BIKE TEST
Niner RIP 9
RDO 4-STAR XT 29 ENVE | $8,800
ISN’T IT ODD HOW OUR BRAIN CAN STORE A BRIEF, ONE-TIME conversation forever, yet that same brain can’t recall the reason why we sprinted upstairs from the kitchen to the bedroom?
It was conservatively 10 years ago, but I clearly recall Niner Bikes’ founder Chris Sagai telling me he believed that, in the near future, all performance mountain bikes would have 29-inch wheels. At the time, there were a dozen reasons to snicker at such a statement: anemic 29er wheel and tire options and awkward-handling geometries being two major hoop hurdles. Niner wasn’t the only brand keen to reap the benefits of this 700c-originated wheel size, and as more companies began investing in 29er R&D, frame geometries evolved to be more capable, and components simultaneously became lighter weight and more durable. Now, as production 29er downhill bikes have appeared on the World Cup circuit, is the once-jeered wheel size getting the last laugh? Maybe. Niner doesn’t currently offer a downhill bike, but its freshly redesigned RIP 9 all-mountain machine is certainly snickering.
Niner offers the 150-millimeter-travel RIP 9 in a dizzying array of frame and complete bike offerings, including some with a Push coil-sprung rear shock. They range in price from the $3,500 base alloy version to a $10,200 carbon option with an even wordier name than the $8,800 RIP 9 RDO 4-Star XT 29 Enve model tested here. Niner ranks its RIP 9 builds from two to five stars, and the more one shoots for the stars, the more wallet fuel they’re going to need. Our RIP 9 test bike features top-shelf Fox Factory suspension in the form of a 36 Float Fit HSC/LSC fork and a Float X DPS Evol shock. My
