First Look: The 2022 Niner Jet 9 RDO is Built for Versatility

May 18, 2021
by Alicia Leggett  
Niner's latest version of the Jet 9 RDO aims to blend the climbing ability of a pure cross country bike with the fun factor of something a bit burlier.

As Niner's most popular bike, the Jet 9 is has been part of Niner's line since 2007. The company describes the Jet 9 as an agile and versatile quiver-killer and has updated the geometry to keep up with today's short-travel trail bikes.

The new Jet 9 blurs the edges of the cross country category with 120mm of rear travel, a 66.5 degree head tube angle and a 76 degree seat tube angle.
Jet 9 RDO Details

• Wheel size: 29"
• Carbon frame
• Rear suspension travel: 120mm
• Fits fork up to 130mm
• 66.5-degree head tube angle
• 432mm chainstays
• Lifetime warranty
• Price: $4,100 - $9,550 USD
• ninerbikes.com

Niner offers five build kits for the Jet 9, starting at $4,100 for the 'Two Star' SX Eagle build. Next comes the GX Eagle option for $5,350, an XT 12-speed build for $6,190, and two XO1 Eagle options: mechanical for $7,700 and AXS for $9,550. All the builds come with Fox 34 and Float X suspension (Performance for the SX build and Factory for all the others).



As a company that isn't afraid to use lots of TLAs, Niner doesn't shy away from aviation puns in the marketing copy:

bigquotesPedaling uphill is limited only by your legs and lungs. Our signature CVA suspension leaves no ounce of effort nor watt of power wasted. Every pedal stroke earns altitude with no loss of efficiency. Stable in the saddle, CVA keeps you moving forward with a firm pedaling platform. Yet supple and active at the rear wheel, so you’ll not lose traction or hang up on obstacles.

Flipping it around and floating back down, your descent is turbulence-free, thanks to small bump sensitivity. Combined with solid mid-stroke support to save full travel for when you really need it, the JET 9 RDO is a smooth flyer in any situation.—Niner Bikes

The rocker link pivot has a handy sag indicator.

The Jet 9 uses Niner's in-house patented take on a dual link suspension layout, the CVA or Constantly Varying Arc design. The bike also incorporates a flip chip that gives riders the option to lower the bottom bracket by 8 mm and slacken the bike's geometry by half a degree.

Other frame details include a threaded bottom bracket, ISCG 05 tabs, and SRAM's Universal Derailleur Hanger.
Fully guided internal cable routing keeps things looking clean.

Niner expects to have frames and build kits available to start shipping by late May. More information is available on the product page on Niner's website.

Posted In:
Reviews and Tech First Looks Trail Bikes Niner Niner Jet 9


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96 Comments

  • 124 1
 Tyre logos aren't quite lined up with the logos on each rim. LITERALLY UNRIDEABLE!
  • 22 1
 AND they printed the tyre logos on upside down.
  • 77 3
 AND they misspelled Maxxis.
  • 27 1
 AND my axe!
  • 3 0
 if each rim cant hold 2 water bottles, its worthless
  • 3 0
 Its got no pedals either - literally unrideable
  • 83 0
 Will no one speak out against the killing of so many quivers over the years by the bike industry. Stop the violence, stop the killing.
  • 16 0
 How many times can you kill a quiver?
  • 16 0
 @AndrewFleming: Clearly a violation of the most basic rule of (biking) nature: N + 1
  • 40 0
 Love the paint job! Kudos to whoever's making the colour scheme choices at Niner.
  • 38 17
 Looks-wise, that's about the only thing going for it.
  • 4 0
 It is minty fresh.
  • 25 3
 I like that colour, but I can't unsee the frame shape make it look like it's started melting lol
  • 2 12
flag DoubleCrownAddict (May 18, 2021 at 8:36) (Below Threshold)
 Outdated geo, press fit BB, but amazing paint. One of my favorite colors.
  • 9 1
 @DoubleCrownAddict: Actually it is threaded this year with updated geo sooooo
  • 36 1
 4,100 smackers for Sram SX?????!
  • 28 1
 Give us at least Deore...
  • 4 0
 @theoskar57: absolutely! Already paying a lot for a decent frame and you end up with a drivetrain made of cheese
  • 8 0
 @theoskar57: deore is so hot right now, companies don’t want to add months to already stretched lead times, thus SX.
  • 31 1
 Remember when you could buy a metal full suspension bike with mid-tier suspension and SLX/Deore XT for $3,000? Pepperidge Farm remembers....
  • 5 0
 Yeah and pint was a quid and 10 bensons were 90p
  • 2 0
 Yea it sucks. I would love to see Levy do an explainer because raw materials went up in price, I'm sure renting factory time is more expensive, shipping rates went up, is the drought in Taiwan going to close factories? Are big companies paying more to bump in line with the factories or parts?
  • 3 0
 Buy now, with central banks around the world keeping rates floored, inflation will ramp up faster than your salaries. Not to say we'll see runaway prices but PPI will be sure to rise and costs will get passed to consumers at least on the medium term before things get back to normal at around 2-3%. We're already seeing those rising #'s in the US, coupled with supply chain constraints from shut down to full open, and a tightened labor force from government aid, things will get more expensive.
  • 2 2
 Yeah but now I make $21/hr serving coffee.
  • 28 1
 Q U I V E R   K I L L E R

