New Bike Day: Niner-Seven-Fiver

[William Lindsay]

I finished my 650B Niner RLT9 the night before going on a 2.5 week vacation.  Today was my first short shakedown ride to work via the East Bay Hills and BART.  So I'm counting today as New Bike Day.  Many of you have seen my intermediate build photos, so there are probably no surprises, but here are a few more.  I still have to build my roadish rear wheel.  One notable highlight is that with full fenders with Jan Heine-approved ~20mm clearance, I still have zero TCO.  Please forgive my three-color harlequin wrap.  I gotta be me!  Enjoy

Frameset: Niner RLT9 59cm

Wheelset(s): 

Roadish:  White Industries XMR rear SP dynamo front.  28H.  Pacenti CL25.  DT Competiton 2x.  BSP EL tires

Trailish:  Stans Rapid 30.  Rock and Road tires

Drivetrain (2x10):

XTR 172.5 44/30 cranks.  C70 front der.  Ultegra 10sp short cage rear.  11-30 cassette.  Modified 10sp barcon shifters on steertube.  

Other bits:

Hanging Edeluxe.  VO Noir fenders (Rinko-modified).  Nitto Mt Campee front rack.  King cages.  Fizik Arione saddle.  SPDs.  TRP Hylex brakeset.  Compass 31.8 Maes Parallel bars.  

Niner-Seven-Fiver

Front Fender and Rack setup

Rear fender setup

TCO?  nope

Bill Lindsay

El Cerrito, CA

[Chris Cullum]

Nice! Rinko-able rear fender too.

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[rcnute]

Yuge!

Ryan

[Justin August]

So you're just gonna not give us pictures of those shifters, huh?

-Justin

[Philip Kim]

very coool!

[William Lindsay]

Haha, Justin, I did a photo-essay of the shifter modification processon my flickr.  I think you can start with this link:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/45758191@N04/27630742980

And then if you click on the LEFT arrow, you walk through the process of how I built those steertube shifters.  I'm thrilled at how accessible they are, so far.  

Bill Lindsay

El Cerrito, CA

[Steve Palincsar]

I don't even like stem shifters, but I have to admit, this is a first
class professional job and you're right, why isn't someone doing this
already as a matter of course?

[William Lindsay]

Steve

Thanks for the kind words.  Another thing that made me think of you was the spinning hot ginzu knives of destruction (aka disc brake rotors).  My traditional "French inspired" detachable lowriders not only splay out to leave ample room for disc brakes, but they also end up serving as a pretty much impenetrable barrier blocking anybody's leg from being sliced by a disk.  It almost makes me want to get the matching Campee rear rack so I can have "safety cages" (aka detachable lowriders) around both 'death discs'.  :)

[Nick Favicchio]

Whoa. Your brain works really good :). That's a whole lot of interesting and different and a whole lot of what looks to my eyes like smart and crazy useful and crazy fun!

So. Does it plane? :)

Someone had to!!

[Christopher Grande]

Really baller, great modern interpretation of a 650b rando/campeur bikes. How do you like Hylex/Maes Parallel combo? Seems like so much stretch, but I've heard great things about both.

[William Lindsay]

Christopher

Good eye.  You are absolutely correct that Maes Parallel bars have long ramps and Hylex levers are also very long on top.  We all know people who love a large flat platform there on the tops of the levers.  That's why a lot of us prefer Campy Ergo 2 brifters and their copies because of the great transition from ramps to levers.  This combination is the largest flattest platform I've ever used, so I went with a slightly shorter stem than I ordinarily would have done.  I'm running a 90mm stem, when I might have run an 110mm stem if I was using my normal cockpit (Noodle + normal aero brake levers).  The result is the furthest point out at the ends of the levers is a tiny bit longer than I normally would have set up, and the tops are a bit closer than I normally would have set up.  The variety of hand positions now covers a larger physical area than I've ever had.  It's a bigger dance floor!  So far, I like it a lot.  

One very pleasant surprise is that I can get VERY strong braking (locking up the rear wheel, unloaded) with one finger from the tops of the hoods.  The Hylex levers have the pivot REALLY high, so the very top of the brake lever blade is like a brake trigger for my index finger.  Literally one finger braking.  We're all used to reduced braking power from the tops of the levers on all our rim-brake bikes.  If you have to do strong braking, you naturally wrap 3 or four fingers around the lever blade, and reach down to the tip of the blade where you can get more leverage.  Or, for technical descents you just plan on living in the hooks, where you can grab the levers from a more powerful position.  Having this "brake trigger" capability from on top of the hoods is really a nice surprise.  

Bill Lindsay

El Cerrito, CA

[Igor Belopolsky]

This bike dope-yo!

[William Lindsay]

Niner-Seven-Fiver

I put a couple more finishing touches on today and I now have a full flickr album.  See you on the road or the trail!

[Stevef]

Bill, you may have mentioned this somewhere but I missed it--any take on fitting fatter 650b tires on there fenderless?  Would Switchback Hill's clear?  Thunderburts?

Steve

On Wednesday, July 20, 2016 at 1:29:05 PM UTC-4, William Lindsay wrote:

[William Lindsay]

Steve

I tried to capture all the clearance shots in my Flickr album so you can decide for yourself. I will not be attempting to run 650x48s. They might fit, but not with enough room for me to be comfortable. My off-road wheelset runs Bruce Gordon Rock and Roads. The tight spot is the chainstay area.

Bill Lindsay
El Cerrito Ca

[William Lindsay]

Almost 15 months ago I posted about my 650B disc all-road build around a Niner RLT9.  I'm planning on using that bike this October on a local SFR 200k that has a lot of climbing and is about a quarter off-road.  In preparation, I've been riding my "Niner Seven Fiver" a lot off road and I'm fretting about the stock carbon fork being too stiff, beating me up, slowing me down, and putting me at serious risk of not finishing in the time limit or pulling a DNF.

I put out a few feelers among my connections, and was able to kick-off an experiment that I've been wanting to do for a long time.  I've acquired a Lauf Grit fork, making my Niner Seven Fiver even more of a Frankenstein 650B machine.  I just finished the work and will start pre-riding things next week. 

I lose the ability to run a front fender or a front rack, but I managed to keep my dynamo lighting.  I have no meaningful ride reportage yet, but have ridden it around the block.  It feels normal when you aren't deliberately squishing the fork, and it definitely adds another ~inch of travel to the front end.  So, it's much more compliant than any french-curve rando fork, and yet it's stout enough to allow hydraulic discs.  We'll see what that gets me. 

Bill Lindsay

El Cerrito, CA

On Wednesday, July 20, 2016 at 10:29:05 AM UTC-7, William Lindsay wrote: