Niner

EMD 9 Mountain Bike Frame - 2014

While it lacks the pomp of Niner's RDO carbon bikes, the EMD 9 Mountain Bike Frame's stiff, light construction and efficient power-transfer spine make a strong argument that simple is sometimes better. Of course, claiming the EMD is a simple design elides the fact that it benefits from Niner's industry-defining work with 29er hardtail geometry, but in a world of gee-golly suspension hype and convoluted plastic frames, the EMD 9 hearkens back to a day when bikes were born on the trail, not the lab bench.

The EMD 9 is similar in many regards with Niner's Air 9, with a slightly steeper head tube angle and shorter wheelbase than the Air 9 frame. This gives the EMD more agility in technical spots, while the tapered head tube keeps tracking on point while allowing for a built-up down tube and bottom bracket, ensuring that all power is spent going forward. The EMD does weigh more than the Air 9, but the difference is less than 200 grams, claimed, so it's hardly noticeable on a full bike that's meant for the trail, not the scale.

Another difference between the EMD and the Air is that the former has a standard, threaded bottom bracket shell, so you'll spend less time thumbing through the byzantine catalogs of component manufacturers looking for an adapter to adapt the adapter to fit the crankset into the right adapter and more time on the trail.