Sir 9

The Sir 9 project was an evolution of one of the original bikes that Niner made. I was tasked with making it modern and light but in a material that is not typically associated with being modern or light, steel. I worked directly with Reynolds to use their latest new alloy 853. It was an air hardening steel which allowed the tubes to be incredibly thin but the downside is that it was nearly impossible to bend them into shape. We worked together for nearly two years to develop a process that allowed us to bend the tubes without kinking or buckling them. 

The coolest part of the frame is a custom chainstay brace that I engineered. Clearance in the chainstay area on a frame is always a problem, especially with steel. There are a lot of factors like tire and chain ring clearance that have to be accounted for while maintaining strength. This frame used an evolution of a previous design of mine but it reduced the weight by 75% and increased the lateral stiffness. I did this by using two pieces of stamped steel with a center plate of higher strength steel between them. It was all welded together and worked perfectly. This design was later adapted for other steel bikes in the Niner brand and copied my many competitors.