with 12º backsweep • Spank DM 25/30

I have been using the SQ Lab bars for a couple of years now. This 30X bar has 45mm rise, 12º backsweep, and is 780mm wide (790mm with grips). I use this because the extra backsweep is more comfortable and in one week cured some tendonitis that was building up in my arms for a few years. I usually use the 16º version, but I damaged the end of one in a crash and didn't have another with me on this trip. Luckily, the 5mm adjustment on the stem meant I could get the same steering characteristics by moving it from 30mm to 25mm.

These bars do not have a lot of upsweep at 4º, but because of the extra backsweep compared to the average bar, there is some leeway to roll the bar forwards and get more upsweep whilst maintaining a decent amount of backsweep. I think that many riders roll their bars back for comfort (and better steering), then struggle with ‘chicken wings’ or collapsing elbows and blame it on too much backsweep, I believe lack of upsweep is generally the problem. It’s easy to check: put your hands out in front of you in a riding position, raise the outside edge of your hands upwards and watch your elbows rise and flare out.

I think that most MTB bars will have more backsweep soon: if we look towards MX, BMX and Quad bikes, they all have bars with 10º or more backsweep. I think this is another instance in MTB where companies don’t comprehensively test or try different things, they just follow the norm that evolved from road riding: when handlebars were much narrower they needed to be straighter, but they have grown wider, with the other geometry remaining the same. Again, this can be demonstrated easily: put your hands in front of you in a riding position but close together, then widen your arms to represent the bar getting wider you can see the angle of wrists changing. If you try to keep them in a straight line, the pressure will increase on the inside of your wrist/scaphoid area and pull at tendons under the elbow. You can see a lot of people (often younger, shorter, or female riders) who have a bar that is so wide their forearms are at an angle to their wrists, ideally they should be in line with your arms and perpendicular to the bar. You can also quickly check what bar width you should have by multiplying your height by 4.40, or 4.47 for women (reference LeeLikesBikes). Ideally, I should use 810mm, but I find going over 800mm causes too many problems with narrow trees.

These bars are mounted on a Spank direct mount stem with adjustable 25mm or 30mm length. I chose this stem as it is one of the few DM options shorter than 50mm. It also has a nice wide 31.8mm clamp area, is top-loading which puts less stress on the bolts and I bought it off my mate for €20, which was nice.

The main reason for the shorter stem, combined with the bar shape is to place the steering axis directly through the centre of the steerer (this can be checked by running a string or straight edge from the centre of each grip over the steerer tube). This gives the most accurate and sensitive steering possible as one hand moves forward as the other moves back, instead of arcing from side to side, which can affect balance. Setting the bar in this way speeds up the steering sensitivity, so works best in conjunction with a slack head angle (it can feel twitchy if the HA is too steep). Anybody who says a bike with such a slack head angle will be sluggish has not ridden this setup, and I find slow or sluggish steering is a result of a too-long stem and too-short chainstay.

Grips

SQ Lab 711 Tech & Trail, Small

My grip choice of the moment is the '711 Tech and Trail' from SQ Lab. They are left and right-sided, come in three sizes, and are shaped with a larger flatter surface on the outside to help distribute pressure on the palm, the underside of the grip is shaped to increase surface area for your fingers to grip around – our hands are not perfectly round so why should grips be?

The 711 acts like a push-on grip with no plastic sheath inside. Again, looking at other sports like MX and BMX, lock-on grips are avoided to reduce the amount of vibration through the bar. I think MTB companies like them as they are easier to fit for mass production bikes, are a lot more expensive, and they can be made in various pretty colours. I find it strange that in a world where brands are spending huge sums of money optimizing carbon layups in frames for comfort, reducing friction and vibration in suspension, shaping handlebars to absorb the trail chatter, that most riders use a grip where half of its absorptive depth is replaced with a plastic sheath. The only logical reason I can see to use a lock-on grip is the ease of installation.

These 711 grips do have a lock-on collar for safety, but they fit very tightly. I use grip glue around the collar and at the end of the grip to seal them from water ingress. I also drop a €0.20 coin inside the ends to protect them from the ground in the event of a crash or laying the bike down. SQ Lab are also very specific on not using harmful chemicals in their rubber compounds including: PAH – Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons, Phthalates + Propylheptyphtalates, Nonylphenol, Cadmium, Mercury, Short-chain Chlorinated Paraffins, Flame retardant PBB (polybrominated biphenyls) / PBDE (polybrominated diphenyl ethers), Bisphenol A (BPA), Azo dye, Pentachlorophenol (PCP), Chromium (VI), and are latex-free, I don't know what most of those are but none of them sound very nice!

