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8 Posts
I love my Nimble 9 (Gen V), but something about the fit just wasn't working for me. I felt way confident on rowdy descents, but the mellower stuff was uncomfortable. I'm not certain, but I think the steep seat tube angle put too much weight on my hands, and I couldn't find a position that felt good on my knees. I just didn't feel good after longer rides.
I wanted to move all the parts from the Nimble 9 to another frame to see if a more relaxed geometry might help. I found the Hooky, a 120mm hardtail frame from OptOut Cycles. It looked like it checked all the right boxes for me: slacker seat tube angle (from 77° on the N9 to 73° on the Hooky), sliding dropouts for single speed-ability, fits 29x2.4" or 27.5x3.0" wheels, not a crazy amount of BB drop for 29" wheels (51mm), pretty affordable for an experiment ($400 shipped for frame only).
I emailed Steve from OptOut with some questions about frame details, and he was extremely quick and helpful with his responses. I decided to pull the trigger, and the frame was here in a few short days. I picked up a new headset and fork, but everything else came over from the N9.
![Bicycle Bicycles--Equipment and supplies Tire Wheel Bicycle wheel]()
The dropouts seem to be a bit misaligned on mine; it takes a bit of muscle and messing around to get the thru axle to align with the threads, at least compared to the N9. Whether it's in the frame or the sliders, I couldn't say. It doesn't seem to introduce any binding once everything's tightened down. One of the water bottle cage threads was painted over or something and took a solid 30 minutes to get it the bolt to thread, but it eventually worked and it seemed to tap itself.
Another thread mentioned limited clearance along the bottom of the chainstay when running single speed with a 30t chainring, and I can confirm there is very little. Chain slap was noticeable, even with a very tight chain. Kind of a bummer, as a quiet drivetrain is one of my favorite things about single speed.
![Bicycle Wheel Tire Bicycle tire Crankset]()
The black paint is very matte, and I quite like the color with the red highlights.
Brakes are routed externally, while shifter and dropper post are routed internally. I haven't quite figured out the external routing. There's a little threaded hole near the head tube that fits a clip for retaining the brake cable, but I'm not sure where it goes after that. The only other braze-ons are on the chain stay, and I'm not super fond of that routing. I've got the brake cable zip tied for now. I guess you could route the brake through the internal hole for the dropper, but I'm too lazy to bleed the brakes just for that.
This is my first time on a proper rigid fork. It's... an experience. My first ride was at night on one of the chunkiest trails around here (St. George, Paradise Rim). I had it set up as single speed. It was both terrifying and exhilarating. The bike climbed like nothing I've ever experienced. Between the rigid fork and lighter frame, the Hooky dropped about 4 lbs compared to the N9. I'm sure that made a difference, but I think that effect was negligible to climbing with no suspension. When I put power down, power was there! It didn't feel like the bike helped me magically climb faster. In fact, the opposite was probably true—it took much more effort to stay on line and absorb any trail chatter with my body. Rather, because there was zero suspension to absorb my effort, I could power up climbs I never would have been able to make when standing and mashing. It was one of the coolest feelings.
![Bicycle Tire Wheel Bicycle wheel Bicycle tire]()
Descending with the rigid fork is going to take some getting used to. You definitely need to be much more aware of your body position when landing and keep the hands and feet as neutral and balanced as possible, otherwise you're in for a rough surprise. My wrists and ankles are very sore, to say the least. Surprisingly, it felt just as capable on the slow, technical descents. The Hooky head angle is 2° steeper than the N9 (and it's probably even steeper because the Krampus fork is a bit short on the axle to crown measurement), but that didn't hold it back. Steep rollers and drops were no problem at all, and I was able to do everything I could do on the N9 without hesitation. The only places I felt held back were on fast, chunky descents and airtime with questionable transitions. I definitely had to slow down, and still felt like I took a beating. On a smoother trail (Bearclaw Poppy), I had the most fun I've had in years on that trail. I could pump every roll and get so much speed, it felt like a giant BMX bike—I was grinning ear to ear!
I wanted to get the Tandell carbon rigid fork as it would drop another pound, but I have a front mounted kids seat (Thule Yepp Nexxt Mini) that mounts with all the weight on the steerer tube, and I thought that wouldn't be the best idea with a carbon steerer. My son and I did a 20 mile ride on a paved path in town, and there was no wrist or knee pain at the end. It was a wonderful experience, and that confirmed this frame was the right choice. I'm hoping to get into longer endurance rides and maybe even some bikepacking, so sustained comfort is a big priority.
Overall, I'm very happy so far with the frame. $400 shipped is a steal for a decent alloy frame with sliding dropouts, and the geometry is exactly what I was looking for. The folks at OptOut were very helpful, and I'm glad to be supporting them. I'm having tons of fun with the rigid fork, though I will probably pick up some front squish when I sell the fork I had on the N9.
