Niner Air 9 Carbon, Maple Springs/Silverado Motorway

Last Saturday I test rode the full suspension Niner R.I.P. 9. Today I rode the Niner Air 9 Carbon on exactly the same course. There was a long, steady climb and a series of steep uphill and downhill on rough fireroad.

The ride finished off with a 2000 ft. descent (in 3 miles) on pretty technical singletrack. Below is the elevation profile. The total cumulative elevation gain was 4,068 ft. Distance was 16.4 miles.

The Air 9 is a hardtail with carbon fiber frame. As far as I'm concerned, this is the most beautiful mountain bike out there. And it's so light, it feels almost like a road bike! This thing climbed like a dream. It had Sram's XX carbon crank with 2 chainrings instead of 3. Even though this setup was not geared as low as the triple on the R.I.P 9, I really didn't miss the lower gear.

On really steep sections, the R.I.P. 9 front wheel wanted to come off the ground, and when I leaned forward to counter this, the rear wheel would slip. So I ended up walking the bike 5 times, about 30-40 yards each time. With the Air 9 Carbon, I didn't have to walk anywhere. The nimble handling of the Air 9 helped, but I only had to lean forward to keep the front wheel down.

For the second week in a row, I met my trail running friend Lauren coming down Maple Springs as I was going up. It was great to see her again! She and Jeremy were returning from Modjeska Peak.

Soon I came to the Main Divide Road, with it's rough fireroad surface and roller coaster terrain.

Some of the love I developed for the Air 9 Carbon on the 7 mile climb up Maple Springs began to fade on the Main Divide. The bike felt cramped compared to the R.I.P. 9, and the rear wheel bounced a lot more on the rocks, resulting in more skidding. At one point I had to step off the bike to keep from crashing. And at high speed on smooth sections, it felt less stable than the R.I.P. 9. It was here that I also noticed how the extra shaking was affecting my body, requiring a little more muscle tension to keep things under control.

 At the junction of Main Divide and Silverado Motorway.

At Bedford Peak, below the (obviously disintegrated) wind sock.

Th

The start of the Silverado Motorway singletrack.

One of the many drop-offs at the edge of the trail (see the buildings down there?) This looked a lot scarier in real life, but I hope you get the idea.

While rolling over the mound of a small landslide, you must avoid this gully that partially eats into the trail. For reference, the Sycamore you are looking down upon (with orange leaves) is a HUGE tree. On this part of the ride, I was glad that both Niners had wide handlebars combined with excellent handling characteristics.

As I'm writing, 12 hours have passed and I feel like I had a hard ride today. I can feel it most in my arms, shoulders, and back. Last week's ride on the R.I.P. 9 (same course) left me in much better shape - I didn't feel beat up at all. So after trying both bikes, which one do I like best? Right now I'm leaning toward the full suspension R.I.P. 9. If you're interested in either bike, check back in a few weeks to see which one I bought.