2012 Niner Jet9 RDO Medium Available!

These come in SO rarely for open stock, and for good reason: they are back-logged about 5 months!  With that said, this one was ordered for a customer though we were able to snag him one a few months ago, which puts this one available for purchase.  MSRP is $2599 with the custom-valved Fox RP23, but if you want to do a complete build we'll knock it out of the park for you.

Don't miss this one, Tang won't be around long!  If this were a large, it'd be mine.

In Stock: Niner Carbon Jet9 RDO Tang Medium!

What happens when you want to race your Niner, but need full suspension? The Jet9 has been a solid choice, but was a little heavier than it's competition. That used to leave you with a choice to be made: do I suffer the extra weight or do I switch brands?

Well, if you've ever ridden any Niner products you'll know they have their geometry dialed. Why would you want to sacrifice the amazing CVA suspension design and geometry just for a little weight?

So let's say you've decided that the geometry and suspension is enough to keep you with Niner, but you're still struggling with the added heft of the Jet9 when compared to some of it's carbon-competition. Have no fear, because Niner has answered with the Jet9 RDO.

RDO stands for Race Day Optimized, a moniker that's being added to a number of items in the Niner line. It means you're getting equipment truly ready to be raced to your best times and right onto the podium!

Iron Cycles is one of the few spots in the country to find one of these frames. We have ONE brand new Jet9 RDO in medium coming in stock for sale. 


The Jet9 RDO is sporting a tapered head tube with inset headset. We've had a love affair with Chris King headsets for quite some time, and this machine screams for one! Tapered from 1-1/8" to 1.5" adds stiffness and steering precision.


Internal routing done very similar to the Air9 Carbon is a welcome addition, as long as you have a little patience. We've gotten pretty good at routing them, but if you're planning to build your own for the first time I recommend visiting www.ninerbikes.com and following their tutorial.


Fox RP23 with Kashima Coat. Does a rear shock get any better? Make it part of the patented CVA rear suspension design and know you've got the best rear suspension available.


A PressFit30 bottom bracket means tons of added stiffness for your pedaling pleasure! BB30 cranksets can be employed for lighter weight and a more narrow q-factor. Or, use a PF30 to BSA adapter and run a standard crankset.

Current wait time is roughly 4-5 months, unless you're ready for the one we have in stock. But don't wait, once this one is gone, you have a long wait for another....

This Just In: Felt's 2013 Nine Line Up!

In 2005 I decided to give mountain biking a try.  I built my own bike for the experience, but within a handful of rides I realized the bike I built was too small.  When I started the search I was intrigued by 29ers, but at the time there just wasn't much available.  Tire selection was slim, wheel selection was slim, there were only a couple of forks out there to buy.  I made the plunge and picked up a Salsa, and from that day I've never gone back.

29ers offer the ability to roll over objects better than a 26er, they seem to fit me better at 6'1" because I feel like I am sitting "in" the bike rather than "on top" of it, they offer increased traction, etc etc.  But in the last 7 years 29ers have come a long way, rather than being a niche they now dominate the XC market in the midwest, and for good reason.  The frames have gotten lighter and stiffer, the geometry has been dialed to make 29ers more agile, component selection was exploded, the list goes on.

2010 brought a number of new models to market, the first one I was really excited about was the Niner Air9 Carbon.  It offered light weight, incredible stiffness, unmatched (even to today) drivetrain flexibility (single speed, BB30, PressFit30, GXP, BB90, etc), and all of the "new" mountain bike standards like a tapered steerer tube.

For 2012 Niner introduced the Air9 Carbon RDO which was a massaged version of the Air9 Carbon but shaved weight in a number of places for increased performance.

Felt saw what was happening in the market and for 2013 is not just meeting the expectations of XC racers everywhere but introducing a few new things as well.  The flagship Nine FRD frame comes in at a staggering $2900 but offers a claimed weight of 900g for the frame and utilizes TeXtreme carbon borrowed from Formula 1.

Felt was missing the boat with their previous Nine compared to the competition, even though it was a very nice frame.  It's a sell that the old frame didn't have a tapered steerer tube or oversized bottom bracket but still had a price tag rivaling the most expensive frames.

This new FRD frame, at 900g, is going to blow people away.  The best carbon money can buy, the best engineering available to our industry, and Felt has turned their F1 into a mountain bike.  This thing should be a rocket!

Niner carbon hard tail frames only gave me two real headaches: rear mud clearance and cable routing.  If Felt can nail the geometry Niner has gotten so good at, their new frame will kill Niner.  Felt's clearance around their tire is MASSIVE and comes without the "mud shelf" Niner carbon frames have.

Regarding cable routing, mechanics, wrap your head around this: fully lined and guided internal routing for front and rear derailleurs!  You riders may not care about this much, but when I spend an hour routing housing through an Air9 Carbon I tell myself I'll never do it again!  Let's hope this routing is as easy as Felt is making it sound!

