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.

NEW BIKE DAY! Niner Air9 with Shimano XT

This is starting to become a recurring theme around the shop, and I couldn't be happier.  Niner bikes have been rolling out of the shop with regularity and each one keeps getting better.

For this build we went to our go-to component gruppo, Shimano XT.  Performance, looks, and weight, XT has it going on.  It's not quite as light as some of the other gruppos on the market, but with brakes that cannot be matched and smooth shifting as good or better than anything else available, a price that's perfectly competitive, and good looks to match, it's the gruppo we've used as our standard to which other gruppos are measured.

Beautiful build, eh?  The white/raw color combo on the new Air9 PF30 is incredible and really draws a lot of attention.  No denying this thing looks good.

NoTubes Arch EX stock wheelset is a great value and adds a great amount of stiffness over the Crest wheelset while being only slightly heavier.  The big bonus: NoTubes has the best bead hook out there allowing just about any tire to be easily set up tubeless.

The Rock Shox SID fork used on this bike isn't the high-zoot XX World Cup version we've been using so much lately.  This SID RL still has very smooth travel, uncompromising light weight, and looks great with this frame.

Sag measurements printed on the stanchions make setup easier than any fork out there.

XT cranks have legendary Shimano front shifting.  Also legendary from Shimano is not being the lightest, but not sacrificing stiffness to anyone.

Shimano XT brakes have more power and better lever feel than any brake on the market today.  They aren't the lightest, but they do perform the best.

Shimano ICE Technology rotors keep things cool and performance fade-free no matter how you ride.

Looks are personal, but damn these levers sure are sexy.  The single-lever braking can't be beat.

No mistaking the model of this frame!  Niner never wants to leave anyone guessing, but most of their graphics tend to be subtle, or at least in small numbers.

Lumberjack 100 Follow-up, Part 3

In this installment of my Lumberjack 100 follow-up, I'm going to cover the final bike setup I used.  Having ridden the course last year, I knew it was pretty smooth single track, but last year I didn't even manage 50 miles coming off of a cold.  I decided a hard tail was still the way to go, even though I was spending 8+ hours on the bike.

Looking back, a very efficient full-suspension bike probably would have been a better choice for me, but not by much.  The hard tail offered incredible climbing, but a full-suspension frame would have offered a bit more comfort on the last lap.  I did lose some time on the last lap from cramping legs, so I'm split on whether or not I could have made up for some of that lost time with more comfort.

Regardless, here's the bike from my 2012 Lumberjack 100 campaign:

Niner Air9 Carbon RDO frame, large, licorice.  PressFit 30 carbon bottom bracket, Rock Shox SID XX World Cup fork with 15mm Maxle.  This frame and fork combo is as light and stiff as anyone could hope for right now.

New ENVE 29er XC carbon rims came in slightly lighter than their claimed weight and much stiffer than anyone could have convinced me of.  After getting used to riding light alloy rims built with light spokes, it's amazing how stiff a set of 29er wheels can be when made from carbon.  Sapim CX-Ray spokes were used not because they are bladed, but because they offered the best platform for building and keeping the weight low.

American Classic hubs were chosen for their light weight and adaptability.  These wheels will most likely see some cyclocross duty and the front hub can easily be adapted from 15mm thru axle to a standard QR.

The tires may or may not have been the best choice, but I went with Schwalbe Furious Fred 29x2.0 tires.  They are shockingly light, hundreds of grams lighter than most other 29er tires, and they roll as fast as a CX file tread.  The down side was the low-volume casing which didn't offer the kind of float a 2.1 or 2.25 tire would have given.

Crank Brothers Egg Beater 11 Ti pedals were chosen again for their light weight.  Their ability to clear mud is great in cyclocross, but in a super-dry cross country race that didn't matter at all.

My favorite saddle of all time, but custom.  Fizik's custom program is awesome when you get in on it, it's quick and doesn't add an extraordinary cost to the saddle.  The Aliante has made it's way onto all of my bikes at this point, and even after 8+ hours in the saddle I didn't have a single saddle sore, no numbness at all, and no chafing.

The only cage anyone should trust, a King stainless.  King Ti is a nice touch, but it doesn't save much weight at all and gets really expensive.  The King stainless cage has a classic look and at $20 it has no match.  I've also never lost a single bottle when using one, which is the most important aspect.

Thomson X4 130x-10 stem has made it's way onto a number of my Niner bikes.  Puts me in a riding position I feel powerful and in control of the bike.  I also like knowing that it'll survive any situation I find myself in when on the trail.

Rock Shox has an excellent hydraulic lockout as part of the SID XX line.  I was skeptical at first, wondering why I'd need something other than a cable-actuated lockout, but once I used it I understood.  Smooth, light action to open your fork or lock it out.

Shimano brakes, XT to be specific currently.  They just can't be beat, and I've tried a lot of disc brakes.  Shimano has no equal in power, modulation, or ease of set-up.

Shimano XTR rear derailleur.  After 8+ hours and countless shifts in the sand, it still worked perfectly.  I didn't miss a single shift all day and after a quick wipe-down with a wet rag the derailleur looked brand new.

There you have it, my 2012 Lumberjack 100 race rig.  I'm not sure what 2013 will see me riding, maybe a Jet9 RDO or a Felt Edict 29?  We'll see.  If my fitness comes in better next year than this year, I'll probably go full-suspension.  Use my fitness to get me up the hills and let the extra squish get me downhill faster.  If my fitness comes in the same or less, I'll probably use a hard tail and hope it climbs fast enough to make up for that lack of fitness.

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.

Welcome To My World....

I have seen some of the beautiful views my friends have posted from their offices downtown. Perched in a high rise, overlooking the lake or the loop, through huge windows sitting in fancy office chairs.

Here I sit, on the ground floor, on a Park Tools stool, at a desk I built. But I have an incredible view of two custom Independent Fabrication frames I designed, a Lynskey Cooper and a Ridgeline monstercross, a Boo cross frame, a handful of Niner bikes and frames, and the first publicly available Cielo Sportif Racer SE.

It doesn't get any better than this.

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).

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