Niner BSB9, 56cm Rival 11 shifter and rear der. Wolf Tooth 40t Dura Ace 7900 crank(175) Praxis works conversion bb SRAM 10-42 cassette TRP HY/RD w/160 rotors Easton EA90XC wheels Specialized Romin saddle S-works post PRO carbon H2O cages Easton EA90 stem (110) Salsa Cowbell bars (double-wrapped in strategic sections) Time ATAC pedals
Current tires: Hutchinson Mamba 34 rear; Spec. Trigger 33 front - both actually measure out to 34mm wide on these rims. Will put on WTB cross boss for most of the 'cross season. May swap out for MSO 36s for the bumpier gravel events next year.
Setup went fairly smoothly with the exception of the cable routing (removed the fork to reach in and push the housing out of the little port) and mounting the chainring (DA cranks did NOT like the WT ring - ended up smacking it on with a mallet).
So far about 200 miles on board. She rides great on pavement, dirt, and a few servings of single track in Marin. The handling is a little tighter compared to my RLT9 though the BSB is still comfortable enough to log long miles and the carbon definitely feels more compliant than the RLT's Al frame.
The HY/RD brakes are awesome - a great solution for an upgrade over mechanicals. Not as good as full hydro, but damn close!
Sweet! Very nice bike. I've been running Easton EA70 XCT wheels on both my mountain bike and one of my gravel bikes, the Niner. They are very durable - almost 3 yrs on the mountain bike. No issues until recently when I did have a spoke break. My Niner RLT 9 Steel has the SRAM Force1 group on it but with hydraulic brakes. It's been awesome - no dropped chains, no missed shifts and very quiet. I didn't know what to expect with this group but have been impressed.
Weaknesses: The front end is uncomfortably stiff on the 5-Star build, chainstay guard tends to come loose and rub the tire, rear hub on mine has a lot of bearing drag
Bottom Line: This review is of the 2015 5-Star build (Ultegra Di2 with R785 hydro brakes, Niner carbon wheels, Thompson KFS bars).
This a STIFF frameset, so if you're hoping for a cushy ride, look elsewhere (the RLT, perhaps). The only nod to comfort is the RDO seatpost, which does seem to take some of the sting out of the rear end and the rear end is reasonably comfortable. Between the rigid fork and the stock Thompson KFC carbon bars that are extremely stiff and do not accommodate double wrapping the bar tape above the brake levers, the front end is pretty harsh. My hands, neck and shoulders were sore after every ride, even when running 40mm tubeless tires at 32/34psi on Stan's Iron Cross wheels. I swapped the bars for 3T Ergosum alloys (with a little give to them) and double wrapped with Cannondale Synapse tape over generic cork tape - with a little Synapse tape under the top of the brake hoods, too. Now the bike feels dramatically more comfortable and the post-ride pain is gone.
The upside to all of this stiffness is very precise steering and braking control, plus really efficient power transfer. I love the way the bike handles; it's quick in tight turns, responds instantly to pressure on the bars, yet feels stable on high-speed descents. I can't ask anything more than that.
FWIW, I get more compliments on the looks of this bike than any other I've owned.
The Di2 has been interesting to play with. In its stock configuration, it's easy to hit the wrong button when you're getting bounced around on rough terrain, since they're so close together. To remedy that, I've reprogrammed it for Synchro-Shift and set up both left buttons to downshift and both right buttons to upshift. Now all I have to do is remember left=lower gears, right=higher gears and hit one of the buttons on the appropriate side, and the front shifts automatically when necessary. No matter how oxygen-deprived I may be or how rough the terrain is, I can shift accurately. This setup will work well with heavy winter gloves on, or even mittens for that matter. I have Campy on all of my other bikes, so I needed to train my brain for the completely different feel of Di2 anyway. This setup was really easy to learn. Try it, you may like it.
