Niner Bikes pairs with IMBA for limited edition charity bikes

By James Huang in Monterey, California

Niner Bikes founders Chris Sugai and Steve Domahidy have teamed up with IMBA to create a limited edition bicycle in order to raise money for the premier mountain bike advocacy organization. "We're now to the point where we are financially ready to give back to the industry," said Sugai. "IMBA was our first choice."

The IMBA-edition Niner M.C.R. 9 frameset will use the same custom Reynolds 853 tubeset as the standard version but will covered in a trail map-inspired powdercoated finish by Spectrum Powderworks. The first frameset was awarded to Vermont resident Chris Weber, who won the preceding design contest, but remaining copies will command a retail cost of US$1149. All proceeds from the sales will be donated to IMBA.

Standard M.C.R. 9 frames normally fetch US$749 and the matching rigid fork another US$179. As such, the IMBA-edition version represents a surprisingly modest premium for such as small production batch so we anticipate that they will likely go quickly.

Ultimately, Sugai and Domahidy hope to make this sort of fundraising activity an annual event with a different beneficiary each year.