I agree with you 100%
Personally, his short story "Cloak of Anarchy" is one of my favorite short stories of all time. (And somebody should have a text version on the web just to link the libertarians to, but I've never found an online version.) And Niven's silly essay, "Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex," is one of the funniest fake non-fiction essays I've ever read. However, after "The Mote In God's Eye" -- which had lots of help from Robert Heinlein reviewing the early draft -- I don't think I've liked any Niven (or Pournelle) has written.
Mark W.