Love love LOVE my Niner Air9. I spent the winter painstakingly selecting my build group for my Niner, and now I'm getting to enjoy the payoff. I haven't even gotten to ride any real single track and already it's exceded my expectations.
The build: Large Niner Air9, Niner rigid carbon fork, King headset; Thomson cockpit with Fizik Tundra saddle, Edge (Envy) Composites carbon riser bar, and Ergon GX2 Leichtbau Carbon grips; Sram X9 2x10 group with Elixer CR hydro brakes; Stans No-Tubes Crest rims laced to King ISO Disk hubs with DT Swiss Revolution spokes rolling on Kenda rubber; Crank Brothers Eggbeater 2's help me put the power to the ground.
A couple weeks ago I swapped out the big Kendas for some skinny 1.75 Bontragers and went across the pond to race the Barry-Roubaix in Barry County, Michigan. For my money, this was the PERFECT bike for the job. While I wasn't contending for the podium, the extra air volume made for a very comfy ride, but the real gem was the 2x10 Sram drivetrain. With the rolling terrain this rain threw at us, I was never at a loss for the right gear to keep me rolling along. I'm sure that's what helped keep me fresh enough for the final sprint to finish 16th out of 70+ in the 35 mile race!
This weekend I took one step closer to single track by hitting up the Des Plains River Trail for a good 25 miles of trails. I was amazed at how this thing carves up the trail. I hit a couple twisty single track sections, and found the Niner is a real point-and-shoot beast. More amazing was how easy it is to get the wheels off the gournd when hopping logs or jumping log piles.
I can't wait to hit up Palos and Kettle Morain in the coming weeks, and I'll be sure to share!
Soupy
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