Niner is known worldwide for their gorgeous, perfectly-sculpted, reliable mountain bikes–all of them sporting 29-inch wheels.
WFO 9
The only thing that the brand-new WFO 9 has in common with the previous WFO is the name: this all-mountain gnar-shredding machine is all-new and ready to throw down! The WFO 9 features a shorter top tube and lower bottom bracket than the previous WFO, along with a 67-66 degree head tube angle (depending on fork travel).
This rig features a 150mm travel rear end and is designed to accommodate either a 150 or 160mm front fork. As far as I’m aware, Niner has pushed the full-suspension 29er envelope further than anyone else, at least in a production model. The Rock Shox Pike RCT3 is the fork providing this full 6.3in of suspension. Just to help you wrap your head around how much travel this is, Fox doesn’t even sell a 29er fork in the 150mm length, not to mention a full 160!
The new WFO 9 features internal stealth dropper post routing, a SRAM 1x drivetrain setup, and plenty of other tasty components.
While the sheer amount of travel and the shiny bits are all well and good, perhaps the coolest story surrounding the WFO 9 is Niner’s use of air forming to construct this new aluminum frame. Compared to the previous WFO, the air forming sheds 3/4lb of weight off the frame alone. The air forming also allows Niner to create much more complex tube shapes. Check out the seat tube, pictured below. Air forming allows Niner to produce a square tube that transitions seamlessly to a rounded tube, without any welds or joints. How’s that for sexy and functional, all at the same time?!
MSRP is $2,099 for frame, shock, and rear Maxle, with those three totalling 7.3lbs in weight.
While the WFO 9 is currently only available in aluminum, looking around at all of the carbon in Niner’s lineup indicates that the WFO 9 will get a carbon makeover eventually.
One 9 RDO
The One 9 RDO is a basically a mashup of two previous Niner models: the One 9 and the Air 9 RDO. The new One 9 RDO was designed to be Niner’s dedicated singlespeed frame, with an eccentric bottom bracket handling chain tensioning duties, but it can also be setup to run a SRAM XX1 drivetrain.
The complete build pictured here comes with Niner’s famous carbon blade rigid fork, but the bike can accommodate 80-100mm suspension forks with a tapered steerer tube. While Niner claims that they didn’t “try” to make this bike light, this complete build tips the scales at a scant 16.7lbs!
MSRP: $2,149 for the frame.
RLT 9
Standing for “Road Less Traveled,” the announcement of the new RLT 9 from Niner has made a big splash in the bike industry. Up until this point Niner has produced strictly mountain bikes, so the RLT is a big departure from the norm. Well, perhaps not such a huge departure: this cross bike isn’t designed for competitive cyclocross racing, but rather for gravel grinders and epic adventures: the Road Less Traveled.
Compared to a standard cross bike, the RLT 9 sports slacker geometry, clearance for up to 1.75in mountain bike tires, and a BioCentric 30 eccentric bottom bracket, in case you want to run it as a singlespeed.
Currently the RLT 9 is available with an aluminum frame and a carbon fork, but if all the carbon in the Niner booth is any indication, we should hopefully be seeing a carbon-framed RLT 9 eventually!
Weight is 1395 grams for the aluminum frame and 550 grams for the carbon fork, with MSRP set at $1,050 for a frame and fork combo. Production on the RLT is set to begin at the end of the year.
1 Comments
Oct 3, 2013
The RLT is an eccentric and surprising offering, when they announced it I immediately thought of ways to sell my uber-light road bike and get on one of these, although I am not crazy about the colors.
Thank you, Greg, for not mentioning the 'new' Air9...not much has changed except for the airforming and the hideous color schemes that are a direct departure from the sleek and sexy lines/colors Niner has embraced over the years.