Niner Air 9, Finished.

scale20

Picked up my new frame and forks today, pretty chuffed with it, very light and nicely made.

I have tried to take some photos but the colour of the frame kind of brings them out a bit bright, white front end with Raw alu rear.











Forks







Just put the forks in the headtube to get an idea, no headset in yet.







Had to get a pressfit BB for it £45! :-/

Question is, do I go for a normal seatpost or a dropper?

Looking forward to building this up at the weekend!

The Northern Monkey

Very nice!!
Whats the weight?

Can't put a dropper on there! Keep it light!

scale20

Thanks,

Im not sure of the weight of the frame, it's pretty damn light though. The forks are 630g with the 15mm maxle.

Your probably right on the dropper.

70\ʹspenguin

I love these bikes! Please dont put a dropper on it! Keep it sleek and stylish and ultra light!

lawman

That looks properly nice!! Should be a megalight build, don't ruin it with a dropper! Not tried any of the niner hardtails, but a mate at uni is sponsored by them and has a Jet9 RDO, super nice but pretty quirky geometry, not really my thing, but it looks nicee 8)

scale20

Ok, no dropper!

Anyone have any thoughts on the USE sumo carbon?

70\ʹspenguin

This frame neeeds one of these! http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/SPVATI/van_ ... _seat_post

The Northern Monkey

70\'sPenguin wrote:

This frame neeeds one of these! http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/SPVATI/van_ ... _seat_post

Heavy!! The easton carbon post is cheaper and lighter!

scale20

This easton?

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=11601

They dont have the inline titanium in at on-one. I need a bit more black on it so ideally want a black setpost.

70\ʹspenguin

The Northern Monkey wrote:

70\'sPenguin wrote:

This frame neeeds one of these! http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/SPVATI/van_ ... _seat_post

Heavy!! The easton carbon post is cheaper and lighter!

Yes i know its heavy but its beautiful! Just think of the colour scheme damnit!

emseens

Nice, i'm looking on niner one9 whit rdo fork, love those bikes.

DCR00

I had a USE Sumo on my Scale

Good seatpost, dont see many about and pretty light

You could get lighter tho. Think the alloy alien is lighter

scale20

Got home tonight and the chainset was waiting for me so I set at it and put it on.

Got this BB30 FSA chainset for £55, should have been £250, result!

Looks massive on the frame at the mo!





I need an FSA BB30 spanner to finish it off.

Spent the rest of the evening cleaning up the wheels and drivetrain to go on tomorrow.

70\ʹspenguin

Crankset is awesome for the money! You really do need a matching seatpost! Just think how lovely that titanium would look not that ive always wanted a niner and im trying to build vicariously through you....ahem

The Northern Monkey

bb30? I hate that frame now

which bb30 spanner do you need? I have the FSA one that I'm never going to use again, yours for postage if you need it! PM me

scale20

This is my first BB30 and to be honest Im not convinced but yet to ride it and see how it fairs with a winter of Snowdonia mud!

Yeah I will have the spanner off you, PM sent.

scale20

Armed with a belly full of fry up I headed out to do a bit more before I get dragged out to Morrisons!

I did the bit I hate about building bikes, cutting the steerer tube, this was even worse on a set of £480 carbon forks, I was a little bit generous so I could play around with the stem height.

Cleaned up the rear mech and wheels last night so I fitted them along with the forks.



I love the clean lines of the headtube and forks



I went with a Hope gold colour scheme on my last bike that the parts came off and I was a bit unsure if the gold would go bit i think I have got away with it.





Not a lot of gold going on, just the hubs, stem clamp and a gold KMC chain.

The Northern Monkey

scale20 wrote:

I like the look of the angles on that, looks tall up front which I like.

I keep thinking a 29er would suit me quite well.. I like a smaller frame but with the RL (17" frame) I've got about 40mm spacers to raise the bars to a comfortable height, the size of the frame is spot on though...

scale20

The angles are nice, I was a bit worried about the racey nature of the frame and forks but luckily its come up really nice. I stacked the stem up a little to give some room to adjust but at that height with a 70mm stem and low risers it fits a treat.

This is probably the 1st bike I've built and not had to play around with the cockpit to get it right.

You see a lot that race on the AIR 9 inverting the stem, whether that's because it sits high or not I don't know.

I took it out for a short spin last night and it's like sh!t off a shovel!

The Northern Monkey

scale20 wrote:

The angles are nice, I was a bit worried about the racey nature of the frame...

Yeah I had a look at the geometry last night, those top tubes are loooong!

MountainMonster

Absolutely love these bikes, this build is looking very promising!

I wish there was somewhere near me that sold the Air 9 as I want to demo one!

emseens

Bike looks superb, but FSA cranks are crap, they love to chainsuck a lot.

scale20

Cheers fellas, The jury is still out on the FSA cranks. I needed a set of BB30 cranks to finish the build and these were massively reduced. So far I have only had a couple of road runs and they seem ok, next weekend will be the mud munching off road test!

scale20

All done, took her out for a road ride today, rides a treat, and goes like feck! I just need the FSA BB30 spanner to tighten up the BB properly before I go into the mountains!

Pics,

sanchez89

that looks sweeeeeeetttttt!!!!!

paramart

well done mate nice build, would love one of those frames and forks. with envy

scale20

Cheers for the comments, Im really happy with it, still yet to ride it in anger though.

The back end is a little on the heavy side, I opted for the stainless hope freehub and at the time of building my last 29er the only 11-34 cassette i could get was a deore, when the time comes to renew the chain I will do that and get a lighter 11-34 cassette.

sanchez89

will this be the first time you have ridden a rigid?? i understand that the carbon forks may take a little bit of the harshness away but not alot. you think you might get a battering off-road?

cat_with_no_tail

What's the weight then?

allthegearnoidea

Ooooh that's Lovely! Such a sweet looking bike!
Nice one fella!

scale20

sanchez89 wrote:

will this be the first time you have ridden a rigid?? i understand that the carbon forks may take a little bit of the harshness away but not alot. you think you might get a battering off-road?

Nah, this is my second fully rigid. I had a pink fully rigid scandal 29er. That had carbon forks and it rode really well.

I love riding rigid, for me I feel its a more intune ride, makes you think about your lines but sometimes you forget your on a rigid, drop off something and nearly break your wrists

I always went for the rigid before the full sus if I was heading off out on a ride.