Lets be honestif you had to guess, and many of you did, you probably knew this was coming.

Niners new RIP 9 RDO takes their 120mm travel all mountain bike and gives it a lighter, stiffer and waaaaaay sexier carbon fiber frame. In fact, wed say theyve outdone their Jet 9 RDO/Carbon model by a leg or two with the svelte layout of the link pivots into the frameits really unique. For good measure, they also gave it five more millimeters of cush, putting the rear end at 125mm travel. After two years (and change) of development, the official coming out party is tomorrow at Interbikes indoor opening day, but weve had a chance to see the frame in person already and its a beaut. Revised cable routing will make many Niner fans happy, and the inclusion of ISCG tabs opens the bike up for even more aggressive riding

To get the scoop on the key differences and upgrades, we spoke with Niners lead engineer, George Parry: We took some of the swoopiness out of the tubes (compared to the Jet 9 RDO) and made it a little more straight forward. And we increased the diameter of the tubes and stays to increase stiffness. Overall, we made it a bit beefier because its going to be ridden harder.

We went with angular contact bearings, so the contact surfaces are completely different compared to the regular

sealed cartridge bearings on the Jet. We came up with a really unique way to do it, and it lets you take the rear end on and off really easily. The right side linkage has an integrated axle, similar to a how driveside crankarm have their axle attached. The bearings sit on that axle, which then runs through the frame to an adjustable cone thats tightened down to remove play. Then you put the other side of the link on and tighten down an open-center bolt using a Shimano cassette tool (the red bit above). That set up is in three locations two on the lower linkage and one for the main rocker arm pivot. Sealed cartridge bearings connect the rocker arm to the seatstays. We knew we wanted to do an integrated axle on the linkages but the challenge was to integrate the ACBs so there was nothing pressed into the frame on the main pivots.

The result is improved stiffness thanks to the larger diameter axles and reduced weight. Like the Jet 9 RDO, their goal was to match the alloy bikes stiffness, and they say its equal, but reduce the weight. They shaved about a pound from the frame. They put a little alloy skid plate on the bottom to keep things safe, too.

Another new feature is the inclusion of ISCG tabs, something the alloy RIP doesnt have. To do this, they moved the lower linkage to the left a bit so there was clearance for a bashguard or chainguide.

Parry: We also reworked the cable routing because, honestly, the Jet 9 RDOs system is a bit difficult to route. The front derailleur cable still wraps around the bottom bracket and comes up from the bottom. The rear cable, however, pops out of the downtube above the BB and curves up to the seatstay, running externally down the stay

to the derailleurmuch like the alloy frames. Theres also dropper post cable routing under the top tube.

The rear axle is 12142 with full carbon dropouts and post mount brakes. Itll initially ship with a standard hanger, but theyre making a direct mount rear derailleur hanger for it soon.

The frame is designed around 120mm to 140mm forks, and it carries forward the revised (slacker) head angle of the 2nd generation RIP 9 alloy frames for a more confident descending experience without giving up good ol fashioned trail manners.

Wanna take it even slacker? Itll work with Cane Creeks Angleset adjustable angle headset, too. Perhaps youve noticed the color, too? Its new, and its called Rally Blue. Frame and Fox CTD Kashima shock will retail for $2,899, and a kit with a matching Rally Blue 130mm Rockshox Revelation RT3 fork will be $3,550. Complete bikes can be built up on their website with limited edition top-end build kits. Available in March. Side note: All of a sudden, the long travel 29er bike is en vogue. The Tallboy LT came out earlier this year, Cannondale just announced their Trigger 29er and weve seen others. I spoke with quite a few of the Niner folks at Eurobike about this bike and its interesting that their production cycle from concept to shipping was two years, and thats not entirely uncommon. So, while the RIP 9 RDO was a twinkle in their eye, others brands were independently thinking along the same lines. I mention this only because, at times, it seems like theres a knee jerk reaction for a brand to get something out to compete against someone elses new bike. The reality is these things

are likely as much coincidence as anything else, with the good brands simply knowing what their customers are going to want sometimes before they do. Tweet
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Comments Ted's Brother Alan - 09/18/12 - 10:11pm Sexy Pants! coolfish - 09/18/12 - 10:16pm This looks so sweet; Im finally jumping into the 29er craze and I think this is the bike for me RIP 9 RDO w/a SRAM XX1 build will be awesomesauce! Mindless - 09/18/12 - 10:34pm Get just slightly smaller 650b wheels. And get 150+mm of travel that is actually making a difference. With lighter, stiffer wheels. Throttlemire - 09/19/12 - 12:23am Looks like a great frame. I had a 2010 Rip9 and really enjoyed it, but weight and some flex in the rear lead me to a carbon FS 29er. It sounds like the stiffness is the same as the alloy, but the weight is down. Thats a lot of money to loose one pound! Now, Im looking for more travel than 125mm in a carbon frame, something like 140mm would be nice carbon WFO would be perfect. Mr Bojangles - 09/19/12 - 12:52am throttlemire a majority of your flex is likely coming from the wheel set. I have yet to ride a 29er that doesnt exhibit noticeable wheel flex. Most companies have stated that lab testing shows the 142 and rear thru axles do not provide significant stiffness increases. Bottom line, I want my suspension to be the variable, not my wheels! JT - 09/19/12 - 1:36am OH baby you rocked me!!! professore - 09/19/12 - 1:52am Too bad the 29er fad is over. Tony - 09/19/12 - 3:47am