Brakes

Hope E4, 203mm Front • Hope V4, 203mm Vented Rear • Tech3 Levers with braided hoses.

I'm currently running a Hope E4 up front with a standard 203mm rotor. For the rear brake I chose the V4 caliper with a vented rotor for heat management which is needed for a serial-brake-dragger like me. I'll probably go back to a pair of vented rotors for several reasons: they stay straight for much longer than a standard flat steel disc and I hate when the rotors warp and rub the brake pads (which is every other steep run on many flat steel rotors), they offer better wet-weather performance as water is pushed through each braking surface and out the centre of the rotor: opposing brake pads contacting a normal disc push water against each other and blocks it in the holes, finally, and having two braking surfaces means double the wear time before they need replacing. Downside: even one at cost price they are more than a pair of traditional discs.

Being a serial rear brake dragger, I have started to run the bite point of my rear brake closer to the grip than the front. The levers are set nearly flat (my rule is: the steeper the terrain, the flatter the levers should be, and vice versa) and positioned so that my fingertips pull the lever blade as they are the most sensitive part of your hand.

I choose the braided hoses every time for their durability, I think that plastic hoses have no place on a mountain bike. The number of times I have seen kinked plastic hoses or cut hoses is silly. Last year we saw a guy on the trail in Finale wondering why his brake was not working, then we spotted that a rock had flung up and cut straight through the hose under the downtube. The only thing I can think of worse than a brake failure is a headtube snapping off and cheap plastic hoses on MTB’s don't make sense to me. Ironically, I did break one of these last year by hitting a tree and snapping it off at the lever junction, but this was a deceleration from about 20kph to zero in a few centimetres.

I always choose the sintered pads for better heat management on long runs in Finale and steeps in the Alps, they also last for ages and are thicker than most pads. E.g, SRAM Code pads have 3.5mm of usable material (pair) before the metal backplate, whereas these Hope pads have 5mm. That’s a big difference economically, especially when most MTB brake pads are more than €30 a pair in Alpine shops.

I also chose the Hope brakes as they are really easy to maintain and individual spare parts are available for all the products they have ever made. They are expensive, but you could buy one pair and use them for life. They are still made in the UK by a great company that doesn’t borrow from banks, provides all its staff with FREE bikes of their choice, and chooses bolts that are a sensible size, instead of trying to save milligrams by using a 2mm hex key somewhere important.

Finally, I use the i-spec adaptors to mount the shifter and dropper lever to the brake levers, as I don't like having more than one clamp on each side of the bar if I can help it.

Seatpost

BikeYoke Divine Dropper, 185mm • Triggy Lever and Squeezy Seat Clamp

I would prefer to run a longer dropper, but ‘Sacki’ from BikeYoke is a good friend and provides me with posts. I like his style: he won’t go longer than 185mm drop in a 30.9mm diameter as he cannot guarantee durability. I like it when people do the right thing instead of bashing out products to hit market demand. I have been using these for years now and do not recall a single problem and I can see why they come out on top of so many dropper post group tests. The Revive version was pretty special as it could be ‘revived’ (to bleed out any air) in a few seconds with a hex key if it developed any play, but this Divine version is slightly cheaper and self-revives. Sacki says it’s not quite as smooth as the Revive but I can barely tell the difference.

Saddle

SQ Lab 611, 13cm, no elastomer

There are many things on bikes which can be adapted to the rider, but one of the most overlooked is the saddle. They are very important for comfort and the direct connection with your body means that they are probably the most important thing to get fitted correctly. I have 10cm wide sit bones, and SQLab recommend adding 4cm for an upright riding position. This is because as your sit bone contact gets narrower as you lean forwards into a more aggressive pedalling position. I normally run the 14cm which is the correct size but choose a slightly narrower 13cm one for bike-parking in the summer for better clearance between my thighs.

I also remove the elastomers (they are supplied with three different compounds), but I am quite light and prefer the added lateral flex for pedalling comfort.

Yes, it is pointed downwards at an unfashionable angle, but not without reason: I calculated the gradient of the average climb I do in Finale, then set the bike up on some wooden blocks at the same slope, then sit on the bike and adjust it to a comfortable flat position. It doesn't matter what it looks like, or what it is like going downhill as you should not be sitting down. If you are comfortable for 90% of the climbing time that is all that matters.

Wheels

The rear wheel is the original carbon prototype I got from Newmen last September. I have tried my best to break it, it's made some horrific noises and has some battle scars. It's still standing strong, despite me tempting fate by saying how unbreakable it is multiple times [Edit: I did manage to break this during a full-on DH race, see instagram].

