When Nostalgia Bites Part Deux

It’s not often I regret selling a bike, but – until 26″ wheels slipped into the ether – I always regretted selling my Nicolai Argon FR. Coolest bike I’d ever owned. Coolest bike I was ever likely to own.

Ya see, I thought… no… believed, that I *always* wanted my Rohloff hub in my life, and therefore I would *always* want that Rohloff-specific Nicolai (and its built-in Crud Catcher mounts too). By that point I should have known that my fickle nature means that I never want anything (bike-related) in my life longer than the time it takes for the next shiny bike-based distraction to appear; and yet still I committed to that Argon FR like I was marrying a German bride (that’s where Nicolai are made, just to be clear – Rohloff too, for that matter).

But then, circa 2007, a smaller, sleeker, lighter, Japanese equivalent internal hub gear setup (Shimano Alfine) came along to distract me and force me (I use the term “force” loosely) to buy a Santa Cruz Chameleon that it would better fit on, casting the delicious Argon FR and that heavy, draggy Rohloff hub to the classifieds as if they’d never existed.

I was an idiot. The Alfine was shit by comparison to the Rohloff, despite being a whole heap lighter and less draggy. The Chameleon was ok to look at and ride, but it was no Nicolai in terms of bling and cool factor – and I lost a small fortune on both the hub and the frame, to make matters worse!

At the time I also had a Yeti 575, so I ended up combining the ‘normal’ XT drivetrain from that with the SC Chameleon frame to build a much better ‘normal’ hardtail bike.

But I don’t do ‘normal’.

Fast forward to July 2024. I’ve just sold my Yeti ARC (a “never drive your dream car” kind of mistake) and my Knolly Fugitive (which also only lasted circa 30hrs riding time). During the process of selling both I begin deciding what might come next… and then a Nicolai frame appears at a discounted price on FB Marketplace via an Australian dealer. Holy cow.

Ok so these days I do tend to build a much more ‘normal’ MTB, but – as the Knolly reference might indicate, and especially as it relates to what gets brought into Australia – I still tend to go for brands that are a little more leftfield. Being a long-term Nicolai fan meant that plenty of other, way more ‘normal’ offerings were instantly brushed aside, and even some slightly less normal lightweight carbon options made way, purely because a Nicolai became an option.

When said Nicolai rocked up to my workshop ready for me to build, disappointed I was not – except at myself in overlooking things like buying shock hardware and finding a crack in my expensive carbon RaceFace cranks which meant completing the build got frustratingly delayed. C’est la vie. The frame wasn’t the problem – that, as I only ever expected, was utterly drool-worthy. The only frustration was having to wait three extra days to ride it.

As a built bike, it’s delicious. But there was never really much doubt of that being the case. Lucky it’s a delicious ride too – nimble, confidence-inspiring, really nicely balanced, and it makes me push harder because it takes it so well. It does everything my Knolly did, but better, possibly because it’s a bit lighter than the Knolly was, which makes it feel more chuckable.

I need to put some less XC-style rubber on it to really dial it in, which I’m struggling with because I was trying to keep the weight down to tackle some marathon events, but more traction is required in the rough stuff (I find traction to be useful). A pair of not-quite-Enduro Vittoria Agarros are en route to deal with that whilst only adding a couple of hundred grams. Eventually I hope to offset that with a lighter wheelset.

Talking of lighter, I’m keen to change the Bomber Z2s at some stage as they’re not at all light. There’s very few other white forks out there, though, and they finish the bike too nicely in that regard to ignore – not to mention the fact that new forks are hardly cheap!

All of that aside, I find myself riding a bike that suits me nigh on perfectly – from the ride and setup; to the look of it; to the brand, company, values and ethos behind it. It’s boutique, but not in a “completely empty your bank account” kind of manner.

I currently have a weird and quite alien feeling of contentment…