What's Up With The Big Wheels Anyway?

<======Niner has made some changes to their forks

Sometimes I get asked, "So what's the deal with those big wheels anyway?" I guess I can take that a few ways

Like, what's new with the big wheels? Well, Niner has some things going on with forks that are kind of interesting. They changed their axle to crown and offset figures across the board.

No longer (<====Ha !) will they produce 490mm ale to crown forks, they have gone to a 470mm length with a bit longer offset now of 44, (0r is that 45mm offset? Confusion here..), and they are also dong their new carbon fork with the same geometry.


<========Carbon fiber in a new design fo 29"ers.

Niner is introducing this radical new carbon fork design with some thinking borrowed from the road fork designs out there.

Niner wanted to eliminate the fore and aft flex with a new carbon fork. Their analysis was that the carbon legged/aluminum crown design employed by most off road forks was concentrating the stresses at the fork crown. Niner developed this fork to better distribute the forces from trail impacts along the entire length of the structure. Not only that, but the unique shape of the crown allows for continuous, unbroken carbon fiber construction from the dropouts to the all carbon steer tube. Eliminating sharp bends allows for this. Also, losing the aluminum crown lightens the structure and with the continuous carbon construction, it is stronger than a more traditional carbon/aluminum fork construction.

The fork has a 240lb rider weight limit and a restriction to 160mm rotors. The fork is available on pre-order from your local Niner dealer or online at www.ninerbikes.com . MSRP is $375.00 and to pre-order there is a $100.00 deposit required by March 31st.



<=======Geax has cool new hangar cards!

Also, Geax has some super cool new hangar cards for their tires. Marked with a ruler that allows you to easily eye up your fatty 29"er's tire width in a snap. Bonus feature: It comes with Geax's new Barro Race 29"er tire attached. Look for a detailed report on Twenty Nine Inches soon!


And Finally....... While some may have wanted the latest lowdown on what's going on with the big wheeled world, some just want to know, "What's up with those 29"ers anyway?" Meaning, they don't understand the larger diameter, I could explain it, but I'll point you to my big wheeled friend instead. He 'splains it way better than I do, without all the "wordiness". Check it out here.