Just over a year ago, Colorado bike maker Canfield updated their small-batch steel hardtail, and now its back in much lighter titanium with the limited edition Ti Nimble 9. Canfield will weld just 100 of their  ‘iconic hardcore hardtail’ in ti, so snap one up if you want to get rowdy on a bike that combines that classic titanium ride feel with technical trail capability. 

Plus, now it comes in a first-ever XXL size to fit even taller mountain bikers…

Limited edition Canfield Ti Nimble 9 29er trail hardtail (Photos/Canfield)

For 14 years, Lance Canfield says their Nimble 9 hardtail has been one of their most popular bikes – even with more than two decades of building full-suspension bikes. And it’s the bike model customers keep begging for in titanium. Who can argue with a ti trail bike that could last a lifetime.

So, Canfield went back to the drawing board and cooked up the limited edition Ti Nimble 9. It had to be special – just as burly and all-mountain capable as the standard chromoly N9, just prettier and fancier!

“I wanted to take a great bike and make it even better. I really wanted to create something special with the Nimble Ti. And after riding it, I can confidently say we’ve done just that… We know our riders and they ride hard.  Just because it’s a Ti hardtail doesn’t mean it’s a wimpy XC bike.”

– Lance Canfield What’s new?

Titanium is known for its light weight, durability, and more compliant ride compared to steel. This new Ti N9 does shave over 1.5lb of the chromoly N9. But Canfield wanted to ensure that this titanium hardtail was every bit as tough as the steel original, so it gets built from a burly oversized Ti-3AL-2.5V tubeset with extra reinforcements throughout. So you get a toptube gusset at the headtube, an extra brace at the seatstays, and a big machined chainstay yoke & brace tied into ISCG tabs around the bottom bracket.

Tech details

The Canfield Ti Nimble 9 carries over the key geometry of the steel N9, meaning a 66° head angle when built with a 150mm travel fork, and moderately long frame Reach figures. It does get incrementally longer stays and a degree slacker 76° seattube angle.

• 3/2.5 Ti hardtail MTB  frame, available in 5 sizes (S-XXL)
• raw, brushed finish sand-blasted & laser-etched graphics
• new simple downtube logo
• proper, classic Canfield skull headtube badge

• straight 44mm headtube for tapered forks
• designed around 150mm forks for all-mountain to enduro riding
• sliding dropouts for geared or singlespeed builds (417-433mm chainstays)
• includes IS160 brake dropout, derailleur hanger dropout & 12mm thru-axle
• ISCG05 tabs
• 73mm BSA threaded bottom bracket 
• 31.6mm seatpost with internal, long-travel dropper routing
• otherwise, fully external cable routing
• two bottle cage mounts, 1 above & 1 below the downtube
• Boost spacing
• 29” x 2.4-2.8” tire clearance
• max 38T chainring clearance for big gearing
• 5lb frame weight claim (~2270g)

Canfield 100 Ti Nimble 9 – Pricing, options & availability

Canfield will produce just 100 Ti Nimble 9 frames. And you can get one in either as a frame-only for $3200, with a choice of four different forks for $4100, or in one of four complete build kits starting at $5600 with a mechanical SRAM kit.

The limited edition 100 Ti Nimble 9 is available to pre-order now with a 50% deposit, and deliveries slated for the end of May. Plus, if you pre-pay in full now, you can save an extra 10% off your total build cost.

CanfieldBikes.com