Presscamp 2013: New Niner ROS9 and JET9

Niner chose this year’s BikePressCamp to release two new bikes: the revamped, 100mm racy JET9 and the brand new aggressive hardtail; the ROS9. Chipps was there to sample the goods.

Let’s start with the Niner ROS9.

Standing, approximately, for ‘Ride Over Stuff’ the ROS is an aggressive 29er steel hardtail that Niner reckons will be ideal for many riders in the UK. The frame shares many similarities to the SIR (Steel Is Real) frame, including oversize, double-butted frame tubes and minimal seatstay bridge.

 

 

 

The frame also uses Niner’s Biocentric II eccentric bottom bracket which, along with neat hangerless bolt on dropouts allows for neat singlespeed operation. Even the direct mount front mech mount unbolts to clean the lines. The eccentric also allows even the geared bike to adjust chainstay length and BB height by up to half an inch. This, Niner reckons, really helps bring out the character of this long-legged play-bike. The effective chainstays can be brought in from 423mm to as short as 418mm

There are more burly appointments to the ROS9 too – including a bolt-on MRP bash guard (the eccentric BB shell precludes ISCG tabs to mount a chain guide to). There is a Stealth dropper post port, with a bolt-on blanking plate if you’re not running one and there’s a 142mm bolt-thru axle with those interchangeable dropouts for geared or not. Any and all of the cable guides are removeable if not needed.

There’s a 44mm head tube with external lower cup and the ROS9 will work with a 120mm or 140mm 29er fork. With a 140mm fork, the head angle is 67°. Frame weight is around 6.1lbs. It’ll come in Rally Blue, seen here, or Forge Grey and should be out in September with a frame price of £799.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The new Niner JET9

JET apparently doesn’t stand for ‘Just Enough Travel’ but that would be a good way to describe this 100mm racy-fast 29er from the singleminded folks at Niner. The JET has been in the range for a few years now, but has been brought up to date with 142mm dropouts, air-formed tubing (lighter and more accurate than hydroforming apparently) and an increase to 100mm of travel.

The bike will work with 100mm or 120mm forks, should be out in early autumn and will cost £1699. It’s distributed by Jungle and you can find out more details on the bike from Niner’s website here.

 

 

 

 

 

There’s more info on the ROS9 here and, say, is that an XO1, 11speed option listed? I think it is… More on that in a minute.

---