It appears that i quite like my hardtail

Anonymous

so, after about a thousand threads and a million different decisions i ended up with an on one 456.

many folk will know that i dont really like hardtails so they were suprised to see me taking an interest in one, especially a steel one at that (wheres the hydro-forming!!)

the bike is built and has been for a blast around the woods near where i work so, 2 things:

1: the woods near where i work are amazing, there is some awesome single track to be had and enough for a good hours blast. consider i have just mved from essex and the nearest riding to me was flat and equated as more travelling time than riding time, this is an ace thing.

2: i really really enjoyed riding a hardtail for the first time ever. im sure its not the new bike thing, ive owned new bikes before. ive owned carbon ones, alu ones and steel ones before in an attempt to like ht bikes but none of them were as good as the on one.

it comes in at 29lbs, which i think is very good and really seems to suit the ride i took it on. i will do the same route on a fs bike in the next few days which im sure i will prefer but either way, i cant quite put my finger on why but i really enjoyed riding a hardtail and i can completely imagine that every so often i will take it out on purpose instead of my other bikes just for a blast as its pretty good.

so from now on the big d party line is:

fs is better. fact.
but ht is pretty good.

discuss.

supersonic

Glad you like it! Would have been the last frame I would have bought lol, but each to our own ;-)

The Northern Monkey

Glad you chose a decent frame in the end

jay12

nice to hear that tbh. owning a very crap FS bike i don't know how good it is over a hardtail. if i ever rode a good quality FS bike then i would know the answer which one is best.

the on one frames ( i heared) are very good and really good prices too. 29lbs is a good weight as well

chrisga

Glad you like it sheepsteeth. Have you got any pics/spec of your build, I'm really not sure what to expect. My new 456 frame should be arriving any day soon and I'm actually quite excited by it too. Back to the old school. Steel hard tail..... Yey.... How long did yours take to turn up from ordering?

Supersonic, why is it the last frame you would have bought? As someone who is supposed to be supportive of all things bargainous I thought it would have appealed. Or is it because it doesnt say GT on the front?

Anonymous

the spec is made up from spares i had in the box and a second hand fork. i need to replace the wheels and brakes on the oldest stumpy as i have knicked them to build this but even once ive done tht, it will cost less than 500 quid (but only cause of the spares box)

2nd hand revelation 351 solo air 130mm fork
old xt crank
old x9 mech and shifters
old xt brakes
old control tech stem
old spesh bars
old dt swiss hubs and alex rim wheels
old no name cartridge headset
random pile of mimatched spacers

new deore mech (really nice and dead easy to set up, i dont know if it has been redesigned or summat but it doesnt rub in any combo and was easy as pie to set up!)
new welgo v8 copy pedals
new cheapo seatpost.

29lbs.

the frame arrived in a couple of days, orderred on a saturday i think or maybe a friday and it was on my doorstep on tues afternoon.

stumpyjon

C'mon Sheep's, you're not getting away with that, pics or it didn't happen, particularly pics of you actually riding it, otherwise I'm not convinced

chrisga

Looks great. Only trouble I have now is that you are going to think I'm stalking you or something. My frame is also going to be built up with bits from an old stumpy I snapped. It will also have recons and crossrides....... Arghh.... Honest I'm not copying you! My build should be just the cost of the frame and one of the on-one headsets bought at the same time as the frame. Rest of it will be parts I have lying around the garage.
Will post up pics once its built! Glad you like it, gives me hope that I will do to. Coming from an enduro its going to be a bit of a shock I should think!

Whytepeak

Good to see your return to sanity

No, but I'm glad your enjoying yourself, get out in those woods an' explore!

Anonymous

jon, i'll see what i can do.

chrisga, you know what they say about great minds and all that!!

Splottboy

Got an "Old" Muddy Fox, sorted for commuting, but found it was great for easy Mtb and mixed road rides. So, bought a 2nd hand Norco Bigfoot - £100 inc seatpost, stem, headset.
Was a blast around Beddgelert Forest, Cilgwyn Quarry/Cilgwyn Mountain too.
Just got full cheap Deore G/set, waiting for injury to heal before going back out.

But, also got new FS too.

Decisions, decisions...

RealMan

What size frame? Looks like it might be too small, from the huge amount of seatpost you have sticking out.

2nd hand revelation 351 solo air 130mm fork

Looks more like a recon...?


