The Sinister R9 – Team Pinkbike Finds “The Missing Link”
First there were the fully rigid frames and when the trails got a little rougher those bikes weren’t supple enough - so then came the full suspension bike. Once pointed downhill, riders discovered that they could go fast (make that really fast) and the suspension no longer traveled enough so they made beefed up bikes that could take the “big hits”, albeit at a price.The trouble is that somewhere along the way something got lost in the pursuit of downhill mountain biking utopia. Nothing seemed to completely fit the bill; it was found that the “big hit” burly single pivot/linkage frames were too simple to really perform well in any other arena, i.e. racing, and so in response bike brands tried their hand at remedying the equation by developing fancy (oftentimes finicky, with pivot bearing failures and link stress/extrusion problems common) multi-link swing arms sporting fancy and trendy technological names that would sound right at home along side the “low fat no foam double espresso venti mocha” menu items at the local Starbucks.
The Mission
When Pinkbike’s race team went shopping last year for this season’s race bike, B.C. circuit pro downhill racer Dan Eheler, and crazy ripper Derek Roque, owner of Fracture Products (D-Rock as the home town crew call him), as the team’s managers, decided that the only venue to get business done was the Interbike show in Las Vegas.
There they could visit all the manufacturers that they thought would be likely candidates to fill the most critical void in the establishment of a downhill race team, finding a bike that would suit the race team’s varying needs. A tall order to fill, given that the chosen machine would have to work well not only as a winning downhill race bike but since most riders would have only one bike, it would have to double as a freeride rig as well. Over the course of the weekend the 1.8 million sq foot Sands Convention Centre floor was cased by the two, and above all else, the new for 2004 Sinister R9 stood out.
Actually Pinkbike’s Radek Burkat first set eyes on the R9 (which stands for “Revision 9”) at the Outdoor Demo just days before the show opened in Las Vegas, and suggested that D-Rock and Dan make sure that the new bike on the block made the short list.
Radek threw his leg over the R9 at the top of the hill at the Boulder City downhill mountain bike park fully expecting the ride to be a write off after he discovered shortly before dropping in on the trail that half the spokes in the rear wheel had been grenaded by someone on a prior demo ride. He was surprised to find that the R9 rode like a thoroughbred despite the injured hind quarter and made sure that the latest work by Sinister wasn’t overlooked.
Initial Impression
![photo]()
At first glance, the R9 is a well thought through bike; from the 1.125 inch head tube/top tube junction, with its cleverly integrated stanchion bump stops, to the seat post mounted remote reservoir cradle that keeps the reservoir well out of harm’s grasp and all the way back to the legendary Frank the Welder designed sealed bearing pivot, 9 inch, three leverage setting swing arm. Frank’s design is a personally tweaked variation of the respected four bar design finished in an optional “Force Field Coating” that has a Rockwell hardness greater than a bearing race, it should virtually eliminate chain nicks and shuttle damage scratches. No, you won’t find bottle openers or other gimmicky boy scout Swiss Army attachments on the R9, just a continuation of the quality of work, functionality, and thought that has prevailed in its Sinister siblings.
![photo]()
![photo]()
A close inspection of the frame reveals Sinister’s clean work on the tube forming and welds, especially in and around the "backbone" that holds the shock and connects the top and bottom tubes. The bike is engineered exceptionally well, free of unnecessary “guesswork gussets” or weight penalty pieces of reinforcing plate, and although there is no doubt that the R9 is a downhill race bike it is so cleanly made it actually looks and feels more like a long travel freeride rig.
![photo]()
Most impressive however was the way the R9 felt to everyone who tried it; as though Sinister had cut a deal at the crossroads all that sat on the bike eerily felt right at home. Built with a seven inch fork in mind, the cockpit is comfortable with geometry that feels well balanced and set up for everything from steep and fast technical descents to high flying control in the air. These traits are prerequisite in a downhill race bike that will be used in a myriad of course settings and ridden by a cross-section of riders each with a different style of driving.
R9 – The Ride
After a quick pedal down the show room floor along side Sinister’s booth, D-Rock and Dan were convinced that the bike deserved better scrutiny, so arrangements were quickly made to leave an R9 in Pinkbike’s possession for a few months, starting with a trip to a more appropriate test ground; Virgin, Utah, home of the world’s most backwards gun laws and more importantly, the Red Bull Rampage.
