You had to figure that with Trail/AM 29er hard tails popping up like the Trek Stash and the Kona Honzo, Niner couldn’t be far behind with a burly steel hard tail of their own. Which is precisely what the new bike appears to be thanks to the teaser photos Niner posted on MTBR, which is where the voting will take place. Still technically in development, the unpainted prototype should be ready by June of this year. If your suggested name is chosen for the bike, Niner will reward you with the first production version of the frame in your size.

More details on the bike, and how to enter after the break.

In addition to the short stays and eccentric/single speed capability, it looks like the new bike will have decent tire clearance as well.

Following the trends of many mountain bikes, road disc bikes, and their own SIR9, the rear disc is placed inside the stays with steel post mounts. Also visible is the 142×12 rear end which will have a derailleur hanger or single speed insert.

Hinting towards the Trail segment nature of the bike, internally routed dropper posts will be an option. The point of the threads above where the cable enters the frame might be for a cover when an internal dropper post isn’t employed. Clearly it mentions a removable derailleur mount, which is presumably what the attachment in the upper right hand corner is, though it’s not one that we’re familiar with (pointed towards the rear tire). Maybe it is a mount, for the mount so when you’re not using the front derailleur you don’t have a big knob sticking off the side of the frame.

Niner promises the new bike will have “lots of great details” like custom forgings for the seat stay bridges and dropouts among other things.

To enter the contest, head on over to MTBR, and adhere to the following rules. The first round of the contest is over on March 10, at midnight with MTBR users voting on the 5 finalists – from which Niner employees will choose the winning name.

1. The name must be three letters long followed by a 9.
2. The three letters can be a word (the word doesn’t have to be English, but if it isn’t, please supply the language and the definition of the word in your entry)
3. The three letters can be an acronym (please submit the meaning of your acronym with your entry)
4. Submit your entry here on in this thread for everybody to see. Francis is helping us to moderate, so no fair deleting or editing.
5. You must have Email/PMs turned on. If we can’t contact you, you can’t claim your prize.
6. You must be 18 or older to win.
7. First round entries must be received by March 10, 2012
8. We will only allow three name ideas per person – you can list them all in one post or one per post.
9. Funny is great, but obviously, we are going to keep it clean. Suggestions that don’t fit this standard will be deleted at our discretion and not considered for voting.