Nicolai Nucleon - Intro

As a long-time fan of Nicolai Bikes – mainly due to their superb reliability, build quality, and boundary-pushing ‘GeoMetron’ geometry– as soon as the Nucleon was released, I ordered one. This was also prompted by many requests from followers and people who see me as ‘that gearbox guy’ and wanted to know if the Supre Drive system from Lal-Bikes struck a good mix of derailleur efficiency and gearbox reliability.

That opening paragraph describes my first mistake and advice I give to others and maybe should have followed: don’t buy any products as soon as they launch, let at least a year go by to iron out any manufacturing delays or teething problems and then drop your cash.

I can’t remember the precise dates now, but I ordered the bike in December 2022 with a delivery date of end-March. This became April, then May, then shipped early August 2023. This delay was due to a lack of Supre-Drive parts to build the frame which was not an issue for me with multiple test bikes, but if I ordered and needed that bike for summer riding it would have been a long summer…  of waiting.

The bike turned up with its custom paint job, which I’d asked Nicolai to surprise me with to match the cappuccino RRT fork: a really nice fade from goldy colour, to brown to sparkling black. I got the machine built up with a dreamy list of parts and got stuck into it.

Watch the unboxing video above, and the first ride shakedown below.

Frame Details

The frame is an extremely nice bit of kit. The usual details and huge flat welds are iconic of the German factory (Nicolai Bikes are still made in Germany) and show a change to more contemporary tubes and structures than the more simple-looking frames of the past. The Nucleon front triangle uses custom extruded tubes that are half-round and half-hexagonal. I’m no engineer, but this will increase the strength of the tubes by adding the ‘folds’.

The ‘N’ logo is machined in to the straight ZS 56mm headtube.

Classic huge welds from Nicolai.

The headtube has a recessed ‘N’ logo machined into it and takes a straight 56mm zero-stack headset: my favourite choice as it allows the use of a range of angle sets or reach-adjust headsets to fine-tune the geometry. I can’t see any advantages of the popular tapered headtube other than aesthetically. The seat tube design is also new for Nicolai adding a seat tube support and an integrated seat clamp.

This one-piece seat tube support and clamp is a new look from Nicolai.

External cable routing isn’t perfect on this bike. I lost a couple of the 3d printed guides that are bonded to the frame.

Originally, the frame was ordered with internal cable routing that was routed through the top of the headset; later, I was offered the external option which I accepted. It arrived with 3D printed and glued-on cable guides, one of which had already come off in during transport (probably my fault) but since I’ve lost another on the swingarm. I’m also not 100% sure I’ve nailed the cable routing around the shock/linkage area, but there have been no further issues. Overall the cable routing seems like a bit of an afterthought - not something usual for Nicolai.

The bottom bracket is the latest T47 - Threadfit 47mm. While I’m no expert on bottom bracket stiffness and bearing life, the T47 seems to be the best modern option to cover 24mm Shimano steel crank axles and more modern 30mm and 29mm DUB systems. There was nothing wrong with the classic BSA threaded BBs in my experience. This T47 is ‘SuperBoost’ width to match the rear wheel.

I’m not a fan of SuperBoost, its still has a lot of wasted space and bad spoke bracing angles.

Let’s hope the next hub standard to arrive actually makes things better.

The rear SuperBoost 157mm standard was created by a donkey. I apologise in advance to this donkey who’s probably a really nice guy/quadruped, but you simply added another wider hub standard that doesn’t solve any issues - there’s still loads of wasted space and the spokes bracing angle is still disgusting. Next hub standard please make it with symmetrical spoke angles as every good wheel builder in the world knows this is key to the best wheel build.

While we’re at the rear end, the dropouts do a fantastic job of protecting not only the derailleur but also nestles the brake caliper out of harms way.

The brake mount is 200mm as standard but, pedantic me says that ideally the lower part of the rotor could be protected a little bit more, just for the worst case scenarios.

The rest of the frame did represent its brand well: no cracks, and no loose bolts at all - not a single bolt check until I wrote this article and they were all tight.

Although Nicolai frames use double-sealed cartridge bearings in all pivot points which have proved excellent in the past at keeping out mud and water, the Nucleon is a good mud collector.

There are lots of nooks and crannies on this bike to collect dirt. If you live in a wet and muddy environment but still want to ride a Nicolai, the G1 is going to be a better bet for you: a simpler design with less space to collect mud.

This mud was still left over even after an over-generous amount of pressure washing.

Overall, this is a stunning machine in the flesh, one of those bikes where justice cannot really be done in the photos, but is one hell of a looker.

Next Article, coming soon: Suspension, Kinematics and Grip.

Funding

I buy all the products you see on my site at full price or through online sales and these independent reviews are 100% crowdfunded by you guys buying competition tickets. This month, you can this fully custom Nicolai Nucleon dream machine!

To win, all you need to do is head to my competition site, answer a simple question and you have an extremely good chance to win: current odds at the time of publishing this article are 1/126!

The giveaway is guaranteed to happen on the end date regardless of how many tickets are sold. No extensions, no minimum ticket sales.

These competitions fund my reviews which I believe are the only truly independent MTB reviews online. All of the prizes and all of the products you see are bought by me - no sponsored posts, no freebies and no back-handers.

Thanks, Paul.