thehammerdog

This thing looks crazy, full suspension gravel monster frame/fork/suspension gotta be $3-4 K alone.
But looks nextlevel.
https://roadbikeaction.com/sea-otter...rototype-bike/

Marcus_Ti

Mmm, monstercross.


One WTF decision on their part....showing a 2018 bike...with 6870Di2 components. Why not R8000? I'm guessing it is using the 6870 Di2 RD, and not the new RX clutched Di2 RD either.

TimothyH

Everyone said Niner was going out of business LoL.

Troy Winter

That bike would be cool if the entire ride was down hill.

TimothyH

JOM at Gravel Cyclists has a writeup.
-Tim-

Marcus_Ti

Good catch...Nice to see an OEM finally clean up and lose the Di2 Junction A rubber-band, and use an HS-spacer mount.

TimothyH

Keep in mind that this is a prototype. The frame is 3D printed, probably not even rideable.

They are showing it to communicate the basic concept, that's all. The final product will surely differ from what we see here and any given component or aspect of the design might not make it to production. JOM's writeup notes issues with the RockShox’s RS-1 fork as an example.

One thing telling is the RDO label which is reserved for their top shelf racing products. I'm interested, if not excited. This is clearly skewed toward the singletrack side of "do it all" bikes. Maybe it is the lite version of a mountain bike?


-Tim-

Metieval

it was that or find a financial backer.

apparently they found money.

Hiro11

What kind of ride exactly is this for? If you're going to ride terrain that rough, just get a mountain bike.

Spoonrobot 

For a lot of riders, myself included, the lack of hand positions on most flat bars is a non-starter for longer events. I do 5-6 events a year where this bike would be perfect, they split between gravel forest service roads and singletrack and although fine on a flat bar mountain bike they are much more fun and comfortable on a drop bar mountain bike. Never mind the aero differences which can be a big deal on flatter courses.

It's just another way to explore compliance, comfort and speed. We had the hardtail Slate, then 650b+ rigid bikes and now where here at a full suspension bike. It's probably going to be fairly short lived as the riding population that is going to be interested in a full suspension drop bar bike is fairly small. The additional weight, complexity and cost are probably not going to provide much benefit over + size tires or even just a regular hard-tail with drops.

I also wouldn't put it past as just a marketing exercise to get their name in the news. This blurb is strange and almost seems to confirm the opposite of it's intent.

TimothyH

This wouldn't surprise me.

Lets not forget that they have a new management company which probably infused them with some cash. They might be using that cash to cannonball into the deep end and make a splash.


-Tim-

Nightdiver

Strange choice to recycle the name, especially on such a different type of bike.

mstateglfr 

Did everyone?
Or was something said thats similar, but different?

Hmm...

calstar 

Ridiculous, stupid, hilarious, laughable, absurd .....but I've been wrong before.

Brian

TimothyH

I don't know.

The more I look at it the more I like it.

The dropper post is nice. I've learned the hard way on my gravel bike why MTB's are equipped with them.

It is optimized for seated pedaling and if suspension travel isn't too much and with a front lockout it sorta makes sense.

I'd like to ride one. My only questions are weight and how much maintenance is required. I know little about maintaining suspension systems.


-Tim-

Metieval

If nothing else I want that front fork!!!

I demoed a steel RLT & RDO today. pavement, gravel, grass/dirt access rough road, single track. Okay so I skipped single track on the steel version. The RDO will rip up some single track, however it is a heap of shoulder / arm work. and some places of single track desperately needed a dropper.

It's all about where you ride, and where you want to ride. For most of us we don't really need this bike. however.... 20 miles of road, 20 miles of single track short cut through a mountain pass, to cut out 100+ miles of unnecessary riding (or double that), and then a 20 more miles on gravel. a bike like this would be awesome.

It's like a jeep wrangler, totally absurd, until you actually use it to its potential.

You (or I) might not need this bike so we scoff. I appreciate the opening of more doors and windows, It's about expanding our capabilities. Embrace it.

Oh and thank Huffy... lol

CliffordK

Interesting bike.

I think there is a growing interest in drop bar MTBs, so this looks like it may be fitting into the niche,

Rear suspension, and rigid fork?

Interesting asymmetry between the DS and NDS rear triangles.

I bet the weight isn't bad.

trailangel

Put straight bars on it and it would be a Cross Country bike. Wait. They already sell XC bikes, but they are going out of favor for All Mountain and Enduro. Just put drop bars on and now the XC bike is a FS gravel bike.
What's with the aero rims on a gravel bike?

ph0rk

Metieval

hold on... someone will be along soon to bash it for not being retro. lol

RJM

Seems like a very niche bike for a specific audience, kinda like a dual suspension fatbike. Not really for me but I can see a few dirty kanza type riders choosing it.

Niner's CVA suspension stiffens up pretty good when putting the power down, at least on their mountain bikes it does, so I wonder how plush right off the top of the suspension stroke this version will be. I would think it needs to be dialed to be really plush within the initial hits which is a bit different compared to something like their Jet9.

btw, Niner's Air9 is one of my favorite hardtails, and I have an older Jet9 hanging in the garage. The company always made fine bikes so if they really tackle the full suspension gravel thing I think they will make a pretty cool bike.

CliffordK

Clearance on the rear looks tight, so I don't think I'd call it a "Fat Bike". 50mm tires are pretty typical for MTBs, I think.

Ahhh, I didn't see the front suspension until the last photo.



It looks like the right and left sides are independent... allowing some wheel wobble (and thus the wide top of the fork).

A right to left movement of the tire could feel awkward when riding and cornering. But, unless they've added a special pivot to the dropouts, it will also put a lot of stress on the skewer and axle.

I doubt we'll be seeing that fork in long-term production.

trailangel

^^ Cliffork, I think we will see the upside down fork in production..... new marketing buzz, we need to buy new bikes again.
If you search for inverted forks on bicycles, they are the same weight as non-inverted. They need to be made heavier to handle the lack of the 3rd point of stabilization. Only good if you need lots of travel. And then there is the seal problem... if it leaks oil will go right on the front brake.
But, bring it on! Looks cool!
Bigger tires might be the solution.

Spoonrobot 

The fork on the Niner is just a regular RS-1 fork with reduced travel. I bet it wasn't even functional on the prototype bike as the static sitting looks a little off. USD forks are in production and being used in mountain bike riding pretty regularly. I've seen several at gravel events I've been at as well.

I'm not necessarily convinced of the utility of USD forks but for sure they would be up to the task for gravel riding as they fare fine on mountain bikes.

Zaskar

I think brand managers sometimes assume we have short memories.

This is NOT a Renegade:


And this is Honda's original Odyssey: