I’ve registered to race a few 100-200 mile gravel races in 2023 in the singlespeed category. I’ve done most of these races on my normal gravel race bike but I grew tired of tearing up my bikes on muddy courses, and I commute on a singlespeed track bike and thought it’d be a fun, new challenge to do these races with a singlespeed.
Jenson discounted the RLT 9, and most of the materials touted the simplicity of a singlespeed conversion (e.g., the Niner website writes “Combined with a PF30 bottom bracket shell, it’s easy to fit a geared or singlespeed drivetrain”). I need a geared drivetrain for a different project and thought I’d snag the Niner, convert it to singlespeed, and use the groupset for a different bike.
So, when I ordered the bike, I assumed it came with an eccentric bottom bracket. In defense of Jenson/Niner, the specs list the BB as “Prestine PF30 Thread Together.” So I think I just assumed wrong. Pictures of the BB are here: https://imgur.com/a/FSYObyE
Am I correct that this is just an ordinary bottom bracket and nothing about this bike is especially well-suited to singlespeed conversion? Apologies for the stupid question, I do most of my own maintenance but steer clear of the bottom bracket. If so, should I buy an eccentric BB if this is going to be a gravel endurance bike, or would you recommend something else?
by MidwestGravelGrowler
1 Comment
Niners are great for singlespeeds if you buy the eccentric bb. It’s a straight forward conversion. I’m sure the thread together bb was included because most riders run them geared.