Niner Air 9 Scandium

At the same time that I had my 29er SS off the trails being given some love by it's creator I had my new geared ride show up. For a number of months I had been running a Karate Monkey 29er with many set up issues. I dont have any real complaint about the Karate Monkey other than for me I could not get it right, I feel that the XL size was to small for me and I struggled to ride it as ultimately it was not comfortable. The Karate Monkey also does many things ie geared and ss, disc and canti brakes but I had many issues with the set up that in the end turned me off the frame. I think for a commute frame around town it would tick many boxes.
Anyway after trying to buy a Niner off the interweb (very hard to do) I bit the bullet and approached DC @ Fitzroy Revolution to intially pick up a EMD. After a short discussion it was suggested that I look at the Scandium Air 9. Now as I am a bit of a big unit I am sceptical how long the Scandium will hold up to my torture tests, thank god for warranties! Why not buy steel I hear you say? Well due to constraints of my build with a fork that could only fit a certain headtube length which the Air 9 could handle. I did not want to buy a new fork when I had a Reba that was in perfect working order.
So impressions of the Air 9 have been fantastic. Handles tight trail well for a big wheeled bike with a big rider on it and climbs like a cat up a tree (as good as the motor allows). It is a stable and predictable platform when descending and goes where it is pointed. So after a few trails rides of local trails and a jaunt out at Smiths I am happy with it.

The final build of this bike is
10 speed XT groupset
DT 370 hubs with DT swiss 470 rims
Thompson collar and post
Specialized stem
Fizik arione seat
King Headset
Reba fork
Avid Juicy 5 brakes
Big cheese grips
Giant riser bar (its all I had, not my prefrance)
King Cages - stainless
weight 11.6kg

Big thanks to DC at Fitzroy for helping me out with the frame.
Happy trails!