We had a chance to weigh Niner Bikes’ new Air9 RDO carbon hardtail race bike at the SE Bike Expo. Then, we got some images and weights from Pro Bike Supply with a fully stock build and their Pro build, which dropped a full half pound off the already impressively light bike. To top it all off, we then weighed a range of sizes for the full carbon Jet9 RDO as well as our own bare frameset.
Above is the only Air9 RDO on the eastern demo fleet with a non-stock build. It’s equipped with Sun-Ringle’s Blag Flag wheels, Ergon grips and a full XTR XT drivetrain and brakes. Not a bad build at all, and this size Large XL comes in at 22lbs 9oz without pedals.
Pro Bike Supply built up one of the first Air9 RDO complete bikes to ship. The $6,199 complete bike with full XTR, American Classic wheels and Niner’s carbon bar and post comes in at 20lbs 7oz. Along with the weight, they sent along a gallery of gorgeous pics, here are a few highlights:
After they did the stock build, they decided to give it their “Pro Tune” build that dropped a half pound off the frame bike to come in at 19lbs 15oz. Another photo showed the bike with a carbon bottle cage and Crank Brothers’ (4)ti eggbeater pedals and it weighed in at 20lbs 7oz, matching the no-pedals-and-cage stock build weight. Here’s the highlights of the Pro Tune build:
Here’s what Mark from PBS had to say about the project:
Our goal with the Pro Tune was to keep look and feel of the original build but shave some weight in a few areas where we felt the stock parts were a little heavy for their intended racing application. The Pro Tune upgrades included the following list of parts and resulted in a weight savings of ½ a pound which resulted in a race ready build (includes pedals and water bottle cage) that was the same weight as the stock build without pedals and bottle cage.
– Fizik Tundra 00 Saddle
– KCNC MTB Seatpost Collar
– KCNC Razor Rotors (180/160)
– Tune Rear Skewer – Green
– ESI Chunky Grips – Green
– Crank Bothers Egg Beater 11 Pedals
– Arundel Other Side Carbon Side Load Bottle Cage
– KCNC Aluminum Water Bottle Cage Bolts – Black
Want the price for that build? You’ll have to contact PBS for a quote. And if you’ve got a thing for dirty bikes, here’s a few of the demo model:
Notice the black head badge versus the silver one on the PBS bike. We’re thinking the silver is final production spec, but will update when we have confirmation.
NINER JET9 RDO ACTUAL WEIGHTS
The Jet9 RDO bikes we weighed at albs 7oz with Fox RP23 Kashima shock and Niner seat collar. The internal headset was not installed yet, but the rear axle protection spacer and internal cable routing guides were still installed. Frame is size Large and includes the down tube protective application, both metal chainsuck protection plates and the rubbery chainstay protective piece.
The complete bikes here are with Black Flag wheels, Niner bar and post, Thomson stem, Ergon grips, WTB saddle and XT groups with SID XX fork. All of the Jet9 RDO’s get the Fox shock with Kashima coating. The XL above came in at 25lbs 10oz.
The Medium (left) came in at 25lbs 3oz and the Large (right) at 25lbs 4oz.
We weighed a Small frame-only and several builds of the complete Jet9 RDO when we first saw them at PressCamp here.