I would use the matching front wheel if I had a 20mm version to fit the Dorado axle. Instead, I use a 32h E.G.30. This rim is the eMTB/gravity version and is about 50g heavier than the normal alloy A.30.

Tyres

Front Tyre Magic Mary 29” x 2.4”, Addix Soft compound, 26psi

My go-to front tyre is the Eddy Current 29" x 2.4" but Michael from Schwalbe keeps asking me to not use the eMTB tyre on my normal bike as it's not the right product category! I hope he lets me off because I love this tyre. The long rectangular blocks offer a huge amount of traction when leant over (plenty of surface area pushing laterally) and are the most predictable tyre I have ever used. Sometimes I cut the leading edge to roll a bit faster, and have cut the central sipes to the back edge of the blocks so they flare open under braking for more traction, but this cutting can get pretty tedious. Luckily for Michael, we shot these photos while I was in the Alps and was using a Magic Mary for better braking traction on the steep stuff and grip in a wider range of conditions.

Rear Tyre Schwalbe Eddy Current Rear 27.5 x 2.6”, Addix Soft compound, 26psi

Schwalbe Eddy Current Tyre — *After around ten days of bike park abuse, the Eddy Current lasts for ages.*

I've been running a Rock Razor on the back for most of the year for fast-rolling, and because the lack of braking traction makes me focus more on gentle and smooth braking. With such a long and balanced bike, and the super slack head angle it is easier for me to do nearly all my slowing down with the front brake. The Rock Razor can be a little vague as you lean over but haven't made it to the edge blocks yet, but this has improved my riding as I try to either be riding straight or leaned over enough to get the edge digging in. Because of the vagueness, when I hit the edge it is noticeable and it digs in really well.

Again being in some steeper terrain I fancied trying the Eddy Current rear in 2.6", mostly to wind Michael up a bit more. Turns out it's actually a great rear tyre for dry bike parks: the huge square blocks mean a lot of surface area on hardpack and they barely seem to wear at all after days and days of use.

I do prefer tyres in the Addix Ultra Soft compound, as they deflect less in wet conditions off slippery edges and have better damping qualities, though the Addix Soft is fine 98% of the time in the dry conditions of Finale, and roll fast.

Inserts

CushCore Pro

I've only recently added Cushcore inserts to these wheels: firstly, because I didn't have any, but also because I got bored of using inserts as many of them are junk, don't really do anything, absorb tubeless sealant, block the valve holes and cause many other problems if you are constantly changing bikes and parts. I've been a fan of CushCore for years though, and am stoked to get them back on the bike now the products I am using are more consistent. I believe they are the best insert because they fit very tightly so actually lock the tyre beads down and support the sidewalls for better cornering support. They are also the only tyre insert company to provide some data about how the products work to absorb bumps and vibrations, and their new 'Bead Dropper' tool makes installation incredibly easy.

If you aren't using CushCore, you should be. It provides better cornering, increased rim protection and vibration absorption.

Chainring & A Special Device

Osymetric 34t • OChain Device

I like this OChain system, it really does work. I would not want it for XC racing, but I have done everything else on it, including messing around with trials manoeuvres and never really had a problem with the extra engagement. I think if you are worried about how fast the rear hub is engaging for general mountain biking you are not focussed on what the bike is doing 99% of the time: initiating a pedal stroke from nothing is a rare occurrence on the trail, I always remember Scott Sharples saying that the average WC DH run had 8x 5-second sprints over a 3-4 minute track. So that means you start to pedal 8x times in four minutes and each engagement takes a couple of milliseconds, then for the entire rest of the run you are hitting bumps and sensitive suspension is key.

This bike has about 25º of pedal kickback which is a bit more than desirable due to my wedging the longer shock into it. Sag is around 60mm, and the main third portion of the travel where most of the time is spent up to 140mm, the PK in this zone is exactly 12º – the same as the OChain relieves. So for the majority of the riding time, there is no PK and the bike feels like a magic carpet and is especially beneficial if you ride flat pedals.

I had one of these rings for some time, and it feels insanely bizarre to start with, somehow it feels like it needs to be rotated 90º to work. After a few hours of riding it becomes natural and it makes the bike pedal even better than with a normal chainring. You can stamp on this bike even with the shock open and it barely moves the suspension at all.

Cranks

Hope EVO, 165mm length, 83mm BB

I don’t think too much about cranks. I’ve beaten the hell out of a SRAM GX crankset for 2 years with no problems, except the relatively short BB life. The Hope EVO cranks main benefit is the removal of material on the ground-side of the pedal axle, which is the point most likely to hit the ground when pedalling.

