Hacker News Reader

Comment by CobaltFire | Hacker News Reader

I ride a Niner RLT Steel (bought as a frame) for that exact reason.

It was a tossup between that or a Lynsey, and I snagged a close out color of the Niner for 1/3 of the quoted price of the Lynsky at the time, and that included a carbon fork.

I’m actually overhauling it now with an entire group set after riding the last one since 2016.

Interesting fact that relates: the first couple years of the RLT Steel shipped with a fork that is 15x100 thru axle; nowadays the gravel/cyclocross market has settled on 12x100.

So I ended up getting a set of New Old Stock (NOS) 29” wheels from that same era that are 15x100/12x142 and 22.5mm wide. Perfect for my bike, but vanishingly hard to find now as a set due to the oddball matchup.

View on HN

Yeah, that frame costs more than my entire bike did. There were steel-framed options at the time, but the cheapest ones were pushing $2k.

I was going to say I paid around half of what they list for, but it looks like they are closing out last years color right now. Inflation adjusted I paid about what they are asking today ($1,300).

Pretty pricey, but I also got a bike fit and some other stuff and wanted a frame to just be done with it and ride. It’s served me well, and has many years of life left!

Random side note: I just realized this is the second time in two days I’ve responded to you (other was regarding a 7 seat vehicle). HN can be quite a small place!

If you're using it in place of a car $1,300 is cheap. Plus you're much more friendly to the environment and your own health.

I commuted on it for a few years, and now that I’m retired it’s getting plenty of recreational use.

> If you're using it in place of a car $1,300 is cheap. Plus you're much more friendly to the environment and your own health.

Except it was being compared to a $700 bike (not frame, assembled bike), by the person with whom I share financial decisions.

If you buy wheels with DT Swiss or Hope wheels you can usually swap the end caps to fit different standards.

I am using almost exclusively DT Swiss 350 hubs and some of my wheels have been in use with quick axle, 15x100 and 12x100 frames. I even converted some 12x142 wheels to 12x148 (boost) mountain bike standard with the Boostinator kit from Wolftooth components.

DT Swiss is what I ended up buying, though they were already the setup I needed.

Same for Industry Nine and a couple of others. But you really have to re-dish the wheel if you're going from 142 to superboost or 157.

True. I am used to wheel building so it was no big deal to me.

Keep an eye on that fork and treat it with kid gloves.

I'll ride any bike (even experimental ones) but no carbon forks for me.

My Ritchey carbon fork is nearly 20 years old, still going strong! And this is on my former racing bike.

Fork has been hammered to hell and back over the last 7 years, though no major crashes. Not an issue so far, nor are there any reported issues (Niner RDO carbon fork) with anyone else using it.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com