switch from carbon to steel??

allthegearnoidea

Has anyone made a similar switch??
recently broke the carbon bike (alloy drop out colapsed due to me playing on a jump with it!! - too heavy rider doing things bike not designed to ooops!) and have been looking at the options frame only as cant afford a whole bike,
have been doing some nosing at the On One 456 which seems a Very popular frame and is Stonkiong good value too but! the things i used to love about the carbon frame seem to be almost the opposite of the steel one, - stiffness, chuckable, weight, directness feel, snappy etc.
has anyone gone from one to the other?? what would your thoughts be??
a lot of the peeps with them run 120-140mm forks too and asi only have 100's will it be a bit offish???

pat of the trouble i think is that a carbon frame as per my old one is attainable for just over £200 and the on ones at 135, (there's also a lapierre alloy HT frame at 150! ) so its not as if ones cost prohibitive as such??

anyone any experiences of doing the swap????

many thanks in advance!

ride_whenever

If you've got 100mm forks buy an inbred rather than a 456...

They're are lairy hooligans, very chuckable and stupidly fun. you can ride them for hours and still have a stupid grin on your face at the end of the day.

There must be someone in cornwall with one that you can try.

bomberesque

What carbon frame are you considering at 200 GBP? sounds impossibly cheap...

Anyway, I have one of each (alu, carbon and steel). The alu is 20 years old and of the "make it as stiff as possible" variety, the carbon was a damn sight more expensive than the steel one, which is a FR weight 853 bomber.

The carbon frame I have (Ibis Tranny) rides surprisingly like a mid-weight steel frame; good lateral stiffness (GREAT lateral stiffness actually), a planted feel (that I wasn't expecting) and more vertical compliance than I thought possible, all for <1500gr

You sacrifice the weight with steel over carbon for sure but ride quality is good on steel (ofc this depends how the frame is made, my steel frame is >2500gr...!)

That all said, many alu frames these days are made to allow for vertical compliance which brings with it some of that springy feel of steel while weighing in a lot lighter than a steel frame.

you should test ride a few to see what you're getting as ride characteristics can be quite subtle and very personal.

If I knew what you are replacing, I might be able to make a better guess.....

allthegearnoidea

okay thats fair enough!

the old frame



the carbon ebay frame
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Full-Carbon-Fiber ... 5636bcc132
is almost identicle to mine except for a more modern use of CF,
and as such is Very tempting as it has the same Geo. and all my gar cables etc are allready the right length haha!
builds up as a low 20's lb bike with the kit i have on the previous,
i know the steel is a couple of pound heavier but not too much to worry about,

the old frame took a serious amount of abuse befoe passing on! (alloy drop out ont hebrake side collapsed on landing a jump and as is all the carbon is still fine!) it had been used for some aggressive Xc since i'd had it but i have no idea what the previous owner had used it for or how long he'd had it! which is what is temptng me to another one!

bomberesque

looks like a good deal, especially if it really is an unbadged Ridley frame, as the ad implies, but I've no idea how you can be sure of what you're getting.

It (and your previous frame) are light weight XC frames though, expect any steel frame to weigh at least a half kilo more, On one 456s and inbreds are over 5lbs I think. This doesn't matter too much for building a bike in the high 20s (lbs) but if you're in the low 20s with your current build then it's a more significant difference. Up to you really, I doubt you'd break an inbred frame and surely jumping a lightweight carbon XC one will exceed its intended use

as R_W says though, with that fork (the SID) an inbred would be the Onone steel frame to choose rather than a 456, although for a lightweight build, I'd go for the Scandal or the carbon frame you linked. It seems daft to take light components like a SID fork and hang them off a 2kg+ frame. ofc there are myriad other choices aswell, but I wouldn't go for a sub 200GBP steel frame with that build unless you fancy trying the Hansome Dog Talisman, which I recall is selling for something daft like 60 quid and has a claimed weight under 4lbs.

allthegearnoidea

hmmmmn, mow thats a preverbial spanner in the works!
£60 at allterraincycles for the handsome dog!

colintrav

allthegearnoidea wrote:

Has anyone made a similar switch??
recently broke the carbon bike (alloy drop out colapsed due to me playing on a jump with it!! - too heavy rider doing things bike not designed to ooops!) and have been looking at the options frame only as cant afford a whole bike,
have been doing some nosing at the On One 456 which seems a Very popular frame and is Stonkiong good value too but! the things i used to love about the carbon frame seem to be almost the opposite of the steel one, - stiffness, chuckable, weight, directness feel, snappy etc.
has anyone gone from one to the other?? what would your thoughts be??
a lot of the peeps with them run 120-140mm forks too and asi only have 100's will it be a bit offish???

pat of the trouble i think is that a carbon frame as per my old one is attainable for just over £200 and the on ones at 135, (there's also a lapierre alloy HT frame at 150! ) so its not as if ones cost prohibitive as such??

anyone any experiences of doing the swap????

many thanks in advance!

