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Silver Is the New Gold: Manitou on the NICOLAI R20 MGU AON Edition
Aug 19, 2026
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Silver is the new Gold (Dorado)
Some team replicas reproduce colors. The NICOLAI R20 MGU AON Edition goes considerably further.
Created by NICOLAI and GAMUX from the shared performance environment surrounding AON Racing, the R20 combines the downhill-specific rear end, geometry and kinematics of the GAMUX Sego with a dedicated NICOLAI main frame built around the Pinion Motor.Gearbox.Unit and Gates Carbon Drive. The result is a 200 mm, mixed-wheel machine inspired by World Cup downhill, but equipped with an electric drive for one wonderfully simple reason: getting itself back to the next descent.
What makes the AON Edition particularly significant is that the complete bike reflects more than a collection of sponsor logos. NICOLAI, GAMUX, Manitou, Hayes and Reynolds have spent multiple seasons working within the same AON Racing ecosystem, chasing the same objective week after week: extract every possible increment of speed, control and reliability from the complete bicycle. At World Cup level, components do not work in isolation. Chassis behavior influences suspension. Suspension changes available traction. Braking changes load distribution. Wheels influence tracking and feedback. Over time, those shared lessons begin to create something greater than individual components: a coherent performance system.
Created by NICOLAI and GAMUX from the shared performance environment surrounding AON Racing, the R20 combines the downhill-specific rear end, geometry and kinematics of the GAMUX Sego with a dedicated NICOLAI main frame built around the Pinion Motor.Gearbox.Unit and Gates Carbon Drive. The result is a 200 mm, mixed-wheel machine inspired by World Cup downhill, but equipped with an electric drive for one wonderfully simple reason: getting itself back to the next descent.
What makes the AON Edition particularly significant is that the complete bike reflects more than a collection of sponsor logos. NICOLAI, GAMUX, Manitou, Hayes and Reynolds have spent multiple seasons working within the same AON Racing ecosystem, chasing the same objective week after week: extract every possible increment of speed, control and reliability from the complete bicycle. At World Cup level, components do not work in isolation. Chassis behavior influences suspension. Suspension changes available traction. Braking changes load distribution. Wheels influence tracking and feedback. Over time, those shared lessons begin to create something greater than individual components: a coherent performance system.
For Manitou, nowhere is that connection more visible than at the front of the R20. The bike receives the Manitou Dorado Pro LTD, paired with the Mara Pro rear shock and Jack G2 dropper post. The official R20 specification confirms the Dorado Pro LTD with 203 mm of travel and 47 mm offset, together with the Mara Pro and Jack G2.
But this is not the Dorado most riders can simply order. The R20 wears the same distinctive silver-legged Dorado specification used by AON Racing, combining alloy outer legs with Pro-level internals in a configuration otherwise reserved for the team’s professional athletes. For this limited NICOLAI project, that factory specification becomes available to the equally limited group of riders who purchase an R20 MGU AON Edition.
Dorado means “golden.” On the AON bike, silver is the new gold.
But this is not the Dorado most riders can simply order. The R20 wears the same distinctive silver-legged Dorado specification used by AON Racing, combining alloy outer legs with Pro-level internals in a configuration otherwise reserved for the team’s professional athletes. For this limited NICOLAI project, that factory specification becomes available to the equally limited group of riders who purchase an R20 MGU AON Edition.
Dorado means “golden.” On the AON bike, silver is the new gold.
There is also something fitting about Manitou appearing on such an unconventional machine. The R20 exists because NICOLAI and GAMUX were willing to take an unusual idea seriously and engineer it into reality. Manitou’s history has been built around much the same willingness to challenge accepted solutions, from inverted forks to Reverse Arch architecture and suspension concepts developed around performance rather than convention.
The R20’s high-pivot suspension delivers 200 mm of rear travel, with a rearward axle path intended to maintain control through repeated impacts. Its kinematics combine initial sensitivity with increasing mid-stroke support and progression toward the end of the travel. At the front, the Dorado continues doing what years of World Cup development have taught it to do: track, absorb and maintain control when the terrain becomes violent.
The motor gets the R20 back uphill.
Manitou is there for the reason you went uphill in the first place.
The R20’s high-pivot suspension delivers 200 mm of rear travel, with a rearward axle path intended to maintain control through repeated impacts. Its kinematics combine initial sensitivity with increasing mid-stroke support and progression toward the end of the travel. At the front, the Dorado continues doing what years of World Cup development have taught it to do: track, absorb and maintain control when the terrain becomes violent.
The motor gets the R20 back uphill.
Manitou is there for the reason you went uphill in the first place.
For us, the NICOLAI R20 MGU AON Edition represents a particularly authentic definition of “Team Replica.” Not merely team colors, but suspension shaped by the same environment, the same athletes and the same pursuit of performance as the equipment used on race weekends.
Factory specification. World Cup DNA. Silver legs.
Silver is the new gold.
Factory specification. World Cup DNA. Silver legs.
Silver is the new gold.
For riders who want to own the complete expression of this collaboration, the NICOLAI R20 MGU AON Edition is far more than a Team Replica. It brings together the downhill DNA and geometry of the GAMUX Sego with NICOLAI engineering, the Pinion MGU and Gates Carbon Drive, and a component package closely modeled on the equipment trusted by AON Racing in World Cup competition, including Manitou suspension, Hayes Dominion brakes and Reynolds Blacklabel DH wheels.
Production is deliberately limited to a small series, making the R20 MGU AON Edition as exclusive as the collaboration behind it. The limited order window opens August 19 and runs through September 30, 2026, with pricing starting at €14,999 including 19% VAT with the 800 Wh battery, or €15,199 with the 1060 Wh option. For the small number of riders who will have the opportunity to own one, the R20 represents something genuinely rare: the tangible result of several brands, engineers, athletes and race programs working together to create a complete bike shaped by shared experience at the highest level of gravity performance. Availability is intentionally limited. The order window opens August 19.
Production is deliberately limited to a small series, making the R20 MGU AON Edition as exclusive as the collaboration behind it. The limited order window opens August 19 and runs through September 30, 2026, with pricing starting at €14,999 including 19% VAT with the 800 Wh battery, or €15,199 with the 1060 Wh option. For the small number of riders who will have the opportunity to own one, the R20 represents something genuinely rare: the tangible result of several brands, engineers, athletes and race programs working together to create a complete bike shaped by shared experience at the highest level of gravity performance. Availability is intentionally limited. The order window opens August 19.
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