Niner Low Top bar and RDO Seatpost- First Ride Impressions

Niner announced a while back that they’d be releasing a new “low top nine” bar and “unstiff” RDO carbon seatpost in a setback version (the zero offset version has been out for a while, but doesn’t work with my fit). Mine came in a little over a week ago, and I finally had a chance to ride them on Thursday.

I decided that since in Breckenridge, the climbs are big and the trails are wide, I’d try leaving the bars in their full 720mm-length glory. I’m still at odds with this decision, though. My test ride was on the trails close to my house- they’re totally flat with the exception of a couple of tiny levee climbs. I definitely noticed that steering was more work with a wider bar. I also noticed that, in the entire 15 seconds I spent going uphill, I reeeeeeeeally liked the wide bar. I’m going to try them on a more tech trail before I do any cutting, and since it’s about to pour down rain, that decision is being put off for now.

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I installed the bar in the “drop” position (-25 mm) with my stem/spacers in the same orientation as my previous flat bar (the Niner RDO flat bar). This may also change once I get a chance to ride it a little more. I was pretty comfortable with the bar where it was, and, though I like the extra sweep (17 deg vs 9deg) of the lowrider bar, the extra drop may not be necessary. If that’s the case, I’ll flip my stem over.

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As for the seatpost, the 1 hour ride on buff trail and road was just not enough to notice any difference over the Thompson that was on there previously. I’ll know more in the upcoming weeks. If nothing else, it looks sexy as hell to have matching RDO everything. Blinglespeed Represent!

2 thoughts on “Niner Low Top bar and RDO Seatpost- First Ride Impressions

  1. Finally! As much as Niner likes to buck the ‘normal’ mtb trends it surprises me that it took them this long to release an “alt” bar. As a long time Groovy Luv Handle (Ti version prototype) I’ve been semi-patiently for Niner to release something like this. Sadly, just 2 days ago I bought a brand new Ritchey bar that looks nearly identical. Wish I’d known that this was coming down the pipeline. Curious about the new seatpost though too. I love my Salsa carbon post with 1″ setback…. looking forward to hearing about how you like the new Niner. Have a great one!

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