5 comments on “2015 Niner WFO 9”

  1. I’ve spent the last 10 years or so focused on road riding but just demo’d this bike’s little brother, the RIP 9, on the trails around Canmore AB and thought it was very good. I thought it climbed really well and really enjoyed the 29 inch wheels. I wonder though if the WFO 9 would also do that but with better downhill performance? If not, I’m looking for any ideas you folks may have re: bikes to check out that climb really well but also have a good bit of beef on them for hairy descents. Please let me know when you have a moment.

    Thank you,

    Andrew

    • Andrew,

      I haven’t spent time on the RIP 9 so I can’t speak specifically to how that bike compares, but I can share some general thoughts. The WFO 9 is a much slacker bike with more travel. This will definitely improve performance on downhills( if performance = faster and smoother over rough terrain).

      As for climbing, my opinion depends on whether I’m doing short, punchy climbs or long, seated climbs. On the former, I find that extra travel can make a bike feel sluggish. For the latter, as long as the tires and wheels aren’t too heavy or slow, I don’t mind carrying around extra travel.

      -Tom

    • So I answered my own questions with a demo of a Large 2-star build WFO 9 today. It was awesome. I found that it climbed exceptionally well and that I was able to push myself to climb things I would’ve navigated around on other bikes I’ve been on (I note that except for the RIP 9, these are all old bikes but still)… climbing became really fun on this thing and I ended-up riding way more than I thought I would. I had a ton of confidence on descents (way more than I ever remember having back in the day and given my prolonged absence from the sport) – way more than I would’ve expected from a bike that climbs that well! I’m fairly shattered (but smiling!) at this point as a result of all this but when I recover, I’m going to set about finding a 3 or 4 star build of one of these babies as another bike topping my experience today is going to be all kinds of tough!

      • Unsurprisingly, I enjoyed descending on the WFO 9 more than on the RIP 9. Turns out the WFO I demo’d was lighter than the RIP 9 I took out so I also felt it climbed better too. On truly comparable models, I suspect the climbing gap would be narrowed or eliminated / reversed but the down on the WFO was sufficiently better that I think that’s the bike for me. Thanks for your reply, Tom (I somehow missed it / it didn’t load when I was posting my second set of comments).

        Andrew

Leave a Comment