The sag indicator on the rocker link is actually pretty nifty.
  • 2 7
flag rich-2000 (May 18, 2021 at 2:41) (Below Threshold)
 Not where I live. Not sure I could go back to such steep head angles.
  • 6 0
 SRAM has a patent on putting sag indicators on the stanchion/shaft right? This seems like a pretty clever way to get around that. I dig it.
  • 2 0
 @swansong: I haven't seen anyone do it but it should be pretty easy to add it to your own bike.
  • 15 0
 Lets put stuff in the bb area. No one bashes that spot...
  • 5 1
 I have a Rip and have bashed it loads of time and it has not broken
  • 2 1
 I love the lower link, great bash guard, I slide over stuff I would bust a chainring on
  • 12 3
 My biggest problem with this design, and I had a '17 Jet 9, is that there is a ton of flex when you stand up and pedal, with this linkage design. Those lower pivots also catch all the crap you ride through and, at least mine, were very quick to wear out. Despite that, the bike rode really nicely, pretty effective climber if I do say so.
  • 5 1
 My friend has the Jet from last year and has no complaints about flex.
  • 4 0
 @ridingrascal: Once you start throwing a leg over bikes that don’t have the flexing issues of the Jet 9, it becomes pretty obvious.

It’s amazing how much stiffer my Ripley V4 is than my 17’ Jet 9 RDO.
  • 1 0
 @ridingrascal: I bought mine (partly because it was a sweet yellow) because a buddy of mine had an older one that was a little more race-oriented with a shorter suspension, and it's been a great bike for him for years. I think I'm just heavy on my stuff which doesn't help.
  • 3 0
 @Arepiscopo: you’re not wrong about those lower pivot bearings. I change mine twice a year because they get so notchy.
  • 4 1
 Coming from a GG Trail Pistol to a '21 RIP 9… way stiffer. The GG flexes quite a bit, enough to rub the tires on the stays on hard efforts. My buddy has one as well and he's wearing away his rear derailleur housing from the flex-induced tire rub that catches the external housing. Only commenting here because the linkage design is the same on the '21 JET and latest RIP. It surprised me the first couple of times I rode the RIP just how much stiffer it was from a bike that I considered pretty stout. And yes, the Niner rides very nice, and noticeably more efficient and capable climber than my previous GG even with the +20mm of travel on the RIP vs TP.
  • 1 0
 @jmvcolorado: Must be a wheel issue, I have aftermarket wheels on my 2020 TP and it doesn't rub.
  • 1 0
 @FrankS29: He used to have a super heavy enduro bike so I don’t think he is used to flex.
  • 11 3
 Having owned a 2017 Jet 9 RDO and seeing that they basically changed nothing, no thanks. Actual seat tube angles are crazy slack, bb is sky high, you can’t fit a decent size dropper unless you size down, flexible rear triangle, if you bring the fork up to 140 it only makes the BB even higher...

