Questions From Readers: Matt. T

Matt T is from New England, USA and he is trying to build a trail bike that he can race. In addition, he wants to build a hard tail as a full time racer.  He has pretty much settled on a Niner RIP 9 and Niner AIR9 Carbon as his preferred frames – both great choices. The problem is, he has a 26 inch dual suspension Yeti and wants to have all 29ers in his stable. Rather than start from scratch, he sent a list of parts he has available to use, if possible, to lessen the blow to his wallet.

Other side notes. He wants the dual suspension bike to be primarily for aggressive trail riding. New England is particularly rocky and rooty with lots of granite rollers and natural terrain that will test your nerve and handling skills. The trails are also littered with short climbs and steep, short descents.

Components he already has on two bikes:
Drivetrain: 3X9, Race Face Deus Crankset with bash guard, Chris King Bottom Bracket, XT Front and Rear Derailluers (and I have an old XT rear that I keep as a spare) and Shifters.  XTR pedals.  Brakes: Formula Oro K24′s.  Cockpit: Thomson and Easton Stems, Easton Monkey Bar, Thomson Post, ODI Lock-ons. Saddle: SDG Ti-Fly C.  Tires: Kenda Nevegals DTC, 29.  Hubs: Chris King ISO’s, 32 spokes, currently built into 26 355 rims, QR versions.

1X9, with SRAM X.9 trigger and X.7 rear (the new version that can run 9 or 10 speeds), and Shimano 29er wheelset.

What Fat Bob Would Do:
In short, start with the RIP9 with two wheel sets. The RIP9 is raceable at the longer events. With a simple wheel and tire swap, you really change the personality of the bike. Next get the AIR9 carbon frame, put the lightest stuff you have on it. If you know you are going to be racing a rough course take the RIP9. For all the rest go AIR9 carbon. As the drive train wears out or breaks, the AIR9 carbon can start taking on a lighter, faster parts kit. In the mean time, race admission is expensive! Have fun!

Wheels: First things first. This is one of the most important parts of your 29er. I would go one light set and one heavier and run the same hubs, rotors and cassettes so you can swap wheels based on which will serve best – racing vs trail. With this approach, swapping wheels should be no more then a twist or two of your micro adjuster.

So, take the Chris King Hubs off the Yeti ASR and lace them up to a set of Stans Flow Rims, convert the hubs to 15QR. Lace standard 3 cross with Brass nipples and 14/15 gauge spokes. These wheels will be stiff and strong which is just what you need to be able to ride hard in New England. Run the rear skewer as a DT-Swiss RWS skewer. The extra torque and reliability are worth the money.

The second set of wheels should be a Chris King hub set with a 15qr front to match the hub set on the above wheel set. Next, get a set of ENVE Carbon XC wheels. They are super light and carbon rims are stiff. This should be a race only wheel set. Since you have two sets with the same hubs and 9speed cassette (covered later) you could easily use the RIP9 with the light wheel set for rougher course endurance racing or stage races. The comfort of the RIP9 frame is excellent. As long as you have a light set of wheels for race day you could feasibly ride this set up while you are saving for the AIR9 carbon frame and fork. Use a light set of tires on the carbon rims based on current conditions. If the carbon rims are to much money, go for a set of Stans Crest for race day only.

Shifters, Handlebars, Seatpost: There really is no reason to swap from 9 speed. Run what you have. The X7-X9 stuff will work well enough and is a nice way to save money. You are talking a minimal weight gain over higher end parts on an area of the bike on which it just does not matter. Replace it with higher end stuff as you wear your existing parts out. You may nor even want to bother when the time comes. As far as seat posts and stems are concerned, again, don’t worry about it. Just run what you have. I would even consider running a shim for the AIR9 carbon if you don’t have a 31.6 seat post (the size the AIR9 carbon comes with. As long as your cockpit is the same length and the drop between your saddle and bars is the same, adjusting between the two bikes should be easy. Use your existing stems and seat posts to get you as close as possible. Your handle bars should follow a similar logic. If you are used to running Easton Monkey Light Bars get a second pair for the AIR9 Carbon.  Continue the theme with your saddle.

Headsets: This will need to be provided for the new RIP9 frames. Look at a Cane Creek 40 series. It is affordable and I can’t tell the difference between it and the 110 series I was running before. The Air9 Carbon comes with a headset.

Forks: I would run Fox F29 series due to the 15 Qr hubs you will be running. Rock Shox will be putting out  15 qr forks, supposedly, in the future but I am not sure when that will be. If you want to save money  get an RL version. You lose the compression adjustibility and lock out threshold but you still have rebound control and a lockout.

Cranks, pedals, chains, and front derailleurs: Ride what you have. Cranks are important but, realistically, as long as the ones you have are 104/64 BCD (bolt circle diameter), it is hard to justify an expensive upgrade. Chains really are interchangeable in the 9speed sizing. You will need new chains anyway, so I recommend running the same brand. I run SRAM because I like how the powerlink makes cleaning easy. Plus, I like to carry an extra link to make trail side repairs easy in the event of braking a link on the trail.

Brakes: Here again, I would run what you have. Unless you have mechanical brakes. If you are buying brakes, check out Formula R1’s. They are light and super powerful. Plus, keep it in the family with the Formula’s you already own.

Tires: It is hard to recommend tires because there are so many variables. You will be able to run tubeless on any of the above recommended rims. Specialized Tires have been very good to us at 29eronline. For trail tires in your conditions, think Specialized Purgatory. They are tubeless compatible and have great traction on a  huge variety of terrain.  I would probably stick with the 2.25 width, as they can pull double duty on wet tracks. I am super impressed with the new Specialized Ground Control tires. They are a 2.1 width that I would put up against larger tires. The real advantage is they are 600 grams each as opposed to 750-850 grams each – that is a reduction of between ¾ and 1 pound of rotating weight! Race tires? I’ll time out here. This is not my forte.  Experimentation is the best bet for you. Check out the Maxxis line; lots of local racers are really into them. That is the best I can do on that topic.

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