From the MBR Achive: How the boss behind Mojo and Geometron was pushing bike design lower, longer and slacker way back in 2014
From August 2014
Quite possibly the most aggressive bike in Britain, this custom-designed 170mm-travel Nicolai Ion is the brainchild of Mojo owner Chris Porter and sports the longest wheelbase of any bike we’ve seen.
Tech feature: taking a deep dive into mountain bike geometry
Vital statistics
- Head angle: 63°
- Bottom bracket: 330mm
- Wheelbase: 1,285mm
- Chainstay: 440mm
- Wheelsize: 27.5in
- Weight: 15kg (33lb)
“How do you know you’ve reached the limit if you don’t try?”
“My old bike, the FrankenDune (Porter’s heavily modified Mondraker Dune), was riding so well because of the chainstay length, so we set out to custom-build a bike with a longer back-end, because everyone wants to corner faster, don’t they? How do you know you’ve reached the limit if you don’t try?”
With a 63° head angle and 1,285mm wheelbase, is this the limit?
“We’re not yet riding bikes that are long enough,” Porter reckons. “And I’ve already ordered 450mm chainstays for the Nicolai, 10mm longer!”
It’s a pretty industrial-looking machine, with massive welds, tubes like scaffolding and a brushed aluminium finish. Porter has fitted a 10mm stem straight from Mondraker’s Forward Geometry programme, and there’s plenty of room in the cockpit thanks to the long wheelbase.
Read more: Best enduro mountain bikes in 2021 – 150 to 170mm travel bikes
Anyone can get a Nicolai Ion custom made from Nicolai, with Porter’s bike costing around £3,000 for the frame. If you’re daunted by the idea of making your own angles, just copy a bike you like and tune it a little — longer chainstays perhaps, or a slacker head angle.