I wanted to move all the parts from the Nimble 9 to another frame to see if a more relaxed geometry might help. I found the Hooky, a 120mm hardtail frame from OptOut Cycles. It looked like it checked all the right boxes for me: slacker seat tube angle (from 77° on the N9 to 73° on the Hooky), sliding dropouts for single speed-ability, fits 29x2.4" or 27.5x3.0" wheels, not a crazy amount of BB drop for 29" wheels (51mm), pretty affordable for an experiment ($400 shipped for frame only).
I emailed Steve from OptOut with some questions about frame details, and he was extremely quick and helpful with his responses. I decided to pull the trigger, and the frame was here in a few short days. I picked up a new headset and fork, but everything else came over from the N9.
- Surly Krampus fork
- Canfield Special Blend 29" rims (30mm internal) on Spank Hex hubs, Dissector EXO 2.6" front, High Roller DD 2.5" rear
- Code RSC brakes, 180mm f/r rotors
- Eagle GX crankset, 170mm, 30t. 20t cog for single speed or Microshift Advent groupset
- BikeYoke Divine dropper, 185mm, 30.9mm diameter with shim to fit 31.6mm
- Spank Spoon 318 33mm stem, SQLab 30X handlebars, 16° sweep, cut to 740mm
The dropouts seem to be a bit misaligned on mine; it takes a bit of muscle and messing around to get the thru axle to align with the threads, at least compared to the N9. Whether it's in the frame or the sliders, I couldn't say. It doesn't seem to introduce any binding once everything's tightened down. One of the water bottle cage threads was painted over or something and took a solid 30 minutes to get it the bolt to thread, but it eventually worked and it seemed to tap itself.
Another thread mentioned limited clearance along the bottom of the chainstay when running single speed with a 30t chainring, and I can confirm there is very little. Chain slap was noticeable, even with a very tight chain. Kind of a bummer, as a quiet drivetrain is one of my favorite things about single speed.
The black paint is very matte, and I quite like the color with the red highlights.
Brakes are routed externally, while shifter and dropper post are routed internally. I haven't quite figured out the external routing. There's a little threaded hole near the head tube that fits a clip for retaining the brake cable, but I'm not sure where it goes after that. The only other braze-ons are on the chain stay, and I'm not super fond of that routing. I've got the brake cable zip tied for now. I guess you could route the brake through the internal hole for the dropper, but I'm too lazy to bleed the brakes just for that.
This is my first time on a proper rigid fork. It's... an experience. My first ride was at night on one of the chunkiest trails around here (St. George, Paradise Rim). I had it set up as single speed. It was both terrifying and exhilarating. The bike climbed like nothing I've ever experienced. Between the rigid fork and lighter frame, the Hooky dropped about 4 lbs compared to the N9. I'm sure that made a difference, but I think that effect was negligible to climbing with no suspension. When I put power down, power was there! It didn't feel like the bike helped me magically climb faster. In fact, the opposite was probably true—it took much more effort to stay on line and absorb any trail chatter with my body. Rather, because there was zero suspension to absorb my effort, I could power up climbs I never would have been able to make when standing and mashing. It was one of the coolest feelings.
Descending with the rigid fork is going to take some getting used to. You definitely need to be much more aware of your body position when landing and keep the hands and feet as neutral and balanced as possible, otherwise you're in for a rough surprise. My wrists and ankles are very sore, to say the least. Surprisingly, it felt just as capable on the slow, technical descents. The Hooky head angle is 2° steeper than the N9 (and it's probably even steeper because the Krampus fork is a bit short on the axle to crown measurement), but that didn't hold it back. Steep rollers and drops were no problem at all, and I was able to do everything I could do on the N9 without hesitation. The only places I felt held back were on fast, chunky descents and airtime with questionable transitions. I definitely had to slow down, and still felt like I took a beating. On a smoother trail (Bearclaw Poppy), I had the most fun I've had in years on that trail. I could pump every roll and get so much speed, it felt like a giant BMX bike—I was grinning ear to ear!
I wanted to get the Tandell carbon rigid fork as it would drop another pound, but I have a front mounted kids seat (Thule Yepp Nexxt Mini) that mounts with all the weight on the steerer tube, and I thought that wouldn't be the best idea with a carbon steerer. My son and I did a 20 mile ride on a paved path in town, and there was no wrist or knee pain at the end. It was a wonderful experience, and that confirmed this frame was the right choice. I'm hoping to get into longer endurance rides and maybe even some bikepacking, so sustained comfort is a big priority.
Overall, I'm very happy so far with the frame. $400 shipped is a steal for a decent alloy frame with sliding dropouts, and the geometry is exactly what I was looking for. The folks at OptOut were very helpful, and I'm glad to be supporting them. I'm having tons of fun with the rigid fork, though I will probably pick up some front squish when I sell the fork I had on the N9.
