'A gut punch' – Pioneering US bike brand's future endangered, according to reports

The Niner ORE 9 RDO Gravel — (Image credit: Niner)

Colorado-based bike brand Niner – which produces 29-inch wheeled mountain bikes and, more recently, gravel bikes – has been making lay-offs and could be going out of business, according to reports.

The story was broken on social media by veteran cycling journalist James Huang, who has worked across several titles including BikeRadar, CyclingTips and Escape Collective, and now runs the Substack cycling publication N-1 Bikes.

"Breaking news: Niner Bike is no more", reads Huang's post, which then uses quote marks to add "Winding down operations today," before stating "all employees have been laid off… such a gut punch."

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However, Chris Wolff, the company's e-bike manager, told Escape Collective: "The brand isn’t shutting down or going away, just taking some time to adjust to the very challenging environment."

Niner is a well-loved but niche brand, founded in 2004–05 in California by Chris Sugai and Steve Domahidym (who later left to form Viral Bikes) with help from a bunch of bike enthusiasts and a cash injection of $750,000 raised by family and friends. Having launched with a singlespeed steed, it rolled with the growing popularity of 29er mountain bikes, which became the bike of choice for many cross-country riders before the evolution of the 650b 27.5” wheel.

The brand has had brushes with administration in the past, and in 2017 it filed for bankruptcy before being acquired by a collective of Colorado investors, as reported by Bicycler Retailer. A year later the brand was purchased and effectively saved by UWHK Limited (United Wheels HK Ltd, formerly Emersion International, a Hong Kong–based investment firm that owns Huffy Corp), with Sugai remaining at the helm.

Having recently clipped in as News & Features Writer for Cycling Weekly, Pat has spent decades in the saddle of road, gravel and mountain bikes pursuing interesting stories. En route he has ridden across Australia's Great Dividing Range, pedalled the Pirinexus route around the Catalan Pyrenees, raced through the Norwegian mountains with 17,000 other competitors during the Birkebeinerrittet, fatbiked along the coast of Wales, explored the trails of the Canadian Yukon under the midnight sun and spent umpteen happy hours bikepacking and cycle-touring the lost lanes and hidden bridleways of the Peak District, Exmoor, Dartmoor, North Yorkshire and Scotland. He worked for Lonely Planet for 15 years as a writer and editor, contributed to Epic Rides of the World and has authored several books.