I wish I could give you a first-hand ride report.  Our Felt rep said he spent some time on one and the new Nine was good enough to get him to forget he was riding a 29er, which is a huge compliment coming from a die-hard 26er rider.  It's only a matter of time before some of these new Nine frames and bikes are kicking around the store!

More info can be found here and here.

NEW BIKE DAY! Niner Jet9 RDO with SRAM X.0

We're at it again, this is another one of those dream bikes you see highlighted on the cover of a magazine or people drooling over in bike forums.

To build the best, you have to start with the best, so the Niner Jet9 RDO was a clear choice.  Being a long-time rider of hard tails, I'm pretty picky when it comes to rear suspension designs.  I like a bike that's light and efficient and trade off the little bit of cushion and comfort for efficiency and speed.  But, after riding a few of these Jet9 RDO's, I'm realizing that an efficient rear suspension will make you faster in the bumps and on the descents, possibly keep your tire hooked up on the climbs, and have the potential to lead you to faster laps.

Enough with the theory, let's just cover this incredible ride:

The frame is an XL Niner Jet9 RDO in licorice.  Licorice has proven to be the most popular color at the shop and probably the best seller from Niner, and for good reason.  When you get up close you'll see there is actually black paint on the bare carbon making for a very stealth look.

The profile shot shows the dimensions of the frame nicely.  I normally ride a large frame from Niner, but with the seat lowered a little and a slightly shorter stem the XL didn't feel too bad!  Hmmm...

Wheels are Crank brothers Cobalt 29 3 wheels.  While I can't say these would be my first choice personally, they set up tubeless flawlessly, the weight is pretty respectable, and they match this build perfectly.  Maybe with more time on them we'll have a better sense of them.

Formula R1 brakes and SRAM X.0 shifters make for a nicely assembled cockpit.  You'll notice the Formula MixMaster clamps are missing, they hadn't arrived in time for the shoot but will be instaled shortly.

A special Formula R1 caliper laser etched for Niner is hard to beat.  At the shop we tend to stick mostly to Avid or Shimano brakes, but the lever feel and power from these R1's was really incredible.  Good enough actually that I very well may have them on my next build...

Another shot of the caliper, this is the rear one.  Post mount rear leaves you with a very stiff perch for the brake and great power with no flex.

The Fox RP23 with Kashima coat is the standard by which all other rear shocks should be measured.  This frame was produced before the CTD version, which may actually be a good thing for some.  This version of RP23 has more adjustment for the rider who likes to fiddle with his bike versus the CTD which has fewer settings.

Yup, Kashima found here.  I'll be honest, I thought it was a gimmick at first, but after some riding it's pretty clear Fox did their homework on this one.

The Jet9 RDO has the ability to easily adapt from trail bike to XC racer depending on how you set it up, this one is spec'd with a TALAS 29 fork which allows for travel adjustment on the fly.  Want 120mm to go downhill?  No problem.  Want 80mm to go uphill?  It can handle that too.

Simple CTD (Climb, Trail, Descend) adjustments on the fork crown to handle how the fork behaves.

The TALAS adjustment knob that allows for travel adjustment on the fly is easily reached.  Personally I'd run this thing in the 120mm mode most of the time as the fork is just so smooth.

Kashima makes an appearance at the front of the bike as well.  You just can't go wrong here.

Glamour shots are needed from every angle, but I had to get one from the front as most of the time you'll only see the rear of this one.

X.0 rear derailleur is consistent and light.  We've been running a lot of SRAM bits for years, and SRAM's 10-speed groups are awesome off-road.

X.0 cranks set up with a 38t big ring for all-mountain use.  A racer may favor a 39t big ring, but this 38t is more than enough if not racing.

With the advent of 10-speed also came super-wide-range cassettes, this one is an 11-36 X.0 model.

A Cane Creek 110 headset handles the steering duty on this bike.  A US-made headset is always a nice touch, and Cane Creek makes some amazing products.

There you have it.  A killer Niner Jet9 RDO that was a pleasure to build.  While these frames are next to impossible to get, you know where to go when you need someone to hunt one down.  Every time I build one and get to ride it I realize why people are willing to pay so much for these frames!

Lumberjack 100 Follow-up, Part 2

Part 2 is going to follow through a little photo montage of the weekend.  There are huge chunks missing since I wasn't taking a ton of pictures while racing (duh), but let me share a few things:

First, the pre-ride.  This time I DID have my phone with me to snap a couple of shots of the course.  Much of it looked just like this.  There were a few miles of sandy fire roads, and a TON of singletrack.

My wife was kind enough to grab a couple shots of Kenda course tape.  What we do without pictures of course tape!?

We missed some shots of the mass-start, which I can't help but to assume was fun to watch.  400 or so people buzzing down the road on knobbies at 25+ mph had to be kind of neat.

Luckily there were a few shots snapped coming in after lap 1.  Think it was a but dry and dusty out there?

Here's Rob coming in after lap 2.  Still in good spirits, it's all about getting out for lap 3.