CVA may climb alright, but it is not very playful and lacks a poppy feel that people looking at a small travel trail bike are typically going to want.

It falls directly into the “meh” category.
  • 6 0
 a BB drop of 33/41 is high to you?
  • 1 2
 @kabaroo: the issue is, the low setting is going to be useless on that bike for anything other than the smoothest of trails.

That lower link already smashes on everything on the last gen with a 29mm BB drop. Now it’s 31mm, so a touch lower, but still really high.

The lower link on the CVA design severely limits how low you can actually make the BB on these bikes.
  • 10 0
 Niner Jer 9 SHAT-PE (Seat and Head Tube - Parallel Edition)
  • 1 0
 This bike really does look parallel, lots of bikes look kinda parallel, Poles do not look parallel.
  • 11 3
 Holy slack actual seattube angle.
  • 10 20
flag pakleni (May 18, 2021 at 1:55) (Below Threshold)
 Once upon a time, a group of people had a great idea. 29 inch wheels are the future. Let's build some kewl bikes around that wheel size! From that moment on, everything went South..
  • 2 0
 @pakleni: That must be why the bikes with the steepest STAs are 29ers
  • 7 0
 That STA does not look like 76 man. Looks like your hips would be closer to the rear axle than the BB
  • 4 0
 Missing the video: youtu.be/qF7qPrZRZlA

Also worth checking out Kyle and April's Youtube channel for bike related tutorials, etc.

www.youtube.com/c/KyleAprilRideMtb
  • 6 0
 coming with an integrated bashguard
  • 4 1
 That would be a serious concern of mine if I lived any place with loose rock. There is a reason SC & Intense found a way to move their links above the BB. My old Intense had a lower link below the BB (not quite this low) and that thing god smacked silly way too often.
  • 3 1
 Love the look of this bike, but the more bikes I see at 3 or 4k+ coming with SX, kinda makes me want to throw up a little. My Guerrilla Gravity cost just a little more than this bike, and I got XT on it. SX in my mind is to keep starter bike costs down, but shouldn't be on a bike costing twice as much as budget full sus.
  • 5 0
 Looks like a great bike for a lot of people. Love the paintjob.
  • 2 1
 I really did like my RIP 9, but those suspension pivots and bearings were a nightmare to silence. Press in 8 new bearings with a light coat of grease and it was only 300 miles before the pops and creaks screamed at me again..... Thick grease, thin grease, light grease, heavy grease, no grease. Bearings pressed dry, bearings pressed greased, bearings pressed with bearing retaining compound and nothing helped.... Well one thing helped... Craig's List and that motivated buyer.
  • 2 1
 It's weird the hate a lot of folks have toward Niner and knee-jerk smack talk. The geometry numbers are nearly identical to Transition Spur, Ibis Ripley, Pivot Trail 429 and other bikes that somehow made it into the cool kids club and are generally beloved.
And if you're smashing into rocks hard enough to destroy a chunky aluminum link (while somehow missing your chainrings) that would kill just about any carbon frame.
  • 1 0
 Why use the lower linkage as a bash guard? While riding my bike this weekend, I definitely put my chainring bash guard (ISGS 05 mounted) to good use......I can't help but be turned off by the giant rubber pad glued to this bike's low pivot rocker that's in prime smash territory.....I'd kill this bike in one ride.
  • 2 2
 Super interesting to see a DPX2 on a bike like this. Good choice: it's so much better than a DPS or Deluxe, and not just because it has a reservoir and more oil and should stay consistent longer. It just feels way smoother in repeated fast bumps, and it has an actual LSC adjust instead of just 1-2-3 modes.
  • 3 2
 In Dec., Jenson will offer five build kits, starting at $3,500 for the 'Two Star', $4800 for the GX Eagle option, an XT 12-speed build for $5,250, and two XO1 Eagle options: mechanical for $5,900 and AXS for $7,050
  • 4 1
 If I ever pay $4100 for a bike with sram SX on it shoot me in the f*cking face
  • 2 0
 Will this hold true forever? Inflation is a real thing, so in 15 years that $4100 will be budget. I remember in the mid-90s when $2,500 got you a killer bike.
  • 2 0
 «Fits fork up to 130mm»
Any info on how much will a 120mm fork change the geometry? BB-offset, HT-angle, Reach, ST-angle?
  • 4 1
 BB, bit lower. Ht and St angle, bit steeper. Reach, bit longer.
  • 3 0
 Rule of thumb is angles change by about half a degree per 10mm a2c change, BB by about 5-6mm per, reach by approx 3-4mm per.
  • 6 0
 I built a calculator for this sort of thing:

