Niner updates BSB 9 RDO cyclocross bike with Maxle thru-axle

With the cyclocross season looming into view for some, US mountain bike brand Niner has just released details of its updated BSB 9 RDO carbon fibre cyclocross racer, which this year gets a 142x12mm Maxle thru-axle rear end. And two new paint job options for good measure as well.

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The switch from a conventional rear axle to a thru-axle will please some who view thru-axles as a better method of attaching the wheels on a bike with disc brakes. Niner was already using a fork with a thru-axle anyway so it does probably make sense to have thru-axles front and rear.

Niner doesn’t say if the new thru-axle dropouts has increased or decreased weight, the frame as already light with a claimed sub-kilo figure. The company has also revamped the paint job, with two new colour schemes. But that's not all, the company is using less paint and thinner decals to reduce frame weight by as much as 50g.

The new frame is using a RockShox developed Maxle thru-axle skewer, which allows easy and quick wheel removals. The 142x12mm denotes the dropout spacing and axle diameter, and is a common standard in the mountain bike world.

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Niner was already using a thru-axle on the fork and everything else about the new frame is identical to the previous version. That includes 40mm tyre clearance, a 27.2mm seatpost, internal cable routing and Di2 compatibility, and a tapered head tube. The frame is only compatible with disc brakes, naturally.

More at www.ninerbikes.com/BSB9RDO