Barry Wicks is a nice dude, but when someone is able to win a 100 mile MTB race in under 6:30 and have a smile on their face at the end I just want to punch them.

And then there's me, rumbling through the finish at 8:27.  Exhausted, but I had a great time up there.  I'll be back again.

Welcome to Lumberjack 100!

The drive is done, the training is in the books, my bike is ready, now it's time to find out if my legs can make it. 

I've just returned from about 15 miles of riding on the course and it's exactly as I remember it.  Plenty of going up, a ton of sand, ferns galore, and a lot of fun.  This is my kind of trail riding, very little fear of smacking into a huge rock and a lot of speed.  The trail is very buffed out for the most part with the sand smoothing it out, but it's easy to find yourself drifting off the trail if you aren't paying attention.  Much like a cyclocross race, sand can push you around, and if you work too hard against it you'll end up on the ground.

For me, I've found a really smooth tread has made the trail feel fast and the smooth tread doesn't dig into sand.  If you stay light on the bike it glides through the sand and doesn't push you too much.

Enjoy these couple of photos, I wish I could have talked myself into stopping to take more.  The vast majority of the course looks just like this, smooth and fast.

Wish me luck tomorrow as I come back to this race.  Last year I was coming off of a nasty cold and the climbing got to me.  This year I am coming back to show myself I can do this.

I also want to wish all of my comrades out there the best of luck tomorrow.  Ride hard, have fun, and I'll see you at the finish.

New Build: ENVE XC 29er Carbon Clincher to American Classic Disc Hubs

Everything from basic 26" mountain wheels, bomber touring wheels, and even the occasional carbon mountain race wheelset, we build our fair share of wheels.  There are pros and cons to building wheels on a regular basis.  On the pro side I get to practice and improve my skills routinely.  On the cos side when it comes to building wheels for myself I usually rush through it to get it done.  I have an attitude when building my own wheels akin to stopping when they are "good enough" rather than done right.

This wheelset, after thinking about the components of it for quite some time, needed to be done right.  I don't build a ton of ENVE rims, but so far every one of them has been a pleasure.  They handle very high spoke tension, are perfectly finished inside and out, and are perfectly straight right out of the box.  To be honest, it's almost like cheating they build so nicely.

The rims came in at 379g and 381g, both under the claimed weight of 385g.  I love when manufacturers can actually be honest with their claimed weights.

Internal nipples aren't my favorite in any wheel, but I've grown to like building with them recently.  They offer a very secure connection between themselves and the nipple wrench which all but eliminates any opportunity for rounding a nipple.

Spokes are Sapim CX-Ray, an industry standard.  They are outrageously expensive, but in my opinion well worth it.  A bladed spoke won't offer any aerodynamic benefit on my XC wheelset, but it does allow me to easily hold the spoke straight while building to prevent any spoke wind-up.

Hubs are American Classic Disc.  This is a controversial choice, but not one made without much deliberation.  I would have preferred DT Swiss hubs, but the 240s front 15QR hub doesn't convert to a standard 9mm QR, and I hope to use these wheels for cyclocross, so I needed a hub that's convertible.  In strong contention were Chris King hubs, which are easily converted, but I had a strong ambition to build these wheels at or below 1400g and the King hubs wouldn't allow that.  Here is where the American Classic hubs shine: they are light, really light, and can be converted from 9mm QR to 15QR Maxle in the front, and many different rear axle configurations.  We have a winner.

Front hub came in at 118g, rear at 234g.  Claimed weights were 116g and 225g, front and rear respectively.

Here's the completed wheelset.  So close to managing the 1400g goal, I finished up at 1410g.  There are lighter wheelsets out there, many even cost less, but what those wheelsets really give up are stiffness.  Super-light alloy wheelsets are great to save weight, but those light rims are flexy and prone to denting (so I have found).

NEW BIKE DAY! Niner Jet9 RDO

Out she goes.  Our final in-stock Niner Jet9 RDO.  She's been with us for too long, we've grown attached, but it's time for us to part ways.  Maybe one day I'll find something to take her place, but nothing will ever make me forget her.

She'll enjoy ling rides in the mountains around Fort Collins.  In her true element.

Adieu.

Recent Niner Builds

Air9 Carbon RDO with Shimano XT/XTR, SID XX World Cup, NoTubes Crest, 

Niner/Thomson cockpit

Air9 Carbon with Shimano XT, SID XX, NoTubes Crest, Niner cockpit

EMD9 with Shimano XT, SID XX World Cup, NoTubes Crest, Niner/Thomson cockpit

EMD9 with Shimano XT, Niner Carbon fork, NoTubes Crest, Niner/Thomson cockpit

Niner Jet9 Carbon RDO with Shimano XT, SID XX World Cup, NoTubes Crest, 

ENVE/Thomson cockpit

Niner Jet9 Carbon RDO with Shimano XT, SID XX World Cup, NoTubes Crest, 

ENVE/Thomson cockpit