In the theme of more is better, Niner has released not one, but two new eMTBs into their line up. The 150mm travel RIP e9 and the 180mm travel WFO e9 are Niner's first foray into the electrically assisted market.
Both bikes feature Bosch's most up to date Performance Line CX drive system, including their
recently released software updates that upped torque and added new features to the system. There's 625Wh batteries that can be accessed through the down tube for removal or charged on the bike with the port down by the motor. Niner quote ride distance in between charges as 50 miles or 80km on average, the Bosch system also has a 2-year warranty. There's the Bosch Purion display on both bikes to control the system and give just enough information to the rider while keeping the display compact.
The RIP e9 and WFO e9 are both aluminium framed bikes with two shock mount options to give adjustability to the geometry and are backed by Niner's lifetime warranty. Niner have invested in forging and casting moulds for the major pivot points, load taking areas and motor mount.
The bikes similarities continue with boost spacing front and rear, 30.9mm diameter seat posts, max 203mm rotor sizes and space for up to 36T chainrings. There's also standard ZS44/ZS56 headsets too for potential options to personalise the geometry further if you're into that.
The 150mm travel RIP e9, which can take up to a 160mm travel fork, is a full 29er affair and aimed a bit more at mid-week missions and day-long excursions. It can take up to 2.6" tyres front and back and sees all pivots running on bearings, even the upper shock mount.
The 180mm travel WFO e9, on the other hand, is Niner's bid to replace shuttling and access the most aggressive riding around you, easily. Despite the company name, the WFO e9 is actually a mullet bike, with a 29" wheel up front and a 27.5" wheel out back, with Niner citing doing this for keeping the handling snappy. The WFO e9 can take up to a 2.6" tyre on the front and a 2.8" tyre on the back.
The RIP e9 and WFO e9 come in small, medium and large sizes which do air on the slightly more conservative side of things with 425mm, 445mm and 465mm reach measurements respectively. So if you're an extremely tall rider then you might be left without an option. But geometry for both bikes is aggressive with the WFO e9 having a 63.5° head angle in the low setting and the RIP e9 not far behind with 64.5°. The high position on the bikes steepens the head angle by half a degree and lengthens the reach by 5mm while raising the bottom bracket by 6mm.
Both the RIP e9 and WFO e9 use a four-bar suspension system with a Horst pivot out near the rear axle and a rocker link driving the shock, with Niner stating that both bikes kinematics have been tuned for the different needs from an e-bike while still remaining supple and supportive.
Both bikes are available to order now and will begin shipping on the 8th July in the US and the 5th August in the EU. The RIP e9 retails for $5995 and the WFO e9 retails for $6295. For more information visit
Niner's website.
Again, I'm no expert. I don't ride an e-bike and I don't sit when I climb. But please elaborate on how you think 76deg seat tube angle is laughable on a bike like this.
@vinay: in case that wasn't clear, 76 is I'm sure a fine angle for any bike, but this bikes actual SA is far less than 76.
@ninerbikes where is your trusted CVA suspension? You just lost your DNA, so you lost your soul and assets... Sad to see miner going down until they vanish...
That is, this is what I can imagine. No personal experience as my seattube is straight. But as low as I'm running my saddle, you can't have that with a dropper seatpost that you'd also want to raise up to XC height. Not sure whether I'd be happy having the saddle more in front of me. It would only be out of the way for steep descending. For level terrain, cornering etc it would still be in the way. I once suggested, by I got downvoted way below threshold for that, to have a really steep (near vertical) seattube and then a seatpost with a lot of setback. When raised up to XC height you can have a steep effective seat tube angle. And then when you slam it down it is nice and rearward the way I like it. I can imagine it would interfere with the forwards axle path of most suspension designs though. Maybe with a high pivot design like a Craftworks ENR or so, the axle path will be more rearwards so you no longer need all that space in front of the rear wheel.
Niner: Hold my beer.
"modern geometry and bikes people want?"
"Nah, bikes"
Niner: "........i like lamp".
So basically only a Niner by name then...
I agree. I have had 2 RIP 9s, 1 aluminum and an RDO. The metal bike was great. The RDO I broke 4 frames! If you could make a aluminum current squish niner that would be awesome. You moved from the Rado? Me too....
I agree with your concerns. My only issue with what you wrote is your concern over the placement of the BB on the diagram. This is probably just an error by the graphic artist.
I agree "effective" seat-tube angles are fiction because most saddle heights are not at the standard measurement height (level with the top of the head-tube). If the actual seat-tube angle is slacker than the effective angle, as is usually the case, the effective angle at the actual saddle height will be slacker than the stated "effective" angle. Unfortunately, the dimensions have to be standardized somehow and it's not intuitive to state the actual angle and the offset.
It’s a little confusing with an ebike cos it’s hard to see where the BB actually is in a diag. However..... there is nothing wrong with Niners chart. Even though this is not the tech diagram its accurate.
Where they have indicated the BB is, is correct. Just overlay the bike pic on the geo chart if you think im wrong. Where they have drawn a horizontal line from (centre of the head tube) to form the junction with the line from the bb is also correct.
The value of whether eff SA is an accurate measurement isnt something particular to Niner but the bike industry as a whole. It would be solved if all brands published measurements of the seat angle @ prescribed heights from the bb, @ say 60cm 70cm 80cm 90cm 100cm @sag rather than just level with the headtube without sag.
The new WFO sounds probably bigger than what I would want. The older WFO's the RIP fills that role now. But the new WFO has to match where the industry went and it all went big so it makes sense as a mullet 180mm travel bike.
Couldn’t agree more.
1. The seat tube wont fit a dropper longer than 120mm (a 150 would stick up pretty high)
2. The suspension is extremely linear and coil isn't ideal.
3. That humpback design of top tube behind the steer tube makes brakes and shifter scratch frame if you run your stem low enough.
4. outdated geo (long chainstay, short reach, high bb, high top tube)
2. The could felt pretty little damn good for a lower end coil, the spring is to soft for my 200lbs and bottomed it pretty good on one drop. A could with high and low speed compression adjustment is most likely what I’ll upgrade to eventually on mine, or maybe I’ll play with an Fox X2.
3. Although the hump is disliked by many, it does allow for a full size water bottle inside the frame...rode with a guy today who was on a Giant ebike...he did not have a bottle cage mount as there is not enough room. So there’s some pros and cons to the design. Me personally I’ll take the hump and water bottle cage versus the frame looking exactly like everybody else is in the water bottle. As far as cable scratching the frame doesn’t look like that’s gonna happen but if it’s something people are worried about they can put 3M clear protective film on there like I do to my bikes anyway.
4. After riding them yesterday and today I have no complaints with the geometry although people like to stare at numbers and form opinions. Probably cones down to my lack of experience, being old and slow...(on the way have won a lot of races in a lot of money over my career )???? which still makes my opinion is worthless as everybody else is on here. Hell I’ve already predicted once the longer, lower, slacker gets beat to death, the new marketing catchphrase in a few years will be shorter, taller, steeper. ????
Why did they ditch the CVA suspension? I thought it worked pretty good...
(Full disclosure: I live in Fort Collins where Niner is, and used to have an original WFO. That bike was awesome and ahead of its time.)
There is nothing wrong with ebikes. Motors are fun. The problems are solely from brands trying to cram them into the nonmotorized MTB use category. Call it what it is, motorized, and most of the controversy would disappear.