Coincidentally, we had just sent Chris at Niner Bikes a short interview regarding many of these same things, which we’ll post as soon as he gets back to us. In the meantime, here’s their official press release regarding the production schedule and availability of the Carbon Air 9 and Jet 9 mountain bikes.
PRESS RELEASE: We know that you have been waiting for information regarding the items listed below. We have received conflicting information over the last few months and had to wait till we had something real and solid we could report on. We apologize for the delay, but we did not have accurate information to share until now.
Carbon Delivery Schedule:
Before we go over the delivery schedule we have to take time out to “pull the curtain back†on how most carbon frames are produced:
Very few bicycle companies own their own carbon manufacturing facility. The majority, like us, contract with carbon fiber manufactures that specialize in making carbon frames. Though we do share a facility with other manufacturers, our designs and carbon layups are proprietary as are the other choices we make during our oversight of the manufacturing process.
Our Air 9 Carbon frames and carbon forks are produced in a facility that makes high end carbon fiber products for several other well known bicycle companies. We selected this facility for Niner?s carbon production because we can be confident in the quality and accuracy when manufacturing Niner?s proprietary designs.
Unfortunately, the fellow bike companies that work with this facility are much larger than Niner Bikes. Because of their greater volume, we believe they have received priority in the production schedule to the detriment of our original delivery plans. We have spent the last months doing everything we can to get the schedule switched back to one that favors our customers – including a long trip overseas to try to convince them in person – to no avail.
Because the quality of our product is paramount, we will continue to work with this facility – as we believe they are currently the best when it comes to carbon fiber production. We would prefer to get your frames and forks to you as fast as possible, but we will always choose quality over speed.
The revised schedule for Air 9 Carbon frames has the first delivery of size medium and large frames and first round of tapered steerer carbon forks the first week of July. The remaining sizes small and XL will follow – delivery on these frames is undetermined at this time (we should have delivery dates soon). We will release this information as it becomes available.
Carbon Fork Delivery Schedule:
Standard steerer carbon forks have a much brighter outlook. Nude and White forks should arrive in California today and we will have them available sometime next week. Colored forks will follow in July.
JET 9 Delivery Schedule:
By now, the majority of the people involved in the Jet 9 recall have received their frames. There are still a few countries/distributors whose shipments have not yet arrived at their destinations, but provided the claim was filed with in the deadline period, these frames are on the way as quickly as shipping, customs and your local distributor can reasonably facilitate.
There are a few recall customers whose frames did not make it into this batch. These customers are all in the US and Canada, and are all customers whose claims were filed after December 17, 96 days after the recall was announced and 47 days after the initial frame replacement selection deadline. We waited as long as we could in order to get as many frames as we could into the first batch and we did order extra, but we had to draw the line somewhere. Had we waited longer, every person who currently has a replacement Jet 9 would still be waiting.
Additionally, there are a few shops that currently have new Jet 9 frames. These are all shops who waited their turn and who were prioritized after EVERY SINGLE recall we had at the time of the order. In the same way we can?t let a small number of late claims hold up the majority of claims, we need to respect the investment these small businesses have made in our company, and deliver as many bikes to them for their summer season as is reasonable. For those few of you still waiting: the second batch of Jet 9 frames is due mid-July. This order will accommodate all recall cases we have as of today, as well as any current shop orders for new
frames.
For those of you whose riding plans have been upset by these scheduling changes, we understand your frustration and hope that you know that we have done everything we can to keep this from happening.
