Niner RLT Steel Rival test • 7/7/17
Heard from the folks at Cognition Cyclery in San Mateo that they had gotten a Niner RLT in steel built up in my size, and that I could come ride it. I really liked this bike in carbon, but thought it would be too stiff for me for long days on crappy surfaces. I really liked how the bike handled, and the steel definitely felt better blasting back and forth on the gravel alleyways near the shop than the carbon did.
I’m not a fan of SRAM Rival shifting, though. And the crankset’s 46x36 chainrings seem more CX than gravel to me. I’d want a 50x34 with a nice wide cassette to be able to make use of all those rack mounts all over the bike. A bit heavy perhaps at around 23 lbs, and I’d still want to add a dropper post. All in all a very nice bike.
4 miles, 48 feet
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/1072582989