While it’s raining into the snow outside, I’m sitting at my desk drooling over the new Niner Air 9 RDO. A light, “race day optimized” all carbon frame construction with slimmer tubes and a new dropout design that places the brake caliper inside seat and chain stay. Quite elegant that new, kermit green Air 9 RDO.
★ collideousAfter #1 and #2 I stopped by Mainstreet 42 on Saturday to pick up #3. Sunday was riding day so I only got to the Air 9 Carbon Monday evening. All components had already been thoroughly cleaned long before, so I jumped right into assembling the bike. When I was about to attach the rear brake line, I discovered that all the holes of the clip-on cable guides had not been sanded. One might have gotten a narrow cable tie through some, but the standard plastic clips supplied by Niner would have never clipped in. I had to pull out one of my handy files and widen the openings of the cable guides. This really should be a job done at the factory before painting and not by the end user on the painted frame. But so be it. Fork and headset were assembled in a breeze. Next, I popped in the wheels, bolted on the brake calipers and proceeded to align them to the rotors. Left for last was the dreaded EBB. Similarly to troublesome #2, the drive side Biocentric insert has an awfully tight fit. That’s good as far as creaking is concerned (tighter = less chances of creaking) but as far as tightening the chain such a fit is a pain in the butt. Once it’s in, it’s impossible to turn it to tension the chain despite being generously greased. I pressed it in and tapped it out four times until I got the chain tension right. The non-drive side Biocentric insert on the other hand has a little bit of play. That’s a welcome thing as far as assembly, but that was also the main cause of creaking on frame #2. I know that my next singlespeed (probably 4-5 years down the trail) won’t be having an EBB. I’m done with those. It won’t have sliders either. No, my dream singlespeeder will have a normal bottom bracket and vertical dropouts. A chain tensioner right behind the chainring will keep the drivetrain nicely under tension. Ideally, it will be built right into the frame.
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When you wait for a warranty replacement of your mountain bike, wait for a delivery of a new cyclocross bike, wait for replacements of recalled bike-light batteries that have yet to materialize and wait for the postman to drop off a box with new lights because days are getting too short to wait for the batteries - you find enough time to start analyzing what has gone wrong with your bikes when you would otherwise be riding them.
Back in early February, during routine maintenance of my Niner Air 9 Carbon, which had been ridden all through the snowy Swiss winter, I discovered that the shell of my EBB had crushed. Despite tightening it exactly to the required torque and not a Newton-Meter more, I was not overly surprised that the tube had collapsed. There are two huge cutouts for shifter cables after all and the remaining segment in between is further weakened by a threaded hole.
An email to Niner immediately resulted in the request that I return the frame. The frame didn’t cause any trouble while riding, but I returned it at Niner’s expense and quickly took possession of a new Air 9 Carbon. Considering the time difference while communicating back and forth and shipping the frame across the pond via postal mail, the whole warranty case was handled swiftly. I was back on the bike by March 5th. Unfortunately, the second frame had a lifespan of only six months. It quickly developed a creaking bottom bracket that I tried to fight by any means (CarboGrip, pipe joint, gasket paper) - unsuccessfully. The cause of the horrible noise - play of the biocentric insert on the non-drive side.
The frame’s been hanging on the bike rack in my basement for a month now. Once returned, it may be ending its days on a frame-testing machine in the Niner labs. Interestingly, the aluminum shell on this one has slightly crushed yet again. It’s awesome to have a universal frame that can be set up both geared or singlespeed, but for the purpose of an eccentric bottom bracket, I think it would be wiser to have a solid BB shell without large cutouts. Or use a Bushnell instead of the Biocentric. So, question to those running a Bushnell: Can they easily be pulled out of a frame when using external BB bearings?
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This evening, I left the Jet 9 at home and headed out for a spin on my Air 9 Carbon, which I haven’t ridden since I got frame #2. Being on a fully for some time now, it was a interesting change to be on a rigid singlespeed again. When I sit on a geared bike doing climbs spinning a high gear, I wonder how I do this pushing a hard single gear. When I’m on the singlespeed doing the same climbs I don’t even think about gears or gear ratios. I just do it!
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Unlucky 13 was replaced with frame number 626. Picked it up at Mainstreet 42 yesterday and built it today. The Continental Mountain King winter tires had to give up their spot for WTB Prowlers (a Bronson will be mounted up front next). The Foss tubes I ran through the winter are out as well. 58 gram light Eclipse tubes took their place instead. Huge thumbs up to the folks at Niner and Mainstreet 42 for getting me back on a bike with such speed.
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