- This is the pro bike
check for Kirt Voreis.
(upbeat music)
(air whooshes)
(metal clangs)
Kirt Voreis is an ex-downhill racer
turned Instagram superstar
turned mountain bike ambassador
and free rider, I guess you'd call him.
King of good times on a mountain bike,
and he rides for Niner,
and this is the RIP 9 RDO,
the same bikes, actually,
that me myself and Blake rode
in Patagonia.
This is the 29er version.
So, if you know who Kurt is,
you follow him on Instagram.
It might be slightly surprising
that he's running the 29er version,
'cause this bike is now available
in the small wheel size as well.
That bike is actually in
the back of Kurt's van.
He's gonna be racing the
Dual Slalom at Sea Otter.
But most of the time,
Kurt rides this 29er.
The RIP 9 RDO is a 140 mil travel bike
and he's actually bumped it up to a 160
on the front with that RockShox Lyrik,
to slacken the bike out.
Kurt's running it in the high BB setting,
so, got a decent BB height but also,
the bike is slacking
out that fork of course.
Got a RockShox Super Deluxe
Coil shock on the rear,
don't see many of these with coils on.
It's got a 400 pound spring,
so nice and supple off the
top with the coil shock,
so that first bit of
travel is super sensitive.
Full SRAM components on
this bike, so upped the bars,
we've got the descendant bars,
and they are about 29 inches wide,
that's approximately
780 mil so quite wide.
Got the Guide Ultimate
brakes, they're trail brakes,
some people do go up
spec, maybe put a code on,
but Kurt thinks that the
Guides are perfectly capable,
so XO1 components and drive
train throughout as well,
so that one by twelve,
got the shifter up there,
got our RochShox Reverb
with that sort of paddle
shifter underneath,
matches the feel of that
gear shifter as well.
Sensus grips on this bike,
to me they feel super narrow,
literally sort of a hands width,
but I guess that's all you
need, feels super cool,
got that sort of free ride set up.
We've got the front
brake hose that goes up,
through the steering tube out there
to that front brake caliper.
And also the rear brake
hose and the shifter
sort of taped together.
So Kurt does bar spins, that
keeps everything working
so the front brake hose isn't gonna
get caught on the frame when he does that,
and these don't get get tangled at all.
Of course, you've then gotta
spin it back the other way,
no gyro or anything
like that on this bike.
Also got one of these RockShox sort of
head clamps, so,
instead of having a star
fangle nut in the head tube,
these just clamp top and bottom
and the brake hose goes in through there
and you tighten your headset
and run that brake hose
through the steering tube.
The 160 mil RockShox Lyrik Fork up front,
it's the RC2 model so you've got
the high and low speed
compression up there,
got rebound control of course,
got the DebonAir as well, so,
a big fork, super capable.
29 inch wheels of course,
these are the DT Swiss
EX1501 in the 30 mil width.
Kirt's running the Maxis
Minion DHF front and rear,
so that's a bit of a classic setup,
you see that on a lot of
pro's bikes, running the DHF,
'cause obviously they do a DHR as well,
so really a specific tire,
lot of pro's run the front
tire on the front and back.
29 and a 2.5 wide in that 3C,
so three different types of
rubber compound on these tires.
And they're super hard.
Kurt runs about 36 to 38 psi in his tires,
just so they take those big tricks
anything like spinning tricks, 360's
you need a hard tire
so it doesn't pop off.
Tubeless setup as well.
So Full SRAM drivetrain, XO1,
you've got that 11-50
twelve speed cassette,
thirty four tooth chain on the front
with the XO1 cranks rather
than the carbon fiber ones.
Crank Brothers stamp
pedals in the large version
with some big pins in there
as well, so super grippy.
So Kurt, you've ridden a
lot of bikes in your time,
you've raced Downhill World
Cup for quite a long time.
And now you're on a 29er,
maybe a bike that I wouldn't
see you riding, to be fair.
- Yeah.
- What do you think of the big wheels,
for doing the tricks
and things you do now?
- Well it's funny, when I,
when the 29 first came out,
I was like, yeah this
is a little, you know.
At first I thought it
was a little overkill,
just 'cause there wasn't good
tires and things like that,
and you know, the, the
geometries weren't right.
And then, as they started to progress,
like, you know, I played
a little bit more on them
with companies I rode for,
and then when I got on the Niner,
I liked how, how short the rear ends were,
and the, the performance of the bike,
it was actually built
around a 29er wheel, so.
You know, the more I
rode it, it just fit me,
with my size and everything, my inseam,
I just seemed to, to feel
real comfortable on it.
Plus I like when you whip them,
you can just get, lay in to everything
and that's the best part about it,
when I'm 26 I'd get so rowdy on stuff
that you ended up crashing,
In this you can really
just give it your all,
you know, and it hooks up.
- And I think they work really
well, the 29 inch wheels,
for like, this, when you know,
it's a sort of trail, enduro bike,
it makes them super
capable for going fast.
But also, the type of riding you do,
some of the, the more trick style stuff,
you find that it works
really well as well?
- You know it does. People
ask me about doing bar spins
and stuff and if it's a little bit harder,
but with the 2.5 wheel and everything,
the weight is there and it actually,
it actually spins really quick,
I feel like I can spin a bar spin
easier on this than I
can on my little 26 bike,
just because I know
it's gonna be consistent
like with the lighter
wheel, where, you know,
a smaller wheel just seems like
you have to make sure
that, that spin gets there.
But, it's alright, you know,
if you just commit to it, it happens.
- Was it a surprise to
you when Niner said,
we're thinking about making a 27.5 bike?
- Yeah, well I figured they'd get
a lot on flak for it for
sure, like on the comments,
but, you know, I think
it's one of those things
that if, if you have the
market, and it's needed,
you might as well, you know,
even if your name is, kind
of, doesn't represent it,
it still represents
bicycles, and, you know,
I mean they're still gonna,
it's still gonna get the person
out on the bike and having fun,
so might as well fill that market.
- [Interviewer] So now that
they've released the 27.5 bike,
did you feel like you wanted
to jump down on to that,
and that become the one
bike that you rode the most?
- [Kurt] Yeah, you know I, I,
I rode that bike a little bit last year
when the Speed and Style,
so I did have some time on the 27.5,
but like I said I just might, the 29,
I just feel a lot more confident on it,
and I know all the points,
and I do like the 27.5 and
I probably use it more for
if I'm shooting photo's
or filming, stuff like that.
'Cause I can get a little bit, you know,
the 360's, things like that
are a little bit easier on it.
But for a bike that I'm
just gonna grab and go out
and just enjoy, this is, the
29er is gonna be my go to.
- What about going back, let's say,
think of your you know,
World Cup Downhill bike,
a 26 inch wheel bike.
Do you think you could
ride faster downhill on this bike now
than on those old downhill bikes?
- For sure, for sure, yeah.
I get on a 140, yeah, for sure,
I mean, even if it was
a 120 you could still,
the tires just don't hang up, you know,
you just don't get that lag in,
in those rough sections, and.
Yeah, I would, especially if
the track was already worn out
for a 26, then you got on a 29,
all the holes would be so much smaller
and you could just blaze through them, so,
You know, when I think
about that, I'm like,
man, if I had this, you
know I might've got second.
Probably, I would've got beaten anyways.
(laughing)
- Cool, cheers Kurt.
If you want to see these
bikes ridden in Patagonia
by myself and Blake, click
over there for that video.
- Yeah, and if you like this bike,
give it a like. Click it.
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