Niner Bikes has weathered a difficult storm over the past decade. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2017 and was acquired by United Wheels, the majority shareholder in Huffy, in 2018. Then, in 2022, founder Chris Sugai was let go, and in 2023, the brand moved its headquarters from Fort Collins to United Wheels’ Miamisburg, Ohio office, accompanied by a round of layoffs.
The company’s flagship RIP 9 trail bike was launched in 2019 and has seen few changes (aside from the addition of UDH compatibility) since then. If you wrote off the brand, you wouldn’t be the only one.
But it appears that Niner is trying to stage a comeback.
New RIP 9e RDO teased at Sea Otter
An as-yet unreleased RIP 9e RDO e-bike was on display at the Niner booth at Sea Otter. Unlike the previous version of the RIP 9, which features 140mm of rear travel and a 150mm fork, the new e-bike bumps the suspension travel up to 160/170mm rear/front, respectively.
The e-bike is specced with a Bosch Performance Line SX motor capable of 60nm of torque with a 400Wh battery. The bike is range extender compatible and was shown with one installed.
The prototype was built with a selection of interesting parts, including an inverted fork. However, Niner tells me that all parts are currently for testing purposes only and that we can’t make any inferences about the final build kit based on the display bike.
Innovative six-bar suspension design
Most notably, the RIP 9e features an entirely new six-bar suspension design that Niner has licensed from Level One Engineering. I spoke with Luke Beale from Level One to learn more about their globally-patented design.
“The main reason that you move to a six-bar system over a four-bar is it gives you independent control over chain pedaling variables and shock variables, so you can make a really interesting axle path that lets you have a great pedaling bike, and you can also have a very linear, predictable shock rate. It’s pretty much impossible to do that on a four-bar,” said Beale.
“It adds a couple bearings, another link,” he added. “It’s not really a lot more complexity when you get down to it, like how much weight that adds. And durability of the system is pretty much like any other suspension bike.”
The RIP 9e is the first bike from any brand to be teased with the new suspension design. Yeti also has a six-bar suspension design, known as Sixfinity, which debuted in 2021. Yeti Sixfinity suspension is available on their MTe and LTe electric mountain bikes.
More than just an e-bike
Niner also had a new Air 9 frame on display that features the same industrial brand logo as the RIP 9e. The folks at the booth hinted that we could expect the redesign to sweep through the entire Niner lineup soon. With only minimal updates to the non-motorized RIP 9 since 2019, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the increased travel numbers and six-bar suspension design make the leap to the muscle-powered version, too.
Watch this space: Niner is making moves.
0 Comments