Note: All images and information used in today's post were provided by WTB or Niner Bikes. Comments and opinions are Guitar Ted's.
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| Image courtesy of Niner Bikes |
The new gravel bike from Niner is dubbed the ORE 9/ Since the beginnings of the company the bike names have been acronyms and this hasn't changed. The "ORE" stands for "Off Road Explorer", and the "RDO" is Niner's acronym which stands for Race Day Optimized. (Essentially designating the frame is carbon fiber)
The ORE 9 was designed to be a "mountain biker's first gravel bike" and allow gravel riders to get "deeper into the woods". To help in this the ORE 9 has a 69° head tube angle and a bit longer reach than a standard gravel bike. The fork is suspension corrected for a 40mm telescopic fork and the tire clearance is good up to 2 inch/50mm tires. The bottom bracket drop/offset is 70mm.
The ORE 9 is tested to MTB standards, It also features a T-47 bottom bracket for better stiffness in the bottom bracket area. The frame has fully guided internal routing and is dropper post compatible. The post size is 27.2mm.
ORE 9 is available as a frame/fork or in one of several Niner complete builds and it comes in two colors. Price for a frame set starts at $2,499.99. You can check this frame set out and more HERE.
Comments: Okay, first up is what I like about the ORE 9: The head angle, the T-47 bottom bracket, and fully guided cable routing. What I don't like: The price. Is this the result of tariffs or a "new normal" for a carbon frame and fork? Holy cow.... Also, the bottom bracket drop. Too little for a bike meant for big tires, unless......
Unless this is really supposed to be an adventure hard tail MTB. You may have noted the phrasing Niner used above: "mountain biker's first gravel bike". and getting "deeper into the woods". Niner is pitching this bike as a single track/fire road bike. I come from way back. We used to use front suspended, 80mm - 100mm travel hard tail MTB's for this activity. And furthermore; if Niner had dumped the bottom bracket a bit more, I'd be all over this for riding on actual gravel roads. But maybe this is just me being an outlier here, or Niner hitting this angle up because gravel is the cool thing now.
WTB 29" X 2.4" Peacekeeper Tire:
WTB has a new fast rolling trail tire out now with all-around off-road potential. Using WTB's SG2 bead-to-bead puncture protection and Tritec compound, this tire should be a very versatile 29"er tire with good characteristics across a wide range of terrain types
The WTB Peacekeeper carries an MSRP of $76.95/€69.95
The tire will only be available in this size and with no skin wall option for now.
Comments: I typically wouldn't cover a MTB tire here, however, this figures to be a great, fast rolling tire for bikes like the Fargo, or anything related to that bike, which often are used out on gravel. Besides, with some gravel bikes pushing above 2" wide tire clearance, well......you never know.
For more context here, I used to run a Maxxis Ikon for years on my Fargo Gen I and it was a great gravel road tire. So, this has precedence and I feel it is a relevant choice for dirt or gravel cycling. For more information please see www.wtb.com.
2 comments:
A few thoughts, and maybe it is me being grumpy. Niner ORE, would have been and awesome platform 2-3 years ago. Two things I need in a carbon frame bike it lacks. These are non-negotiables: UDH compliant, and it does not have down tube compartment. It does have 50mm clearance, and a slacker head tube angle at 69. I do like a lot of items on the frame, love the paint schemes, and I like their sizing chart staying cm sizing vs weird brand specific M, ML (yeah I see you Trek).
Niner does a lot right on their web page, it actually lists off items for future services like head set and BB standards, and it is easy to find.
WTB: looks like an updated Weirwolf and I may take a deeper look some day.
The tire looks like a downsized WTB Bridger. If memory serves right, the tire was mainly an OE supplied item. Nothing special, despite it's durability. Maybe it's fast.
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