Niner Carbon: Above and Beyond Carbon in bicycle frames and components has reached critical mass, but in the scurry to meet demand, much has been lost in the translation. Niner’s path to this element comes from a different direction. Rather than just offering carbon products, we make sure we are maximizing the benefits of the material, and that our carbon products are purpose built from the ground up. Niner’s goal is to build on the properties of carbon and create carbon products that go above and beyond just offering something that has the famous weave. The new Niner Air 9 Carbon and the Niner Carbon Fork are great examples of our diligent approach to carbon design. First, we started with computer-based shaping. Drawing on FEA studies that we conducted on our current products and by buying and testing other offerings, we discovered a solid baseline and framework with which to work. From this, we garnered stiffness and strength numbers that we felt were important to achieve in all 3 planes. Studying energy flow from trail input and chain torque, we first designed a fluid shape that would disperse this energy throughout the structure, while eliminating stress risers and hot spots - in designing, our objective is to use the natural damping ability of
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Niner Carbon: Above and Beyond

Carbon in bicycle frames and components has reached critical mass, but in the scurry to meet demand, much has been lost in the translation. Niner’s path to this element comes from a different direction. Rather than just offering carbon products, we make sure we are maximizing the benefits of the material, and that our carbon products are purpose built from the ground up. Niner’s goal is to build on the properties of carbon and create carbon products that go above and beyond just offering something that has the famous weave.

The new Niner Air 9 Carbon and the Niner Carbon Fork are great examples of our diligent approach to carbon design. First, we started with computer-based shaping. Drawing on FEA studies that we conducted on our current products and by buying and testing other offerings, we discovered a solid baseline and framework with which to work. From this, we garnered stiffness and strength numbers that we felt were important to achieve in all 3 planes. Studying energy flow from trail input and chain torque, we first designed a fluid shape that would disperse this energy throughout the structure, while eliminating stress risers and hot spots - in designing, our objective is to use the natural damping ability of

ability of carbon as best we can to increase the fatigue life of the product and decrease the vibrations translated to the rider.

The outside shape of our products directly correlates to the stiffness and strength numbers we need to achieve in any project, including our new Air 9 Carbon frame and Niner Carbon Fork. With carbon, it’s very easy to get stuck in a game of just ‘layer it up’. The easiest path is to create a shape that looks good, and then just add carbon layers in any critical area until the strength or stiffness numbers are good enough, but this approach is not good enough for Niner Bikes. The outside shaping of our carbon products is determined by our stiffness and strength requirements, so that we can use shape instead of layers to make our designs stiff and strong in all critical areas. Torsional stiffness for precise steering and BB stiffness for instant power transfer are both paramount design goals and the shape of our frames and forks reflects the studies we did to achieve these goals without falling into the ‘layer it up’ quicksand.

Once shapes are finalized in the computer, we utilize rapid prototyping and build SLA models in 1:1 scale to insure fit with other components and to check that clearances are all correct before opening the mold.

Next, we build physical samples that we can test to verify strength and stiffness. All of our carbon products undergo exhaustive physical destructive and strength testing before we release them for ride evaluation, i.e. field-based torture testing. Each change requires a new round of destructive stress testing to insure that no change in layer angle or shape has any negative impact on overall strength and only serves to increase ride quality or decrease weight – a routine we are committed to in every new product design process.

The steps to a final product are long and winding, but all of them are critical when creating a Niner product. Carbon is an amazing material with a world of possibilities, but the dedication to these possibilities and an understanding of how to achieve them are all part of the design process that Niner embraces from beginning to end.

Niner Bikes offers a five year warranty on all carbon products. This includes the Niner Air 9 Carbon frame, the Niner Carbon Fork and the Niner Flat Top carbon bar. We are proud of the testing and care we put into the design and manufacture of our carbon products. We feel that the best way to show this is to offer a 5 year warranty period on all carbon items - our C5 program. This warranty is retroactive for all owners of Niner carbon products. We maintain that our carbon fiber testing and design rivals the best in the bike industry. Rather than just talking about it, we choose to demonstrate this commitment via projects such as our fork-hammering video and our warranty. DETAILS: Warranty is retroactive for all current owners of Niner Air 9 Carbon frames and forks. Warranty is only available for original product owners with proof of purchase from an authorized Niner dealer, no online auction purchases will be honored. For best service, current unregistered Niner product owners are encouraged to register on the Niner Bikes online warranty registration site. For all new purchases, online registration is required for warranty service. See our Niner Encyclopedia for complete warranty information.

Niner Bikes offers a five year warranty on all carbon products. This includes the Niner Air 9 Carbon frame, the Niner Carbon Fork and the Niner Flat Top carbon bar.

We are proud of the testing and care we put into the design and manufacture of our carbon products. We feel that the best way to show this is to offer a 5 year warranty period on all carbon items - our C5 program. This warranty is retroactive for all owners of Niner carbon products.

We maintain that our carbon fiber testing and design rivals the best in the bike industry. Rather than just talking about it, we choose to demonstrate this commitment via projects such as our fork-hammering video and our warranty.

DETAILS:

• Warranty is retroactive for all current owners of Niner Air 9 Carbon frames and forks.
• Warranty is only available for original product owners with proof of purchase from an authorized Niner dealer, no online auction purchases will be honored.
• For best service, current unregistered Niner product owners are encouraged to register on the Niner Bikes online warranty registration site. For all new purchases, online registration is required for warranty service.

See our Niner Encyclopedia for complete warranty information.

Chris Sugai dispels some myths surrounding carbon fiber components, using the Niner carbon fork in his demonstration. VIEW VIDEO