That's the thing with Carbon frames they aren't rugged as some would like to believe they will break ,
Compared to Aluminium /steel frames that can take more abuse

supersonic

Some are very rugged, depends how they are made.

allthegearnoidea

very much liking the on one inbred at the mo, (in barry white glitter black and gold! 8) )
just not enough info onthe handsome dog at the mo, tempted with it but also know that with the onone, it'll seel no probs after without too bad a loss if its not to my cup a tea!
will have a natter with the guys down the lbs on thursday and see what they suggest!!

supersonic

If you only have 200 quid or so it is an option. I'd still go lighter with an alloy frame though.

The OnOne Inbred/456 are decent frames, but are still budget/mid priced, pretty basic and not that light.

JamesBrckmn

If i were you i would get an aluminium frame - stornger than cardon, lighter than steel

The Rookie

That carbon frame looks good, but its less than 100g lighter than my Carrera Kraken frame (1350 to 1435g) which would cost two parts of very little on fleabay! (typically about £20 for an average condirion one, £30 for a good)

Simon

supersonic

Some Krakens are nearer 5lbs depending on year. I didn't know any were that light!

allthegearnoidea

200 is my upper limit really! basically the carbon frame i linked to earlier is as much as i could get to,
i know what your saying super, just not 100% on anything at the mo lol! will have a natter with the guys about the lapierre Ht frame as to what its like too as thats not much more with delivery than the on one, (of which seems on one owenrs talk about their bikes with such passion its hard not to get suckered in!!)
am up at mothers over the weekend so can dorp into the bike shop there! (bike city - wells) see what they recommend!

my heart sais the carbon frame as per my original one but i know it'll take some Saving for! my head sais the handsome dog as its Dirt cheap lol! (just wish there was a lil bit more info on it! googling for an hour came up with very little useful info!)

thanks for the tips and pointers though!

supersonic

Email ATC for info on the Dog.

This is worth a look too:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... delID=2319

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=18458

allthegearnoidea

been watching them on ebay every now and then!!

supersonic

And I know we are going over budget here, but thought I had to poin them out:

A scandium alloy frame:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=14958

And a carbon frame for £450:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=23296

allthegearnoidea

hahah! i went through crc yesterday avo started form cheapest upwards! the scandium is nice! quite like that! just hope its still available by the time i've been at the scrimping lol!¬

allthegearnoidea

there is ofcourse this on the viper line up too!
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=23297

just under half a pound heavier,

supersonic

Possibly the pick of the bunch that one!

Dazzza

http://www.pricepoint.com/detail/19142- ... -Frame.htm

Thread about said frames, seem to be quite good sure they're the ebay frames you mentioned tim.

http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=492901

allthegearnoidea

thanks daz! yeah looks the same!
will have a nose through that after done the shopping!!
cheers matey much appreciated!

allthegearnoidea

i was suspecting that thread to be a slating them lol! not the opposite!
makes for interesting reading though! thanks matey!
doesnt make my fickle mind any easier ona descision though loL!

eddyesi

Used to have an XTCc with 100m forks and handled all the abuse i could give it for 18mth with no issues, but didnt like 120mm forks, and did feel a little too flexy working hard in techy singletrack so upgraded to a Pace 303

The Pace is great, suits me much better, and totallly bombproof for everything but i do, up to welsh blackruns and reasonable drop-offs/small jumps

If not this may be what your looking for, know its got me interested
http://www.singletrackworld.com/2009/11 ... n-in-2010/

allthegearnoidea

thanks for that, spotted it over on STW during the weekend,

have put a deposit dopwn on a Cotic Soul now so thats kinda descision made!
was too good a price to miss really! gotta love the reaction doghnuts gets in your lbs!!!