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Niner RLT 9 Flat Bar Edition gives you a fun, capable commuter

niner RLT 9 Flat Bar alloy gravel commuter bike
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After seeing their customers and friends turning the RLT gravel bike into a flat bar fun bike, Niner is finally offering their alloy RLT 9 in a stock build with their flat handlebar. It comes in their 1-Star build, which means a very affordable mix of SRAM Apex 1×11, Level brakes, and a Niner alloy cockpit.

niner RLT 9 Flat Bar alloy gravel commuter bike

The bike comes with their full carbon fork, but with QR dropouts, making road-side flats a bit quicker to change and keeping it simple for folks who really are just looking for a quick commuter. Fender mounts are standard.

niner RLT 9 Flat Bar alloy gravel commuter bike

The frame keeps the QR dropouts, too, and has rack and fender mounts capable of porting up to 55lbs of “work” gear. The PFBB30 shell will fit their Biocentric concentric BB if you want to set it up as a singlespeed.

niner RLT 9 Flat Bar alloy gravel commuter bike

It comes with Niner’s alloy CX wheelset wrapped in WTB 700×37 All Terrain tires. Retail is $1,650, available now.

If only every day in the office was like this…

NinerBikes.com

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Maus Haus
Maus Haus
5 years ago

Nice bike, good price… a little loud for a commuter but still a nice bike or what you get. They should sell a few of these.

lyford
lyford
5 years ago

Nice idea, but QRs with discs is a dealbreaker for me when there are other good options.

Maus Haus
Maus Haus
5 years ago
Reply to  lyford

You’re totally right. It’s now accepted that thru axles are the norm for disc bikes… unless you want to lower the cost I guess. That’s the only real reason I could imagine since they are so easy to use.

Tim
Tim
5 years ago
Reply to  Maus Haus

I don’t agree that QRs and discs are such a bad combination on road bikes. Sure, TAs are the standard, but the main advantage that TAs offer is stiffness, something which is not an issue on a rigid fork. I have ridden QRs with discs on a older hardtail MTB for years, no issues. Same with many other people in the early 2000s and beyond, until TAs proliferated.

Dinger
Dinger
5 years ago
Reply to  Tim

Agree. T/A is unnecessary on rigid frames & forks. Doesn’t make any performance difference, just heavier and more expensive.

dockboy
dockboy
5 years ago
Reply to  Tim

Wheel alignment is more reliable with thru axles, too.

badbikemechanicx
badbikemechanicx
5 years ago

I disagree. This bike is being marketed as a fun commuter. QR is way better for commuters since you can get locking quick releases. I have yet to find locking through axles. I hate going through the effort of locking my wheels.

Zach Overholt
Admin
5 years ago

Depends on what you’re riding, but there are options out there for locking thru axles: https://bikerumor.com/2016/12/30/theft-resistant-thru-axles-robert-axle-project-hexlox-may-just-save-wheels/

Pat
Pat
5 years ago

I have been riding a first gen RLT with QR since 13. I have ridden pretty much everything on it, from 1500 bike tour, a Dirty Kanza, MTB trails from Montana to Sodona, and commute to and from work. I never had any issues with the QR or disks. The only modification was that I swapped out the Avid rotors for Shimano.

The only difference between this and mine is the 1X and flat handle bar. What it is is a rigid old style MTB. Swap out the wheels to 650s and run 2.1s and bam a rigid 29r.

Franz
Franz
5 years ago

are you sure that 650B 2.1 tyres will fit? especially through the narrow frame with 135 due to QR I don’t believe that this will fit.
I’m running a RLT from 2013 with QR, 1X and dropbar as well and I fell in Love with this Bike again *.*

Dwight
5 years ago

I don’t understand why flat bars are associated with commuting, for some riders. But OK.

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