On their way back to Vermont from Interbike, “Sinister Bill” and crew swung into Virgin and dropped off his personal prototype copy of the R9. In between watching the rounds of madness at the Rampage, Derek and Dan rode the R9 on the local trails. Built on the same topography as the Rampage, the dry dessert terrain consisting of high plateaus rimmed with steep cliffs leading to scrub brush littered valley floor, it presents a highly technical rocky trail set that Derek was initially unprepared for.
Setting off on a ride down “The Flying Monkey” D-Rock strapped on his dirt jump beanie, slid on his Elvis shades and got on a borrowed hardtail - sans armour. Surrounded by riders fully suited up it was apparent that the easy jaunt down the trail that he had been told about would be no where to be found. The Flying Monkey like all the trails in the area are steep, sometimes fast and rolling, sometimes slow and technical as you have to pick your way through 500 foot long crank munching “boulder” gardens, the only consistency on the off-camber trail is the sheer canyon drop off from the side of the trail to the valley floor below.
![photo]()
The next day D-Rock set out with the R9, no surprise it was a much more appropriate rig for the environment.
“It was amazing, after being on a hardtail riding the R9 down the Monkey was like riding a dirt bike, not merely because I had suspension, but because the bike handled so well compared to other full suspension bikes, it had such smooth control through the crazy sections,” said D-Rock at the end of the ride after cleaning the “boulder” garden that I had would see even manage to slow down local super hucker and Rampage contestant Josh Bender the following day.
The R9 worked equally well pedaling out on the single track flats on the valley floor, continued D-Rock, “I found myself catching up to and passing riders that had set out long before me at the trail head, the bike has amazing pedaling acceleration, it stays hooked up through every pedal stroke.” D-Rock and Dan couldn’t wait to get the R9 home to more familiar riding to see how well the bike worked.
Over the next few months the R9 spent its time with Pinkbike on the tree lined trails of British Columbia’s west coast. From the often slick and technical Shore to Chilliwack’s Vedder Mountain further up the Fraser Valley where the climate is drier and the trails faster, D-Rock and Dan opened up the R9 on familiar and world renowned dirt to see how the bike handled - as it turned out it rode better than they could have possibly expected.
“I’m gonna get hurt, the only thing that will hold me back on this bike is me” exclaims D-Rock as he talks about his time up on Vedder Mountain on the Sinister, “The R9 is unreal, it’s such a confidence inspiring bike, while on a night ride on Hidden Pleasures I had to hit the 13 foot 911 drop, twice.”
Dan was equally impressed after ripping it up on The Woodlot’s super buff Platinum in Maple Ridge, “This bike pre-jumps with no chain suck, and more importantly, while in the air it remains predictable, and it brakes so well through choppy sections that I don’t even think that it would benefit from a floating disc brake.”
![photo]()
On the North Shore’s Grouse Mountain, what the locals would consider “the freeride centre of the universe” D-Rock rode the DNA while Dan put the R9 through it’s paces, “The R9 felt solid, no matter what you threw at it, from negotiating the tight turns on the log rides on upper Oil Can with ease to gapping Air Supply like a dream.”
Finished Dan on recapping the whole experience before D-Rock had to send Sinister Bill’s R9 home to Vermont in a UPS box, “Again the R9 is such a confidence building bike.”
Keep your “low fat no foam double espresso venti mocha”; We’ll take an “FTW R9" instead…
The R9 is a downhill race bike that blurs the lines of conformity; it can be ridden equally well as a freeride bike, making it the ultimate versatile machine. It rode well in every scenario it was placed in and at the end of it all the frame, including Frank the Welder’s super functional and sturdy swing arm, stayed true and never failed once, it went home as straight and solid as it showed up.
So after all the hard freeride and downhill time and miles that Dan and D-Rock put on the R9 without fault or failure, it was clear that they found the mountain bike evolutionary “missing link”; it only stands to reason that Team Pinkbike has put an order in for a 10 rider round of R9’s.
R9 Specs
Weight: 11.7 lbs with Romic rear shock
Effective Top Tube: 24.0
Actual Top Tube: 23.0
Head Tube Angle: 67 Degrees
Seat Tube Diameter: 30.9 mm
Chain Stay: 17.5 Ctr to Ctr
Bottom Bracket Height: Wheel Radius + 2 inches (static)
Bottom Bracket Width: 73 mm
Rear Hub Specs: 12mm thru axle with 135mm spacing
Wheelbase: 47.5 w/888 fork and 46 w/7 inch travel fork
Travel: 9 inch max with 3 separate leverage ratios
For further information including dealers near you, visit Sinister Bikes.