I went for an 83mm DH crank to increase the Q-factor. I prefer wider cranks for stability, and the Q-Factor on my BMX, for example, is 177mm. The Q-factor of the 73mm crankset is 167, and the DH version is 176mm. The BMX feels so much more stable and I think a wider stance is better for standing pedalling too. Of course, the wider cranks move the chainring outwards, so I spaced the BB over towards the non-driveside by 5mm and then use two 1mm pedal washers on the driveside crankarm to balance things out – it's not 5mm but I'm scared of ripping the threads out and I don't think my knees will notice 3mm difference.

The only data I have seen about Q-factors and the reason they are what they, is based around efficiency on a road bike. I would like to see some Q-factor data for MTB riding which involves standing up and balancing much more than a road bike, and if rider height affects it? Anyone who has ridden a trials moto will recognize the feeling of the wide pegs and the way you can easily balance the bike by resting your weight on to one peg or the other.

Pedals

Pedalling Innovations Catalyst EVO

I've been riding the Catalyst since I had a pre-production prototype around 6 years ago. The EVO is the latest version which has even more durable bearings, is slightly lighter, and uses rear-entry pins instead of grub screws. There are some claims that they increase power output with thanks to a more 'mid-foot' pedalling position and proving or discussing this is a guaranteed plunge into an extra-deep rabbit hole, but the thing I can confirm is that they offer increased balance: the longer platform means that shoes twist less than a shorter platform. The most important thing with these pedals is the correct shoe: a flat shoe with a pre-curved sole will struggle with grip as it will float in the centre of the pedal and the pre-curve lifts the sole away from the pins, the best shoes I have found are the Five Ten FreeRider Pro which are very flat.

Do you need concavity? Sort of, but the effective concavity (measured from the tallest pins down the lowest points of the pedal) is 5mm so pretty similar to most pedals on the market. And yes they are heavy. Of course, they are heavy because they are bigger than any other pedal on the market! These few grams are not noticeable when riding, though, and if I try to ride 'normal' pedals now I really struggle to balance.

Q&A with Paul Aston and NSMB

NSMB: Considering its futuristic build and your claim that its the ultimate mountain bike, why are you moving onto a new project bike?

Paul: I'm moving on to a new project because COVID has ruined my life: about 70% of my work was cancelled this year so I'm pretty broke and I invested a lot of my money into that bike. So I need to move it on and start the next thing, which is going to be even more interesting, I think, no… I'm sure!

NSMB: With your experience on this bike, what do you feel needs further investigation/how can this improve?

Paul: What I'd like to improve on this bike is a bigger seat tube - 34.9mm for the new crop of big droppers, I never had any problems with a single BikeYoke post, but bigger seems sensible here. I'd like downhill rear wheel spacing and I'd like a downhill 83mm bottom bracket, just because it's stronger, wider, better and wouldn't add any real weight. I wouldn't change anything else unless we could move the derailleur off the back of the bike and into a gearbox!

NSMB: You’ve spent time on both the Commencal Supreme DH, Supreme SX and Norco Aurum HSP bikes and seemed honestly impressed by the high pivot rear suspension. Would you opt for that system on your G1 if possible, or is the Horst Link as good or better for a 'trail bike', in your mind?

Paul: I do really like high-pivot bikes, mainly because I ride flat pedals and they mean your feet stick like glue to the pedals. This bike's pretty good with so much travel and the Ochain that it's very close to a high-pivot, but it depends what you're using it for. I mostly ride downhill so I prefer more anti-rise and the rearward axle path (of a high-pivot), but this bike is just killing it right now so I am not too worried!

NSMB: You work with many of the brands shown on your ultimate bike. How did those relationships develop?

Paul: Some of them I met when I was with Pinkbike or just the bike shows. Some people I emailed and asked for the stuff that was interesting and some of the stuff I just brought because I don't want to keep hassling people

NSMB: “…some other marketing term that's usually detrimental to going as fast as possible down a race track.” I’d argue that marketing has gotten in the way of regular riding comfort too. If race speed and comfort in challenging terrain isn’t someone’s interest, how would you see this bike differ?

Paul: That's hard to say, ‘cause I find this bike very comfortable considering what it's capable of due to the things that I've done to it. Like the upside-down fork, the spherical bearings, and the shock, the push-on grips, the setup, the Ochain, all those things, make it more comfortable. I think that makes it more comfortable and faster for anybody.

Read the full NSMB article on the 210mm Do Everything G1 here.

Other Resources

Nicolai G1 - The 210mm Do Everything Bike

Introduction: November 2023.