Niner MCR
 

So it's finally out and Jenson has it in stock. Who's biting the bullet?

https://www.jensonusa.com/Niner-MCR-...r-1x-Bike-2020

Full GRX800 and the dropper post is properly installed with the left GRX shifter.

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/00...g?v=1572374576

It will be interesting to see it in competition, to see if the comfort provided by suspension outweighs the added weight in a race. Certainly, when the terrain gets rough enough, the suspension will result in increased speed over an unsuspended bike.

$6,000 for a FS bike w/ 40mm travel in front and 50mm rear? No NO NO........ for that price it needs to have a motor.

$6000 can only get you a frame from Moots, prices are relative

Hey
Who said anything about a Moots TI frame? This frame is carbon fiber..... IT'S PLASTIC

An FS bike that is 10# lighter than an MTB FS bike.

Seems like a dedicated FS-XC-MTB is going to be better in almost any situation compared to this, unless you truly want a drop bar MTB.

with the cost of R&D and custom molds, this frame arguably has higher production cost compared to Moots where they just pick the tubes length and weld

I bet it will be yeare before most of us ever see one of those out on the gravel...

Or until the inevitable 40-45% off yearly clearance.

I think it's going to end up the same place as the Slate, an interesting diversion but not really anything long-lasting. Just doesn't seem to do more that slightly larger tires won't do, without the added complexity and cost.

I thought the GCN video on this was interesting. It didn't really sell me on the idea of owning one of these. Not to mention the cost.

Problem for the Slate...It was proprietary with that Lefty fork. Other problem was durability, or rather people not reading the design-limit of that fork and exceeding it, and being surprised when the Lefty failed. IIRC the original Lefty was rated for ASTM 2 (6" or less), AKA less than a regulation US road curb, which most people pushed the limits of. Lefty 2 is ASTM 3 I think.

Uphill fight for Niner...they don't have near the market presence locally that Cannondale does.

I'm considering one of these......I love my Slate and my GF may inherit that one I recently upgraded, and hope to test one of these shortly.

the Slate was a fun ride
the Niner RLT with an AX fork was 100x better than the slate.

I am just going to walk way out on a guess, and say that this MCR would be as fun to ride as my hi-mod scalpel. Except being in road Geo, and with drop bars!

I won't be racing so the additional weight makes no difference to me. If I can ride that much longer, and more comfortably, cost isn't a factor.

I just replaced the suspension fork on my drop bar 29er with a rigid one, so there's my choice...

I think a big part was that for the added cost/complexity and weight the benefits weren't that great. A guy I used to race with did a Slate for one season then sold it and went to a more normal gravel bike with a redshift stem. He says it's pretty close to the same feeling but cheaper and easier. I suspect the MCR will have more of a legacy getting bikes designed around the AX (ah, as touched on above) than bringing more full-suspension gravel bikes to the market.

Got a link to the rigid fork? Im thinking about doing this on my 27.5 MTB

U know that carbon fiber has zero relationship with plastic?

Well said. Plastic is extruded, try that with CF... I usually hear the "plastic" line from someone who has never ridden a good CF frame or can't afford one.

Although it's reductive to refer to carbon frames as "plastic", it's just as ridiculous to claim that they have "zero relationship with plastic." They are literally plastic that's reinforced with carbon fiber. Without the plastic, a carbon frame would be a loose pile of cut-up fabric sheets.

Professor Plastics will set you straight.

https://www.plasticsmakeitpossible.c...with-plastics/

I think there is a disconnect with many riders on what suspension can give them far beyond the 'comfort' thing.

y'all know what happens when you pedal skip? The rear wheel comes off the ground, and sometimes you recover, sometimes you don't?

Now skip your rear wheel off of a rock. Suspension helps with keeping your wheels on the surface.

crazy they never distinguish the difference between Resins and plastic in that article.

https://diffzi.com/resin-vs-plastic/

which means that when you mix Carbon and Resin..... It isn't exactly carbon and plastic.


Probably why drive shafts are carbon fiber, and Bumpers are ABS plastic etc.....