Sea Otter 2013: Niner Bikes

Niner Bikes
Finally, a company that showed absolutely zero 27.5in bikes at the Sea Otter. Obviously it also didn’t show any 26in bikes either.

Niner’s engineers have been busy working with their frame manufacturers to introduce air-formed tubes. Hydroformed tubes have been around for a while and they allow tube bending and shaping that regular mandrel-bending can’t. It’s not, however, the lightest way of doing things. Air forming allows tubes to be made 25% lighter and is accurate to 0.12mm. This has meant a half-pound saving on the new RIP9 frame.

The new RIP9 frame is now 6.85lbs, only 0.65lbs heavier than the RDO carbon frame. It features 125mm of 29er travel, bigger bearings than before and some clever 3D forging that allows a stand-alone ISCG mounts, along with a clever mount that fits over a bearing cap. UK prices as soon as we hear. It’ll come in Licorice Black or ‘Awesome Green’ shown here and should hit our UK shores around June time.

There’s also new parts and accessories from Niner. There’s a new Niner trail stem, which comes in 50mm or 70mm with the smaller weighing 180g. There’s also the ‘Low Top Nine’ handlebar. This allows a 25mm rise, or more importantly, drop for riders keen to keep the front end down. This carbon bar is 720mm wide, 31.8mm in the middle and has a 17degree sweep.

For the more traditional, there’s also a new ‘Flat Top’ 710mm and huge 780mm trail bar with a mere 5mm of rise, in carbon again.