madscientistmtb.com/geocalc

Enter the published geometry on the left side and put -10 into the change to fork travel field.
  • 1 0
 @madscientistmtb: @madscientistmtb: I tried entering a reduction in fork travel. It's not accepting the minus sign. It says it needs a valid number.
  • 1 0
 @Chris71294: Hmmm, it shouldn't be an issue to enter a negative number. I've test this thing pretty thoroughly. I just tried it with -20 in the "Change to Fork Travel" field using the default geometry and it took it no problem. Head angle steepens from 65 to 65.82. What browser are you using?
  • 1 0
 @Chris71294: It works on my end. Are you sure you typed in the minus sign and not an underscore?
  • 1 0
 @madscientistmtb: I see, I was putting a space between the minus sign and the number.

I appreciate the work you put into this!
  • 1 0
 @Chris71294: I'm glad you find it useful. I haven't been doing a very good job spreading the word on it. A few friends have been testing it for a bit but aside from a Reddit post or two, it's been a very very soft launch.
  • 3 0
 Actually doesn't look that bad. For a Niner.
  • 1 2
 is it just me who doesn't want a 'race day optimised' bike? I never race, so I'd rather have something that was a bit slower (be it geo or weight), but stronger/more playful/cheaper

I know its just marketing bs, but in this case its marketing bs that'd push me to another brand
  • 1 2
 And what kind of race are they optimizing for here anyway? With those stack heights through the roof, any XCish racer is going to need to slap a negative rise stem and maybe a negative rise bar on there to get bar height where they want it, and swap out fork, shock, tires, and wheels for weight. And it's obvi not going to be competitive in enduro...
  • 2 0
 @justinfoil: Just to be fair, the Cannondale Habit, Jamis Portal, Radon Skeen, and the Yeti SB115 all have taller stack. And the BMC Speedfox, Canyon Neuron, Giant Trance, Ibis Ripley (AF and V4), SC Tallboy, and YT Izzo all have stacks that match or are within a few millimeters of the JET. Yes, there are shorter stacks out there, Trek for one, but it's a massive stretch to say the JET is "through the roof".
  • 2 0
 Doesn't have 3 water bottle mounts, moves along...
  • 3 0
 Low Chassis = Nope
  • 2 1
 The Jet 9 is built.....for dentists.

Does it have a falling rate suspension like their big dentist bike too?!
  • 2 1
 It doesn’t look like much has changed with the suspension from the last version in which the progression was the only thing that made sense:

linkagedesign.blogspot.com/2016/07/niner-jet9-rdo-29-2017.html?m=1

Who the heck designs a “quiver killer”-but-mostly-XC bike with under 100% anti-squat?!
  • 1 0
 ISCG 05 tabs to mount aftermarket bash guard to protect integrated bash guard
  • 1 0
 I wish they'd go back to the curved frame-blended top link design. This design looks too old-school FSR-like.
  • 1 0
 I think it is cool that some brands are actually pairing up sram and fox. Just my two cents.
  • 1 0
 I see an error in the chart. The metric seat tube angle values should be in radians.
  • 1 0
 I just can't help but see a recumbent.
  • 2 0
 But is it downcountry?
  • 2 1
 Why would I get this over a Trail 429?
  • 1 0
 A threaded bottom bracket .... only took them 20 years !
  • 1 0
 66.5 degree head angle is so 2018
  • 1 0
 TLA heaven
  • 1 1
 they need more marketing budget. Rip.
  • 1 2
 Fugly.
  • 2 4
 looks like ..... kona?
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