NEW BIKE DAY! Niner Jet9 RDO with Shimano XT

I'll cut to the chase: 23.7 lbs without pedals.  Now, get the details.

Builds like this just don't come along that often.  It's not every day we get to build the dream bike of a seasoned mountain biker.  When we were asked to build a Jet9 RDO, I was nervous.  Back order lists are incredibly long, this one was ordered the first week of December.

Once the frame had been acquired, everything else was easy.  The frame received a SID XX World Cup 100mm fork with a 15mm thru axle and Cane Creek headset.

The build kit was simple: full Shimano XT.  Every time I ride it I become more and more impressed with the quality of the shifts, but more-so the braking.  Best braking I've ever used.

Wheels where another spot where we knew exactly where to go: Stan's NoTubes.  The stock Crest wheelset came to use 30g LIGHTER than advertised and perfectly round and true.

Thomson post and silver stand-in stem to be replaced with the correct size (and color) once the fit is dialed.  EDGE carbon bars, ESI grips, Maxxis Aspen 2.1 tires set up tubeless.

First Rides: Schwalbe Rocket Ron 29 x 2.25 EVO Pacestar Tires

This year I've made it a point to try as many new 29er tires as reasonably possible.  When I started with 29ers, I loved the Maxxis CrossMark.  The tread is still really nicely designed, but weights of tires has come down a lot in the last 5 years.  At well over 600g per tire, that weight no longer constitutes a race tire in my opinion.

My search stayed with Maxxis originally, and I fell in love with the Aspen.  It's a fast-rolling tire with more cornering grip than the CrossMark with a weight that's almost 70g lighter than the CrossMark, the Aspen was a big hit.

Of course, since I'm on a roll, there's no need to stop with "good enough".  Being a fan of Schwalbe treads on CX tires, namely my FMB Grippo XL sporting the old Racing Ralph tread, I decided Schwalbe was the company to turn to next.  Their tires aren't cheap, which is why I carefully selected the first Schwalbe tread to try.  The Racing Ralph is ever-popular, but with rain predicted when I was placing the order, I decided on the Rocket Ron.

The Rocket Ron 29 x 2.25 EVO with Pacestar tire is much higher volume than I am used to, measuring 2.22" at the casing and 2.32" at the tread.  Being used to a 2.1" tire, this was a change for me.  The height of the knobs was way out of my normal comfort zone having spent so much time on super-fast-rolling XC race tires, I wasn't sure what to expect.  Claimed weight is 520g per tire, actual weights were 525g and 531g.

When mounting the Rocket Ron on my NoTubes Crest rims, the tires popped immediately into place, formed a great seal, and didn't have any sidewall air leaks.

I don't toss this out there very often, if ever, but this is a "hero" tire.  You may or may not have heard of "hero dirt", the kind of tacky soil that makes anyone corner like a pro.  Well, this tire allows a guy like me to have that connected-to-the-trail feeling I assume XC pros feel every day.  The tire also rolls unnaturally fast, with very little resistance.  I was absolutely stunned at how quickly this tire gets you down a nice trail.

On the flip side, the size and spacing of the knobs made me believe this would make for a good mud tire.  Their first ride was in an XC race that probably shouldn't have even happened because of the trail conditions, but it did.  I assume any tire would have been a disaster, but this tire did disappoint that day.  Since then I've found myself on the trail in a couple of muddy spots and the tire has performed respectably but not incredibly.

The Rocket Ron tread is an aggressive all-conditions XC tire.  In my opinion it's not a mud tire, and it's not the absolute fastest XC race tire.  If you need to choose one tire for all conditions, this one will be tough to beat.

As an aside, I have had a few issues with glass on this tire.  I firmly believe the glass that cut these tires would have cut anything, and I believe I just found myself in some bad conditions, but it should be noted that I did get a few cuts very early on.  The tires did eventually seal  with Stan's NoTubes sealant, but it makes me nervous to be riding a tire with a few big cuts and would really irritate me to have these cuts on a $95 tire (EACH!!) if it were my only set.  Again, I think the glass would have cut any tire, but not every tire is $95.

Re-build: PowerTap SL+ Disc to Stan's NoTubes Crest 29

This is my personal rear wheel.  The original only lasted a couple of weeks, all due to my impatience.  I made it less than 10 minutes into a trail ride when I hit a piece of glass and cut a roughly 9mm slice in the tire.  When it didn't seal I decided to ride it back to the car flat.  That's when I clipped a rock and dented my rim.

It's held up well with a tube, actually.  But I strongly prefer tubeless, especially with a Stan's rim.  So I ordered a new Crest rim, and re-laced it.  About an hour later I was ready to roll with power on my mountain bike.

The PowerTap SL+ is laced 3x/3x to a NoTubes Crest 29 rim with black DT Swiss Revolution spokes and black DT Swiss ProLoc brass nipples.  The wheel is set up tubeless with Stan's Yellow Tape and ZTR valve.  Tire is a Maxxis Aspen 29x2.1.

Another ride in the books on my 2012 Niner EMD9 ....

Lumberjack is only 8 weeks away at this point, and today wrapped up a pretty big (for me) 3-week training block.  Building from 10-11 hours per week up to a high of about 16 this week, I was lucky enough to get a really nice chunk of those hours on single track.

It's pretty incredible how great the trails are right now, especially Palos.  This time of year we're usually sitting around grumbling about how the trails are closed because they are too wet, but after a few trips to the trails I'm psyched about how dry they are.

This weekend as well as last weekend were about as good as they get, today had only 3-4 spots of mud in the 55-ish miles of trail I traveled.  Anyone who has hit Palos in the spring knows the lack of mud in April is very welcome.

After these three weeks I'm ready for a little time off of the bike.  A couple of rest days thrown in this week, maybe even a massage, will hopefully leave me ready for another big weekend next week.

After about 5 weeks of training on this 2012 Niner EMD9, I'm in love.  While the lust for carbon MAY overtake me before Lumberjack hits, this is the perfect bike to train on.  The least expensive frame in Niner's lineup means I don't have to sweat a dent or scratch the same way an AIR9 Carbon would probably bother me.  It's light enough, it handles very neutral, and is an absolute rocket.

If you want to get into a Niner, or maybe you've been riding a 29er but want to go with something new, this is it.  The EMD9 has a tapered head tube for perfect steering, and comes out of the box finished like all Niners: faced and reamed head tube, faced and chased bottom bracket, and faced disc brake mounts.  This may not mean a ton to you, but it means quality and time savings to me.

Niner has the geometry dialed, their fit and finish is second to none, and their pricing is hard to beat.

OK, enough of the sales pitch.  Go ride your bike.