September 10th, 2009 by 
Photo-John
Canfield isn’t the first name you think of when it comes to 29ers or cross country bikes. Bikes for chucking off red cliffs, maybe - but 29ers? They’ve been talking about it for a while and those who had heard the rumors have been waiting. But this will be a surprise to most mountain bikers. Well, the bike was in my studio today and I’ve got proof. Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce the Canfield Brothers Nimble 9 29er.
I’ve been doing some product photography for Canfield Brothers and knew this was coming. Lance and Chris just returned from the Eurobike tradeshow and called me as soon as they were back. The new 29er was in the house and they needed photos. They showed up this morning with a fully built bike and some frames and we got to work in the studio. I’m not going to go into too much detail about the new bike here as I didn’t ride it and 29ers aren’t really my thing. But the Nimble 9 is different – namely, in that it has a 16.25-inch chainstay – unheard of for a 29er. That will make the Nimble 9 handle more like a 26-inch mountain bike when it comes to more technical riding. In particular, it should be a lot easier to pull up on the bars to get over obstacles, drops and jumps. Here are a few details about the new bike:
Canfield Brothers Nimble 9 29er Mountain Bike Key Specs:
- 16.25-inch chainstay with 16mm of adjustment in dropout
- Chromoly frame
- Radial seatstays for built-in flex
- Shimano Direct Mount front derailleur
- Fat rear tire clearance
Lance and Chris are really excited about the Nimble 9 29er and anxious to show it off at Interbike in a couple of weeks. They believe they’re bringing something really different to the 29er world. With Canfield Brothers freeride and downhill experience the Nimble 9 promises to be an interesting new option for 29er riders.
Photos were shot in the new studio at the brand new Photo-John World Headquarters (PJHQ). To learn more about digital cameras and taking better mountain bike photos, please visit Mtbr’s photography and camera sister site, PhotographyREVIEW.com.
September 10th, 2009 at 7:55 pm
WoW! Not what I expected. Maybe I’ll ride this when I go to your house on Sunday. Steel and curved stays? That’s really cool!
fc
September 11th, 2009 at 8:58 am
that is a very sweet looking 9er.
lance has a long history with 9ers so it isn’t a surprise to see them bust one out of their own.
September 11th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
I like the frame. But not liking the graphics. The normal Canfield logo treatment is cool. But these look like bumper stickers on a frame. An eyesore to an otherwise nice looking bike IMHO. I hope they reconsider this when they go on sale.
September 11th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
cool frame and not the same old design…
MSRP???
September 12th, 2009 at 4:12 am
Do you have a shot of the tire clearance?
September 12th, 2009 at 8:55 am
Charlie-
That’s what that bottom photo is. Between the full bike and the bottom detail image I think you should be able to get a pretty good idea of the clearance. The Canfields are downhill guys so they wanted this bike to have really good tire clearance.
September 12th, 2009 at 8:46 pm
from the looks of the front derailleur, its not going to clear a big tire without a lot of crank arm shimming.
i like the idea of a short chainstay and big tire clearance. sliders make it SS-able
September 14th, 2009 at 7:20 am
I put a 2.4 Schwalbe (largest tire available) on it first and it has good tire clearance with a 3 ring at 16.5″ chainstay. It will fit at 16.25″ chainstay as a single speed with that big of tire. The pictures shown are with a 2.25″ tire at 16.25″ with one spacer behind the drive side which is normal or centered spacing.