NINER MCR 9 RDO

The first of a kind for gravel, but is this bike the future?

Words STU BOWERS

‘Isn’t that just a mountain bike with drop bars?’ I was asked this frequently while testing the MCR, and it’s a query Niner must be sick of answering too. Just for clarity, no, this is not a mountain bike with drop bars. For starters the MCR (which stands for Magic Carpet Ride) has only half the suspension travel of even the raciest full-sus XC mountain bikes, but more importantly its geometry is that of a dedicated gravel slayer, which is nowhere near that of a modern MTB either. That’s an important distinction, because the way most of us ride gravel bikes – predominantly in a seated position for long periods – requires a geometry sympathetic to that. So it may be a paid-up member of the gravel fraternity, but the MCR is…

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Cyclist Off Road (Digital) - 1 Issue, Autumn 2020

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