The Mission
When Pinkbike’s race team went shopping last year for this season’s race bike, B.C. circuit pro downhill racer Dan Eheler, and crazy ripper Derek Roque, owner of Fracture Products (D-Rock as the home town crew call him), as the team’s managers, decided that the only venue to get business done was the Interbike show in Las Vegas.
"No, you won’t find bottle openers or other gimmicky boy scout Swiss Army attachments on the R9, just a continuation of the quality of work, functionality, and thought that has prevailed in its Sinister siblings."
There they could visit all the manufacturers that they thought would be likely candidates to fill the most critical void in the establishment of a downhill race team, finding a bike that would suit the race team’s varying needs. A tall order to fill, given that the chosen machine would have to work well not only as a winning downhill race bike but since most riders would have only one bike, it would have to double as a freeride rig as well. Over the course of the weekend the 1.8 million sq foot Sands Convention Centre floor was cased by the two, and above all else, the new for 2004 Sinister R9 stood out.
Actually Pinkbike’s Radek Burkat first set eyes on the R9 (which stands for “Revision 9”) at the Outdoor Demo just days before the show opened in Las Vegas, and suggested that D-Rock and Dan make sure that the new bike on the block made the short list.
“I’m gonna get hurt, the only thing that will hold me back on this bike is me” - D-Rock
Radek threw his leg over the R9 at the top of the hill at the Boulder City downhill mountain bike park fully expecting the ride to be a write off after he discovered shortly before dropping in on the trail that half the spokes in the rear wheel had been grenaded by someone on a prior demo ride. He was surprised to find that the R9 rode like a thoroughbred despite the injured hind quarter and made sure that the latest work by Sinister wasn’t overlooked.
Initial Impression
At first glance, the R9 is a well thought through bike; from the 1.125 inch head tube/top tube junction, with its cleverly integrated stanchion bump stops, to the seat post mounted remote reservoir cradle that keeps the reservoir well out of harm’s grasp and all the way back to the legendary Frank the Welder designed sealed bearing pivot, 9 inch, three leverage setting swing arm. Frank’s design is a personally tweaked variation of the respected four bar design finished in an optional “Force Field Coating” that has a Rockwell hardness greater than a bearing race, it should virtually eliminate chain nicks and shuttle damage scratches. No, you won’t find bottle openers or other gimmicky boy scout Swiss Army attachments on the R9, just a continuation of the quality of work, functionality, and thought that has prevailed in its Sinister siblings.
A close inspection of the frame reveals Sinister’s clean work on the tube forming and welds, especially in and around the "backbone" that holds the shock and connects the top and bottom tubes. The bike is engineered exceptionally well, free of unnecessary “guesswork gussets” or weight penalty pieces of reinforcing plate, and although there is no doubt that the R9 is a downhill race bike it is so cleanly made it actually looks and feels more like a long travel freeride rig.
Most impressive however was the way the R9 felt to everyone who tried it; as though Sinister had cut a deal at the crossroads all that sat on the bike eerily felt right at home. Built with a seven inch fork in mind, the cockpit is comfortable with geometry that feels well balanced and set up for everything from steep and fast technical descents to high flying control in the air. These traits are prerequisite in a downhill race bike that will be used in a myriad of course settings and ridden by a cross-section of riders each with a different style of driving.
R9 – The Ride
After a quick pedal down the show room floor along side Sinister’s booth, D-Rock and Dan were convinced that the bike deserved better scrutiny, so arrangements were quickly made to leave an R9 in Pinkbike’s possession for a few months, starting with a trip to a more appropriate test ground; Virgin, Utah, home of the world’s most backwards gun laws and more importantly, the Red Bull Rampage.
On their way back to Vermont from Interbike, “Sinister Bill” and crew swung into Virgin and dropped off his personal prototype copy of the R9. In between watching the rounds of madness at the Rampage, Derek and Dan rode the R9 on the local trails. Built on the same topography as the Rampage, the dry dessert terrain consisting of high plateaus rimmed with steep cliffs leading to scrub brush littered valley floor, it presents a highly technical rocky trail set that Derek was initially unprepared for.
