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.

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

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.

On Test: 2012 Niner AIR9 Carbon RDO!

We were high on the list for this bike, but since we had the parts and needed only the frame we ended up getting bumped a couple times.  No problems, though, because she's here now and she's beautiful.

Out of the box we weighed everything that was different from the EMD9 this is replacing.  When going from the EMD9 you not only swap to a carbon frame, but the headset is now integrated instead of a Zero Stack pressfit.  Honestly, I dig the pressfit headsets, but it's incredibly easy to change bearings with an integrated headset, so I'm not too broken up about it.  Also, the integrated FSA headset is roughly half the weight of the Cane Creek pressfit that was in the EMD9.

Also different from the EMD9 is the bottom bracket standard.  The EMD9 uses a standard English-threaded bottom bracket where the AIR9 Carbon RDO uses a PressFit30 bottom bracket.  This opens up the possibility to use lighter BB30-compatible cranks and larger tube junctions.

We'll have a first-ride review coming very soon, as well as apples-to-apples weight comparisons and some build notes coming very soon.  Stay tuned....

New Build: Stan's NoTubes Flow to Chris King Mountain Wheels

These are a truly special build.  Working in a shop, especially a shop that's lucky enough to build some really great stuff, opens your eyes to some great possibilities.  When the chance came up for Ben to pick up a new Yeti ASR7 he wasn't about to clad it with shoddy parts.

Many of the shop employee builds are dreamed up but toned down once it comes time to buy parts.  This time though, Ben took his time to build the perfect bike.  The perfect bike needs the perfect pair of shoes, and Ben outdid himself here.

Starting with Chris King hubs is always a good idea, especially when they are gold.  The front is the oversize 20mm thru-axle version of their 6-bolt disc hub.  King makes two versions of their front disc hub for thru-axles.  The oversize version is ready for 20mm or 15mm thru-axles, but is slightly heavier than the standard hub shell.  Though, the standard hub shell won't accept 20mm axles, which Ben needed in this instance.

The rear hub is set up for a 12mm thru-axle, though it still includes the Chris King "buzz" these hubs are so well known for.  I was recently anointed into the world of thru-axles on the front of my Niner, I can only imagine the stiffness the rear of this bike will have with a thru-axle in the rear hub as well.

Ben went with NoTubes Flow rims, an excellent choice.  The Flow is a relatively light rim, but extremely burly.  It also offers plenty of stiffness, but more importantly is extremely wide and should offer up top-notch tubeless compatibility.

Set up with yellow rim tape, these should work well tubeless and set up easily.  The NoTubes system is the best I've worked with so far, but with a number of other systems popping up we can hope they'll get even better with time.

Gold alloy nipples finish off this build.  It's more likely that if we were building for a customer we would have used brass nipples for their strength, but with a full-service bike shop at his disposal every day and the ability to fix just about anything, alloy nipples will most likely work just fine and will of course look the part.

New Build: Stan's NoTubes Crest 29 to DT Swiss 240s Mountain Wheels

When an email came in for a new Niner Air9 Carbon, I knew special wheels were needed.  This bike is going to a great home that already has a beautiful Independent Fabrication SSR that we built a while back.  That SSR is sporting some DT Swiss wheels we built (not pictured), and since the rider was so happy with them the natural choice was 240s hubs for this new build.

Actually, lets check out this IF SSR.  Custom paint all over, tons of little custom touches, Super Record:

Now you see where we were starting and why these wheels needed to be something nice.  The choice of a rear 240s hub is simple.  DT Swiss engagement and quality are well known, there's no debate there.  The front 240s hub is also a perfect match for the SID XX fork since it has a 15mm Maxle thru axle.

The wheels were built with DT Swiss Competition spokes laced 3x all the way around.  Competition spokes offer light weight and excellent durability and stiffness.  DT Swiss ProLoc black brass nipples were used to match the black theme and to provide a solid base to work from.

Rotors are Shimano IceTech XT, which in my opinion are setting a new standard.  I've never used a brake set that was so powerful and so functionally flawless.  They are a little heavier than some of their counterparts, but will more than make up for their weight with their unbelievable performance.

Cassette is also Shimano XT, an 11-36.  Wide range cassettes have opened the door to 2x10 drivetrains and Shimano has provided on that front.  With excellent shifting and a light action, XT shifting provides great feedback without too much effort placed on your thumbs.

The bare wheelset came in at 1,580g, about 30g lighter than I expected.  Always a welcome surprise!