Niner

Jet 9 RDO Mountain Bike Frame - 2016

High speeds test your reaction time as much as your bike-handling skills, so you need to stop thinking and start reacting when you're punching the throttle. That's a lot easier to do when you have a lightning-quick bike that can smooth out rough trail and respond immediately to rider and terrain input, which is exactly what the 2016 Niner Jet 9 RDO Mountain Bike Frame is all about (having smooth-rolling 29in wheels doesn't hurt, either).

The Jet 9 RDO is super smooth, for sure, but its real calling card is speed. It's Niner's XC race weapon, with a Carbon Compaction System (CCS) carbon-fiber construction that's 130g lighter than last year's model, and even lightweight paint and decals keep things feathery. Carbon's naturally stiff and efficient for powerful pedaling, but Niner's taken things further by designing a fat, torsionally stiff bottom bracket and hooking up a burly 12mm thick rear axle that reduces flexion and corresponding energy loss. The shapes found in the Jet 9 RDO border on art, but are actually the result of thousands of hours of computer and real-world testing, and offer a state-of-the-art combination of stiffness, forgiveness, and handling. A tapered head tube helps ensure precise, confident steering whether you're opening things up or picking your way down techy lines.

The crown jewel of the Jet 9 RDO might just be Niner's Continuously Varying Arc (CVA) suspension platform. As is Niner's MO, it designed the CVA around 29in wheels, rather than tinkering with setups designed for 26in wheels, and you can feel it. The CVA's pivot design allows the bike to feel supple, smooth, and taut all at the same time, and responds to quickly-changing terrain without the need for preloading, so it reacts without the need for heavy loads or impact forces. It's also designed to eliminate bob, so all your energy goes into moving forward, not bouncing up and down.

To make the most out of CVA, Niner hooked the Jet 9 RDO up with a Fox Float CTD shock, which provides 100mm of buttery-smooth Kashima-coated travel. The Kashima coating allows for splendid smoothness, while the CTD (Climb Trail Descend) lever lets you adjust your suspension on the fly for powerful climbing, responsive trail riding, and smooth descending. There are also killer touches like internal cable routing to keep things neat and a direct front derailleur mount to save weight.