New Steel Niner RLT9

[Cornfed]

Here's a bike I could get excited about ...

http://bicycleretailer.com/new-produ...e#.VRlXK_nF98E

[firerescuefin]

That is really nice. Glad they are doing something other than the aluminum (not that the aluminum is not a great bike). I hear a carbon is in the works as well. Really like that paint scheme.

[sandyrs]

That's really nice. Looks like it would be great for ultralight endurance rides, winter training, that sort of thing.

[josephr]

everything the Macho King is not....just need to pick a color now!

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by Cornfed

Here's a bike I could get excited about ...

http://bicycleretailer.com/new-produ...e#.VRlXK_nF98E

Tough from the pix, but they 'seem' to have fairly short headtubes..I think for gravel road/touring type stuff, they would be longer..IMHO.

[echelon_john]

Not too bad. The 62 has a 205mm HT, coupled with a 400mm A-C fork and 65mm BB drop. Similar to a CAAD9 CX.

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

Tough from the pix, but they 'seem' to have fairly short headtubes..I think for gravel road/touring type stuff, they would be longer..IMHO.

[sandyrs]

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

Tough from the pix, but they 'seem' to have fairly short headtubes..I think for gravel road/touring type stuff, they would be longer..IMHO.

If it follows the existing RLT geo, they won't be too too short. http://www.ninerbikes.com/RLT9

[bluesea]

^ The Al RLT is spec-ed with med-tall HT. Although I already know the answer, my question would be why the tapered HT.

[firerescuefin]

Originally Posted by bluesea

^ The Al RLT is spec-ed with med-tall HT. Although I already know the answer, my question would be why the tapered HT.

Pretty much all (good option) carbon disc front forks are tapered. I actually have become a fan on my road bike. Haven't ridden enough to have an opinion on my cross/gravel bike.

[Cornfed]

A bit surprised it's not a TA fork.

[GRAVELBIKE]

Would like to see a steel fork option.

[josephr]

looks like they've updated their website...$1450 for a frameset sounds reasonable compared to a Gunnar Hyper-X with a fork...no weights given though.

http://www.ninerbikes.com/rlt9steel

[sparky33]

.

[sparky33]

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

Tough from the pix, but they 'seem' to have fairly short headtubes..I think for gravel road/touring type stuff, they would be longer..IMHO.

I think the size 56 stack height of 575 is wrong in the geo chart. The headtube is 20mm longer than the size 53 which has 574 stack....+1mm? I doubt it. http://www.ninerbikes.com/rlt9steel

wrt to actual headtube length... for integrated headsets like this, how much longer does the headtube need to be to give the same effective height of a regular headset + headtube?

In any case, I would prefer '15 salsa warbird.

[JAGI410]

I was excited until I saw the PF30 BB. Deal breaker!