Setting off on a ride down “The Flying Monkey” D-Rock strapped on his dirt jump beanie, slid on his Elvis shades and got on a borrowed hardtail - sans armour. Surrounded by riders fully suited up it was apparent that the easy jaunt down the trail that he had been told about would be no where to be found. The Flying Monkey like all the trails in the area are steep, sometimes fast and rolling, sometimes slow and technical as you have to pick your way through 500 foot long crank munching “boulder” gardens, the only consistency on the off-camber trail is the sheer canyon drop off from the side of the trail to the valley floor below.
The next day D-Rock set out with the R9, no surprise it was a much more appropriate rig for the environment.
“It was amazing, after being on a hardtail riding the R9 down the Monkey was like riding a dirt bike, not merely because I had suspension, but because the bike handled so well compared to other full suspension bikes, it had such smooth control through the crazy sections,” said D-Rock at the end of the ride after cleaning the “boulder” garden that I had would see even manage to slow down local super hucker and Rampage contestant Josh Bender the following day.
The R9 worked equally well pedaling out on the single track flats on the valley floor, continued D-Rock, “I found myself catching up to and passing riders that had set out long before me at the trail head, the bike has amazing pedaling acceleration, it stays hooked up through every pedal stroke.” D-Rock and Dan couldn’t wait to get the R9 home to more familiar riding to see how well the bike worked.
“The R9 felt solid, no matter what you threw at it, from negotiating the tight turns on the log rides on upper Oil Can with ease to gapping Air Supply like a dream.” - Dan Eheler
Over the next few months the R9 spent its time with Pinkbike on the tree lined trails of British Columbia’s west coast. From the often slick and technical Shore to Chilliwack’s Vedder Mountain further up the Fraser Valley where the climate is drier and the trails faster, D-Rock and Dan opened up the R9 on familiar and world renowned dirt to see how the bike handled - as it turned out it rode better than they could have possibly expected.
“I’m gonna get hurt, the only thing that will hold me back on this bike is me” exclaims D-Rock as he talks about his time up on Vedder Mountain on the Sinister, “The R9 is unreal, it’s such a confidence inspiring bike, while on a night ride on Hidden Pleasures I had to hit the 13 foot 911 drop, twice.”
Dan was equally impressed after ripping it up on The Woodlot’s super buff Platinum in Maple Ridge, “This bike pre-jumps with no chain suck, and more importantly, while in the air it remains predictable, and it brakes so well through choppy sections that I don’t even think that it would benefit from a floating disc brake.”
On the North Shore’s Grouse Mountain, what the locals would consider “the freeride centre of the universe” D-Rock rode the DNA while Dan put the R9 through it’s paces, “The R9 felt solid, no matter what you threw at it, from negotiating the tight turns on the log rides on upper Oil Can with ease to gapping Air Supply like a dream.”
Finished Dan on recapping the whole experience before D-Rock had to send Sinister Bill’s R9 home to Vermont in a UPS box, “Again the R9 is such a confidence building bike.”
Keep your “low fat no foam double espresso venti mocha”; We’ll take an “FTW R9" instead…
The R9 is a downhill race bike that blurs the lines of conformity; it can be ridden equally well as a freeride bike, making it the ultimate versatile machine. It rode well in every scenario it was placed in and at the end of it all the frame, including Frank the Welder’s super functional and sturdy swing arm, stayed true and never failed once, it went home as straight and solid as it showed up.
So after all the hard freeride and downhill time and miles that Dan and D-Rock put on the R9 without fault or failure, it was clear that they found the mountain bike evolutionary “missing link”; it only stands to reason that Team Pinkbike has put an order in for a 10 rider round of R9’s.
R9 Specs
Weight: 11.7 lbs with Romic rear shock
Effective Top Tube: 24.0
Actual Top Tube: 23.0
Head Tube Angle: 67 Degrees
Seat Tube Diameter: 30.9 mm
Chain Stay: 17.5 Ctr to Ctr
Bottom Bracket Height: Wheel Radius + 2 inches (static)
Bottom Bracket Width: 73 mm
Rear Hub Specs: 12mm thru axle with 135mm spacing
Wheelbase: 47.5 w/888 fork and 46 w/7 inch travel fork
Travel: 9 inch max with 3 separate leverage ratios
For further information including dealers near you, visit Sinister Bikes.
Author Info:
Abbotsford, BC, Canada
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1 Comment
- 10
Whoinventeduphill
(Feb 29, 2008 at 18:23)
supremely ace
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