Give it another month or so and you'll be selling your full sus bikes for hardtail money..



Real men ride hardtails...

supersonic

"Supersonic, why is it the last frame you would have bought? As someone who is supposed to be supportive of all things bargainous I thought it would have appealed. Or is it because it doesnt say GT on the front?"

Too heavy for my weight weenie ways ;-)

Northwind

Just think how much happier you'd be if you'd got a proper steel hardtail

Anonymous

realman, well spotted, it is a recon, you'll never convince me that ht is better than fs, not least cause ive actually owned good ones of each type.

Northwind, whats a proper steel frame? I can only assume a proper steel frame is made of hydro formed aluinium and has some suspension and pivots as thats the only thing better than the current thing?

Northwind

sheepsteeth wrote:

Northwind, whats a proper steel frame? I can only assume a proper steel frame is made of hydro formed aluinium and has some suspension and pivots as thats the only thing better than the current thing?

Something with a bit more Soul

Nah, just messing, 456s are great. Especially since they can take a longer fork.

RealMan

Northwind wrote:

Just think how much happier you'd be if you'd got a proper steel hardtail

Because Inbreds are just cheapo Taiwanese steel, rather then Reynolds 853?

sheepsteeth wrote:

realman, well spotted, it is a recon, you'll never convince me that ht is better than fs, not least cause ive actually owned good ones of each type.

I won't have to convince you, you will realise the truth soon enough

chrisga

RealMan wrote:

Northwind wrote:

Just think how much happier you'd be if you'd got a proper steel hardtail

Because Inbreds are just cheapo Taiwanese steel, rather then Reynolds 853?

Have you read this?

http://www.on-one-shop.co.uk/?page_id=660

RealMan

Not criticising them, Inbreds are still brilliant bikes, even if they aren't 853.

supersonic

4130 cromo is 4130 cromo. But 4130 frames and tubes vary ie butting, dimensions, heat treating, seamless or not, how is joined etc.

Reynolds 520 is basically 4130 steel.
Reynolds 525 is the same stuff, but USA made.
Reynolds 531 is a managnese molybdenum steel
631 steel alloy air hardens after welding
725 is heat treated 4130 cromo and has a higher tensile strength
753 is a heat treated manganese steel and is rare nowadays: can only be silver soldered and only sold to master frame builders
853 is a heat treated, air hardening steel alloy
953 is carpenter steel

Boring eh?!

GHill

Who'd have thought a Sheffield native would know a whole lot about steel?

chrisga

whoop whoop, mines here:



Quite like the finish. Working for a steel company i think its quite fitting for me.....

ride_whenever

the 456 is an awesome trail anvil... weighs about the same :P

The only thing i'd replace it with would be a lynskey ridgeline 26-LT.

But there are a few bikes i'd need in my stable before that happens...

supersonic

The Summer Season is made from nicked scaffolding ;-)

ride_whenever

that's why i have a 456 rather than a summer season... I like butted tubing.

Anonymous

mine comes in at 29lbs without any pricey kit on it, i reckon with a tubeless set up (using better tyres) and better finishing kit it could be down to about 27.5-28 lbs with out too much more expense.

i will be converting to tubeless (mainly cause ive got a spare stans kit) but apart from changing to a black post, the rest will stay as is.

Northwind

I do like that summer season... Still a few at 18 inches and £125 too, bargain.

Anonymous

exactly, for about 140 quid once you factor in thr postage, its worth a punt even if u dont like it as you can just throw it away! Or even sell it, ive seen them going for about a hundred quid second hand!

It sas always going to be difficult to convince me to ride a ht but this un refined cheapo pile of rubbish which is too small for me is bloomin ace.

Northwind

Yeah, exactly, I saw a 456 go for £130 a few weeks ago, covered in scrapes and scratches and only £10 less than the new price TBH I'm still half tempted to get one and throw it in the attic, since they're the last of the breed.

chrisga

Well mine is built, except I hadnt banked on it needing full length outers for the cables. Thats great news as im building it for mud plugging in the winter, but I dont have any spare outer. Arghh, otherwise its complete. Oh and do you know what size seat clamp it needs?

Anonymous

it needs a 29.8 but a 30mm will do. I currently have a 28.6mm one stretched on as i couldnt wait any longer and crc sent me the wrong size.

I orderred 3m of outer for my 16"which was plenty, my advice is order that much.