Bike Build: Niner EMD9 Test Bike

This is the last addition to the test fleet for a little while, or at least until 2013 Rocky Mountains start popping up. Its a medium Niner EMD9 frame with a (mostly) 2013 Shimano SLX build kit and the new Shimano MT66 29er wheelset.

The EMD9 frame is Niner's least expensive, at $699 for frame and seat post collar you get a pretty sweet rig. It shares most of its design cues with the lighter AIR9 alloy frame. Hydroformed tubing allows Niner to create a stronger frame with less material. Here's the weight of the completed bike with pedals...

That's pretty good for a full build that retails for $2799.00 with the Fox F29 RLC Kashima Coat fork.

The new 2013 SLX groupset has had a great facelift and a few new features. I can bearly tell the difference between them and an XT buildkit (a few grams here and there and a few cosmetic changes). We are running a 2x10 system with 11-36 in the rear and a 38/24 combo on the front. 

The rear derailleur is the new SLX Shadow Plus which incorporates a clutch mechanism to virtually eliminate chain slap and drop. It looks really good too.

These brakes feel awesome in the carpark, more on how they behave on the trails next post. $125 per end!! To save a few grams we went with a 160mm rotor front and back, more on how that worked out later.

 

We shelled out a little extra on the build for a Kashima Coat Fox F29 RLC 100mm fork with Q/R15mm axle. You could certainly knock a few dollars off a build going for something a little less top of the line like a Rock Shox Reba or SID fork for example.

Rounding out the build is a set of Schwalbe tubeless tyres (26x2.25), a Pro Tharsis carbon seatpost, Salsa Pro Moto 11deg sweep flat bar with Easton EA70 0deg 90mm stem and Specialized Phenom 143mm saddle.

Dave will be giving this a test run tomorrow morning and will post some impressions of the ride quality soon.