Niner Bikes announced it has hired multiple new staff to its engineering and product teams in Fort Collins, CO. The group will contribute to the product development for Niner, VAAST and other brands within the company’s United Wheels portfolio.
“Niner Bikes is a product-forward brand,” said Chris Sugai, president and founder. “With these new engineering staff and resources, we are thrilled to accelerate our development cycles and add projects to bolster our long-term product plans.”
Leading the group is Department Manager Matt Fevergeon, who joined the company in July 2021 after 14 years at Boeing as a lead structure designer working in control surface and mechanism development. Fevergeon brings a wealth of process control and design iteration discipline to the group.
Niner Bikes Lead R&D Test Lab Engineer Peter Field, who joined the company in 2018, will oversee the test lab. Field brings a decade of practical experience in the cycling industry plus a degree in mechanical engineering. He was heavily involved with shock tuning for the Niner Bikes MCR 9 RDO full suspension gravel bike and testing the company’s first ebikes.
Grady Barfoot is an industrial designer who worked for Otterbox, Liviri and Magpul. Barfoot was involved in designing and developing two prototype motorcycles—Project M85, an ultralight freeride motorcycle and the Magpul Ronin motorcycle in limited production.
David Rose has been tuning motorcycle suspension as an independent operator for over fifteen years. At Niner, his expertise will be applied to refining and customizing suspension fork and shock tunes, managing prototype fabrication and executing in-house product testing.
“It’s thrilling to see this group come together,” said Fevergeon. “We have so many exciting products on the horizon, and this team will be essential to bringing our concepts to fruition.”
