You do have to admire Niner and its single-minded approach to the big wheeled bicycle. As it says on its website, their 29ers aren’t the token bikes in the range, they are the range. It’s this fanaticism, coupled with some very nice looking design that has won it many fans in the US and, slowly, in Europe too.
The Niner booth - hours before everyone packed up and headed over to Interbike.Branded Niner pouffes... A nice touch.
Having made a big noise before Eurobike with the launch of its revamped Air9 and E.M.D.9 frames you’d think that it had shown all, but it had kept back the launch of its new 15mm (Maxle Lite) carbon fork for Eurobike.
Tapered only - and you can try putting it on another frame, but it won't look as good, will it?
Here's the pointy end: Maxle lite and post mount brakesCloser still...
A whole range of colours to match Niner's bikes - and maybe other bikes too.
Niner also announced a range of components: handlebars (which it does already) are to be joined by stems and seatposts, in three different spec levels.
Niner stem - and matching, beer-bottle-cap stem cap.Seatposts to matchThe newly revamped AIR9 - now in formed and butted aluminium, rather then the scandium of old, press fit BB and tapered head tube.
With 23 years as Editor of Singletrack World Magazine, Chipps is the longest-running mountain bike magazine editor in the world. He started in the bike trade in 1990 and became a full time mountain bike journalist at the start of 1994. Over the last 30 years as a bike writer and photographer, he has seen mountain bike culture flourish, strengthen and diversify and bike technology go from rigid steel frames to fully suspended carbon fibre (and sometimes back to rigid steel as well.)
Brant said they were in testing ages ago. Maybe on one will do something?? Chipps, is that you in the framed pic behind the forks riding the carbon jet?
Nice forks, want some for my niner.
shame no non-tapered version
20mm non-tapered or there’ll be trouble
Not sure I really see the point of through axle rigid forks. AFAIK there were some production issues with the X-Lite forks, and who knows what’s happening now that Brant has gone back to On One…. Hope they do happen, seemed very promising.
Am I right in assuming that whether it is Maxle Lite or Fox a 15mm hub is a 15mm hub (and it is just the locking/tightening mechanism that changes)?
NIce SID XX 29er at last, with Maxle lite
Yes Speaker2A – a 15mm hub is a 15mm hub and only the axle (which comes with the fork) changes. It’s the same with 20mm hubs too.
another vote for 20mm untapered here.
Im hopeful brant can get the on-one machine running one up in quick order.
I wonder what happened to the X-lite bolt-through rigid forks?
It was a triple clamp wasn’t it from memory rbit?
Were the triple clamps not Marz 888’s? http://www.singletrackworld.com/2010/09/eurobike-ragley-books-bombers-and-the-return-of-x-lite/
Brant said they were in testing ages ago. Maybe on one will do something?? Chipps, is that you in the framed pic behind the forks riding the carbon jet?
Nice forks, want some for my niner.
shame no non-tapered version
20mm non-tapered or there’ll be trouble
Not sure I really see the point of through axle rigid forks. AFAIK there were some production issues with the X-Lite forks, and who knows what’s happening now that Brant has gone back to On One…. Hope they do happen, seemed very promising.
Am I right in assuming that whether it is Maxle Lite or Fox a 15mm hub is a 15mm hub (and it is just the locking/tightening mechanism that changes)?
NIce SID XX 29er at last, with Maxle lite
Yes Speaker2A – a 15mm hub is a 15mm hub and only the axle (which comes with the fork) changes. It’s the same with 20mm hubs too.
another vote for 20mm untapered here.
Im hopeful brant can get the on-one machine running one up in quick order.