Rover 9

I'm going to write an honest review of the R9 since no one else wants to.
I purchased it last year and have ridden it 600+ miles. This is my main Gravel Cruiser bike. It came out of the box with the brake lines crushed in too far and leaking. Even though I re-did them due to raising the handle bars, that was disappointing for bike with an original $1K price point. The grips, seat, and pedals are garbage. The pedals wouldn't even spin a full rotation, pathetic for a bike in this price point. The tires that came with the bike were not Kendas as pictured, they were cheap Thailand tires that performed poorly. I replaced with Donnelly EMPs. This was my first experience with a Microshift drivetrain, and that is also terrible. The shifting is weird compared to the Shimano trigger and thumb set up. For some reason the rear derailleur would not stay in adjustment. Every 50-75 miles it started ghost shifting. I fully adjusted the rear derailleur so many times I thought I was going insane. I ended up ripping off the Microshift junk and replacing with a Shimano trigger shifter and Altus 9 speed rear derailleur. That made it shift beautifully.
The stock gearing is terrible and doesn't give you the full range of gears to use. The bike was slow and difficult to ride even on flat trails. I swapped in a 38T sprocket and that woke the bike up and made it ridable. It would have been nice if the front fork had mounting brackets. The bottom bracket is starting to develop a slight creak with under 1k miles. I even had to replace the kickstand, as it is so cheap it started bouncing and making noise as I rode. Mind you this bike has never been on anything other than pavement or a manicured crushed limestone trial.

The good: Once the brakes are sorted out the hydraulic disc brakes perform fantastic. The frame is attractive and well made. The stand over height is on the low side for a large frame bike.

Recommendation/Summary: Only to people comfortable working on bikes and planning on swapping everything out. If you like the way this bike looks (it is a great looking bike) and don't have the tools or knowledge to work on it, ship it straight to your LBS to have a tech sort everything out. If you plan on riding on crushed limestone trails, replace the tires as they cannot handle it. You should also at a minimum replace the pedals, seat, and grips.
I'm planning on keeping this bike for a long time, but this is a one and done for me with Linus.

Absolutely love this thing..added some touch points & a front rack / bag….( platform pedals..leather grips & a B17)..dig it…plus got it before tariffs kicked in..400.00…FDT

As a bicycle enthusiast, I admire the unique design and form of the Rover 9 frame. After seeing it in person, I had to have one and make it mine! It’s a work in progress but it is my go to bike for most things at this time. Thank you Linus for a great foundation!

Rover 9

Rover 9