Review: Niner RLT 9 Gravel Road Bike

I don’t know a thing about riding gravel, but I can definitely agree Red Oak is one tasty beer.

Nice review TB. I’m not exactly sure what the difference is between a gravel bike and a CX bike is but running 40 PSI on gravel still seems a bit low. I like the addition of 303s with a tubeless tire. Seems like the right choice to me.

I’ve been beating up my RLT9 for a few hundred miles now and this review is really dead on. My 4-star build, size 50, + heavy pedals and cages came in under 19 lbs. I am smaller and lighter and running tubes so I don’t have much issue with the wheel/tire combo out of the box. The rear triangle is stiff – I’ll agree the stiffest I have ridden. But on pavement that pays off. The fork could use a little more play, but I’ve ridden some other forks (on other bikes) that were more compliant and total garbage with heavy braking applied – this is a trade off I’ll take all day. An upgraded post and bars would handle a lot of that, but I’ll probably just get used to it… maybe I’ll just add fatter tires. I don’t have any other complaints at this point. The geometry is great (for me) and the longer top tube/shorter stem combo makes high speed descents and single track a lot more enjoyable. It is a really versatile bike and I imagine its one that I’ll hang onto.

If the bottom bracket wasn’t so stupidly euro CX high, if it had clearance for frame bags and water bottles, and if the frame itself wasn’t an ass beater it might be worth calling a “gravel bike”. This is really just a pure CX bike that fits bigger tires, nothing else besides tire clearance does anything for gravel.

I guess this bike is more designed for short couple hour rides then the long 10-34 hour rides most of our gravel scene does.

Tyler, great write up and spot on opinions of the RLT. I am looking to upgrade my wheelset but was under the impression that Zipp 303’s were not tubless compatible. Did you set up with Stan’s tape and sealant and has this been working well?

“The combination would take the edge off the aluminum frame’s inelastic ride.”

Actually the sentence should read “…take the edge off the oversized tubing frame’s inelastic ride.” The notion that aluminum is stiffer than steel is WRONG. That’s not my opinion, it’s an absolute fact of science. The reason this and many other alloy frames are so stiff has nothing to do with aluminum and everything to do with the diameter of the tubing. If you made the bike out of steel tubes drawn to those diameters it would be even more uncomfortable. People who think alloy bikes are harsh riding probably haven’t been riding long enough to remember the Vitus 979 frame that Sean Kelly won dozens of major races on (including Paris-Roubaix) or the Alan cyclocross frames that won more major ‘cross races than any frame before or since. Both bikes were often criticized for not being stiff enough. Those bikes relied on aluminum tubes that were about the same diameter as steel tubes but with much thicker walls – pretty much the opposite approach of Klein, Cannondale, etc. who rely on super thin but highly oversized tubes. Also if aluminum is stiffer than steel please explain why track sprinters often use steel bars instead of alloy bars.

Glad, I’m not the only one who had a tire blow off the rim on the RLT 9.

the only reason inner made this thing is because they needed something to build, because they locked themselves out of any other wheel size.

(well, niner riders will want it because its a “niner damn it.” to be part of the new gravel grinder category, or pose it next to their newest niner mtb.)- well i guess, well played niner.

Well… aint that bound to happen, literally get an email from dealer soon after my 1st post.. Lets see what happens. My apology forthcoming perhaps.. 🙂

@gary – There are tons of great reasons, here are the big ones. Compatibility with all the new cranks, 30MM and 24MM spindles. Ability to use an EBB for SS.

Gravel bike? What?! How is this not a CX bike?

Rides very well — definitely a more relaxed geometry than your typical road bike. I use mine as a do all bike and for winter rides when the road conditions aren’t great, and it is great. I’d definitely say it’s hard to beat this bike.

@Brian, I agree with TG that it is a great road ride. My first few rides were all road and I find that it climbs like crazy (stiff), has a great geometry for long rides, and isn’t buzzy thanks to the bigger tires/lower pressures. I don’t have any complaints on the road at all.

I did a longer dirt road ride today – zero flat ground, all up and back down – the road was pretty rough with lots of varying surface. Sand, big loose rocks, lots of washboard. Yup – still really stiff on the way up. I’m looking forward to my incoming Kendas (Ben and I are on the same wavelength). Really stiff on the way down too, but not as bad as I was worried it might be. The fork is really rigid but handled great on the rough ground under heavy braking.

New owner of an RLT. Carbon bar, RDO seat post. Road wheels are Industry Nine UL CX Disc wheels, tubeless Hutchison Sector 28c – gravel wheels are Black Flag, Specialized tubeless Tracer 33c. Build weight with road wheels and Ultegra pedals 19.3lbs.

I’m in heaven.

LOVE the carbon dampening throughout – Cadillac on the chipseal. The discs are great for the mountain descents in my area and my favorite touring route. The dirt wheels are indestructible – haven’t trued them for over a year despite many miles commute, trail, road.

I got this bike for road use mostly, with the options for loaded touring and commute and hitting the gravel rides, which out here in Idaho we have quite a few gorgeous gravel roads and Forest Service roads.

This bike does not disappoint. Climbs like it’s on a rail. Stable, no hands riding. Nimble enough for high speed descent and rocky single track rock-swerves. Other bike may do certain things better, but few would do all things so well.

No regrets. Love this bike. 2014’s sleeper.

Just curious Bike Rumor. What does the decal on the seat tube say the correct size front derailleur clamp should be?

Mine had an incorrect decal (31.8 vs 34.9) .

Absolutely no response from Niner… crappy CS in my book.

I bought my bike last April to ride the Dirty Kanza 200. However, I changed jobs and moved to Yellowstone National Park so the ride was out. Since I have been here the bike has been a road/MTB/touring machine. I just finished a 3 day bike packing with a B.O.B checking out the Montana/Idaho section of the Great Divide Race and I think it’s a great bike for the Race as well as well as any adventure race out there. I kept the Sammy’s on and ran them about 40/45 and have no issues for 1000 miles. At 6’2 and 210 and I have found that the BB7’s are not quite what I need. I have had to adjust and readjust a lot. But, not a deal breaker.
So, for those guys that ride everything and anything this is the Swiss Army Knife of the lot. Now if I can get the darn corkscrew mounted and not have a new pokey thing to gouge me that would be nice.

This might have been covered but – can the frame handle pannier racks etc? built to handle a touring load?

Beverelli, my RLT (Al) has rack mounts at the rear dropouts but only one upper mount bolt behind the seatstay bridge. The best options for racks are to use a Tubus ract with the single upper strut the bolts to the seatstay bridge or use a Salsa clamp that clamps to the post (there’s another that replaces the seat clamp) and has dual rack mounting bolts.

This bike is part of the first generation of dedicated gravel grinders (not just cross bike conversions) and as such, there will be some design kinks to iron out. All in all, it’s a very versatile bike that I ride on dirt roads, pavement, and even singletrack. It’s by no means feathery, soI’ll be curious to ride the newer carbon and lighter Al frames due out.