Niner introduces its new no-compromise cross country race bike with the sentence “Victory Favors the Equipped” – going on to say “the RKT 9 RDO is made to fly. Our completely new frame design will have you rethinking what is possible on a short-travel, race-ready full suspension 29er.”
It has multiple Leadville (and other hard-arse events) champion, Rebecca Rusch on board too. She says:
“I’ve been a disciple of the 29er movement since my first Leadville win in 2009. I’ve been sold on the wheel size since my first 29er ride. What’s different now is how the technology has evolved and radically improved the 29er ride. This new Niner blows me away. When I think of a cross country or endurance race bike, first I think “light”. Next I think, “twitchy”. My experience with super light race bikes has always involved compromise. If I wanted light, I had to give up handling. If I wanted confident handling, I had to accept more heft. I dreamed of a light race bike that could also be confidence inspiring, solid and super fun! It seems my dreams have been answered.”
The bike offers 90mm of CVA rear suspension and it’s optimised for 100mm, though it’ll work with 120mm forks too.
The bike offers a 73mm PF BB ‘which provides compatibility with the latest 1x and more conventional multiple ring drivetrain configurations and can be adapted to a threaded bottom bracket via adaptors.”
Frame sizes medium and larger have water bottle mounts on both the underside of the down tube and within the front triangle “allowing for ample hydration during longer marathon-style endurance events” and there are clear protective decals on the frame to protect from rock strikes.
The RKT is the first Niner to feature Boost 148mm x 12mm rear spacing and has clearance for up to 2.4in tyres. This feature allows for a wider spoke interface and an overall stiffer wheel and swingarm combo.
Frame only pricing is an eyebrow-raising £2899 UK rrp – complete bikes starting at £4199 rrp. The first batch of frames are due with importers, Jungle in the next week or so.
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The old Yeti lawwill 6’s were £3,000 back in the 90’s so it’s far from the most expensive ever… Bloody spendy though
‘Most expensive bike we’ve seen in recent times’, then? 🙂
Oooooh, this I like. Team bike next year maybe? Hopefully I can persuade Jungle to swap the ‘orrible RSIs for some BOS forks.
Yeti SB6c, the Singletrack award winnging frame no less, is £200 more… And until recently many Santa Cruz’s were more expensive too…
Granted, for an XC FS frame it’s top dollar, but theres plenty more spendy bikes out there.
My current bike frame is still available new and retails for £3250. Not a gram of carbon in it either! Might be slightly cheating though as its designed for two people….
Nice bash guard
All of the bike frames mentioned so far are mere chump change compared to the world’s most expensive frame which I think was made by American in the mid 90’s out of Beryllium.
It cost $30,000 back then so would be pushing close to $100K now – unfortunately it was displayed at a trade show and stolen overnight!