A couple of months ago I had the chance to try riding a friends spare 29er - a Niner Sir9 that he had set up as a rigid single speed.  The experience was one of those rare ones - a ride that just feels so right that it changes the way you think about riding.  Of course, this left me with a dilemma - I wanted a 29er of my own, but do I really need yet another bike?  Perhaps the bigger issue, however, was how to explain to my wife why a 29er was essential to my happiness and wellbeing. 

I was led astray about a month ago by that same mate who let me ride his 29er - he had found someone selling a Niner One9 cheap.  Now the dilemma was real - and this review is evidence of the fact that I have a weak will when it comes to bikes; I gave into temptation and am now the proud owner of a Niner One9:

Bike Spec

The bike is set up with the following:

• Niner One9 single speed specific frame with eccentric bottom bracket
• Pace 29er carbon rigid fork
• Thompson Elite seat post
• Chris King headset
• Ritchey WCS stem
• Easton EA50 aluminium bars
• Avid BB7 mechanical discs and levers
• American Classic single speed specific lightweight disc wheels
• Shimano SLX crankset with FSA 32 tooth single speed chainring
• Shimano XT pedals
• Chris King 18T rear sprocket
• WTB Exiwolf tyres

The whole package weighs in at a little over 9kg.  The One9 is a single speed specific frameset (i.e. no derailleur hanger) which has vertical dropouts and an eccentric bottom bracket.

For those not familiar with an eccentric bottom bracket, basically it is an oversized bottom bracket shell, into which the bottom bracket screws.  The whole bottom bracket shell is then able to be rotated eccentrically, effectively moving the crank axle forwards, backwards, up or down and in doing so changing the chainstay length and thus tensioning the chain.  More info here.

Equipment Review

The frame is nicely put together.  It’s got the signs of a mass produced frame in the welding, but there’s something about this bike that feels a little more special.  The frame is built out of scandium to keep the weight low - and it is light, at just 1.55kg (keep in mind this is a 29er frame)! The headtube is nicely reinforced and gives confidence that despite being lightweight this bike has been made to be ridden in the rough:

Niner bikes clearly have a sense of humour - I love the decal that they’ve put on all their frames at the front of the top-tube; just where you look when you’re getting tired and your head dips down:

The paintwork is lustrous and decals nicely applied.  I particularly like that there are some basic decals for the manufacturer and model, but the bike doesn’t have tech-terms all over it, they’ve kept it nice and simple:

The front end is set up with a rigid Pace 29er carbon fork.  This is a seriously light fork and carbon softens up the fact that this bike has no suspension.

The American Classic wheels are another impressively lightweight option.  Despite being light (approx 1.6kg for the set!) they feel solid and with 32 spokes are nice and strong.  American Classic hubs have a reputation for bearing issues - lucky for me these wheels have already been re-bearinged with quality Enduro bearings.

The other equipment that this bike is set up with is nice and functional.  I particularly like Chris King’s headsets and the matching orange anodizing looks fantastic (see photo above).  The rear end Chris King 18T stainless sprocket is functional but very nicely put together - solid but nicely machined out to save weight:

The Thompson seatpost is also very nice and I particularly like the micro adjustment possible - there’s nothing more annoying than a seatpost that moves in large increments making it impossible to get the saddle sitting right:

From a bike-porn point of view, I really like the Shimano SLX cranks.  These are affordable, highly functional and look fantastic.  They are based on the hollowtec platform so weight is kept down and run a two piece octalink system with external bottom bracket which is nice from a serviceability and maintenance point of view.  I stripped these cranks back and put on a 32 tooth FSA chainring.

The WTB Exiwolf tyres are what came with the bike - they are good tyres, if a little heavy for a bike that’s been built up to be relatively light weight.

The Ride

So far I’ve only been for a short ride and so don’t have the experience of spending a few hours in the saddle with this bike.  However, it behaves very similarly to the Sir9 that I rode a couple of months ago and that felt great after a couple of hours.

Niner bikes claim to have spent a lot of time fine tuning the geometry of their frames, and I think this shows up in the ride quality.  As the wheels get bigger everything changes and Niner have done more than upsize a 26er to run with big wheels.  The bike feels super stable and weight distribution is perfect.

If you’ve never ridden a 29er, it all feels a little odd at first.  You prepare yourself to brace for an obstacle and then find yourself just rolling over the top of it.  I’m not talking about foot high logs, but rather the smaller obstacles or drop offs.  The big wheels roll over more of the standard terrain, and once your confidence is up this means you can actually ride quite a bit faster.

This bike is pure joy for cross country riding.  If you love flowing single track and fast firetrail with some good technical challenges thrown in, then this bike just urges you to ride fast.  Set up with a rigid front end and single speed, it just feels like everything comes together right.  Sometimes when you ride a bike it feels like everything works well except for a particular component - eg the bike is great, but for the wheels, or the fork.  No such complaints with this bike.

I noticed that the fork has a little lateral play in it.  After a little reading, it seems this is fairly common for these lightweight carbon forks (White Brothers make a 29er specific fork as well).  I haven’t found this to be much of an issue at this point - in fact, a little lateral play makes the bike feel a little softer up the front end.  Of course, you can easily spec this bike up with whatever fork you prefer - Niner make a very nice steel fork which would complement the frame nicely.

Big wheels definitely roll faster and with a single speed setup you don’t need to sacrifice weight for big wheels - this bike weighs in lighter than most 26ers.

What’s Not Good

As always, I like to cast a critical eye over any product I review.  In terms of things that are not good, I suppose my main criticism is the Eccentric Bottom Bracket.  Whilst I’ve had no problems with it, two thoughts come to mind:

• The EBB is locked in place with allen keyed bolts.  Whilst this is fine, there is no mechanism to lock teh bolts in place - eg a nylon sleeve or similar.  The bolts are also carbon steel, susceptible to rust.  I’ll be upgrading to some nice stainless steel bolts as soon as I’ve got a chance.
• The EBB is locked by friction - basically screwing the locking bolts that are on the underside of the bottom bracket shell against the EBB.  As the EBB is a lighweight unit, it feels like it would be easy to over-tighten bolts and deform the shell.  Also, this design is potentially open to pitting the EBB shell and in time it may make it difficult to make small adjustments as the EBB will be inclined to slip back to the previous position when tightening the bolts.  I would think there are other solutions which would be more foolproof over time.

I don’t really have much else to criticise - ultimately this is the sort of bike that you build up to whatever spec you prefer - buy the frame and go from there.  As such, if you don’t like the American Classic wheels I’ve got on my bike, simply choose something that is more your flavour.

Where to Get it / Pricing

Niner One9 can be bought direct from Niner Bikes online for US$799.  On top of that you’ll need US$40 for the eccentric bottom bracket and you’ll need to build up from there.  Note that this is a single speed specific frame - if you like the idea of a 29er, but are not sure if you’re gonig to want to go single speed, then look at the Sir9, which is supplied with an EBB and derailleur hangers, making it possible to run as a geared bike, but easily convert to a single speed without the need for ugly chain tensioners.

Niner Bikes are imported in Australia by MTB Precision.  Don’t know much about them, but I’m guessing they could supply you a complete build if that’s what you’d prefer.

Picture Gallery

All pics below:

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