Nicolai ION14 – Endless Possibilities…

January 20, 2015

In this article, we’re gonna feature not just one, but two Nicolai builds. While the ION14 is no longer in Nicolai’s official production roster since 2014, we’re going to use these two bikes to highlight the endless possibilities when it comes to giving an already two year old frame a rebuild/revamp. You’ll see why we absolutely love working on Nicolai frames at AttitudeBikes.

Purchased as a pre-owned tailor-made frame, this titanium anodised ION14 was one of the last to arrive in Singapore (till date, 9 out of approximately 15 ION14 frames in the world are in Singapore)

After we made some quick measurements in order to be sure that the tailor made frame would fit our customer, we had a chat with him in order to better understand his requirements and his intended usage for the bike. A bold suggestion meant that we would be trying out our first ever 650B conversion on a Nicolai ION14, building it up with a pair of Atomlab SL 650B/Pimplite 102 wheels, and a 2015 RockShox Sektor 650B, for a lightweight trail setup.

With the components list pretty much sorted out, we then focused on the colour scheme. The original titanium anodised finish was a subtle and awesome base for us to work with, and we finally decided on giving the final build some blue accents on not just components, but a set of custom made Nicolai decals.

The larger wheels matched with the efficiency of the ION’s brilliant suspension platform made this one quick bike, capable of sprinting through our trails with ease.

The next build was inspired by the iconic Gulf Oil racing liveries (the owner simply adored the classic Gulf/Ford GT40’s), and when time came for a revamp for his bike, it was not difficult to decide on a colour scheme/theme. Upgrades included a BOS Deville 140mm fork, a Atomlab Suprelite SL/Pimplite 102 wheelset, and an orange PimpKit for the Truvativ Hammerschmidt crankset.