K9 DH001-S Review

K9 has been promoting their idea of a perfect downhill machine for about a year now. I got a chance to test their accomplishment last weekend at Wales near Mont Ash. I started the trip From Finland day before and visited K9 office and workshop to study and setup the bike with K9 founder Luis Arraiz. Here are my remarks about the K9 bike:

1. Function before form: LA link is the heart of the bike. The axel path is backwards and it works better with bumps than commonly used systems. The LA -link doesn't work without the idler because the chain stretch could be even 20mm.
2. Durability: Steel front triangle which will last easily more than two seasons. They tested the frame by racing it one season and after that it was ridden one season in Whistler Mountain. Rear end is made of aluminium and it's the stiffest system I have ridden.
3. Usability: We changed a spring to the shock and it took about three minutes. K9 has a spesific users manual of how to tune and maintenance the bike. By experience I can say you don't see this specific manuals quite often.

On second day we went to location X at Wales near Mont Ash. It had been raining all night and morning so the track was slippery and muddy. The uphill service was really good and the drivers were really friendly blokes allthough I didn't understand a word they were saying

The track was 4 minutes long typical British downhill track with a technical section - hard packed, muddy and rooty. I got to ride five runs and we did some changes with the springs and added spring bearings to the bike, first to the front and then to the back. The spring bearings really make a difference, especially when you are riding offcamber. The bearings add the much needed sensitivity to the beginning of the stroke.

The bike was amazing, the most stable and predictable I've ever ridden. The geometry is just fantastic and with the longer 55mm stem and 760mm bars the setup was perfect for me. I was using K9:s Clutch pedals. I'll publish a separate review after I have tested the K9 parts in my Summum as well. I'm 179cm tall and I weigh about 75kg. I prefer quite stiff setup so we put blue spring to the Boxxer and 375Lbs to the Vivid. I'd also liked to test the bike with black spring and 400Lbs on the vivid. The funny thing was that though we increased the stiffness of the springs the bike still didn't lose any of the grip. I was using Maxxis High Rollers.

Conclusion: The bike is perfect for those who want a ultra fast and durable racing bike. The durability comes with a bit of extra weight but I can promise this won't slow you down. The best thing about the bike is that you can pedal over roots and rocks without losing traction. I was testing the bike with mid priced parts so I can just imagine how the bike would feel equipped with racing parts fe. Deemax rims. One remarkable thing is that the bike is amazingly silent as you can hear from the video: