On-One Whippet Race. Ultimate build.

Forbsey

Well it has arrived the summer Carbon Whippet race bike. I was lucky enough to spend a day up at On-One's HQ in Rotherham earlier this week and sat down with Adrian, the most knowledgeable guy when it comes to all things bike related, and wrote down a Whippet ultimate build. It was a wish list of the best you can put on a bike.

We then headed down to the warehouse floor and picked it all off the shelves. The place was huge and you cannot even imagine the variety of bits they have in stock. So almost an hour later and dragging a huge box of shiny bling behind me we were done.

I cannot thank all the guys up at On-One and Planet-X enough. They have really got behind me this year and put together a fantastic bike. It comes in at 19.7lbs including pedals, and is so quick to ride.

I have uploaded loads of pictures so you can see for yourself all the little details but if you want a closer look or a quick spin in it and you catch me at a race please just ask. You have to ride this bike to believe how good it is. If anyone has any comments or top tips please post them.

njee20

I'm readying my scales in anticipation for tomorrow Scott! Looks good.

Monkeypump

Great build - I think these frames look fantastic.

However, if I was being pernickety, I might not put the phrases "PX headset" and "ultimate build" in the same sentence...

SDK2007

Nice - are you entering the British XC Race at Sherwood Pines Sunday?

cat_with_no_tail

Very nice. Not sure I'd be leaving them in the middle of the road like that though

Forbsey

Yes, I'll be up at Sherwood, NPS Rd 1 if anyone wants to have quick spin on the bike.

Scalpel_79

how do you find these wheels? Have you put them on a scale?And the last one: why FRM Scandium post?

Anonymous

Not my usual cup of tea, but that is lovely!
What's the thing on the seat tube, above the chainset though?

Forbsey

scaipel_79. The wheels come in at 600 front and 650 rear so they are about as light as you can get.

On-One provide me with all the bits for the bike and the FRM seatpost was the lightest we could find when we went around the stock room. Have ridden it and seems fine.

Forbsey

Voted 2nd Scariest.

The metal plate above the front mech is a cover for the second mounting point. This frame has two bolt on points for front mechs and as I use the lower one the top one sits exposed, or it used to anyway.

Anonymous

Ah, I see. I was wandering if it was for some top secret electronic shifting or something!

terryowen

how much would it cost if i wanted one.

Forbsey

Terryowen

I think you'll have to get in contact with the guys at On-One but as a starting point the frame retails for £399 and full bikes for £999.

http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/CBOOWHIPSLX ... hippet-slx

Cferg

What a cracking bike, must accelerate rapidly at that weight ! Is that it specced and fully ready for the season ahead or are there any adjustments still to be made ? I've been following you on twitter ( in the least possible stalkerish way ) and you must have some training programme to keep to abroad, do you know the places you are going to ride or are you just going for a ride ?

An absolute cracker of a bike, I'm jealous. Although I hope there aren't any plans to chop this beast up and throw it in a suitcase !

Deepunder

I was also wondering what the plate thingy was too. what's the idea with that, just avoid a wrap around mount, cleaner look?

Very good looking bike though, enjoyed.

getonyourbike

wow, that must be awesome to just walk round a massive warehouse full of expensive bits and pick anything that you want. great bike btw, a proper xc whippet, if you'll excuse the pun

Forbsey

I have just uploaded a video of this bike to YouTube. I have tried to explain all the bits on the bike. It is quite long, sorry, but shows all the little details.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhKWwB99ld0&feature=youtube_gdata_player

yoohoo999

That's really nice. Not normally my cup of tea, but I like that a lot.

Can I ask a serious question. When you build up an XC race bike like that, you obviously don't compromise in weight anywhere. I've just built up a DH race style bike, which although very strong, there were only some areas where weight could reasonably be saved.

So, does that mean that you sacrifice strength to a noticeable degree on a XC race bike, since you already know the type of terrain that it will be subjected to, and therefore there's not point building a bike that will be able to withstand anything more?

If that's true, do you think that the bikes therefore dictate the course to some extent?

I definitely think that DH course have become more brutal as bikes have become stronger and suspension more capable. It's hard to tell though, I was looking at photos from my first race at Ae back in about 1998 and the course still looks pretty mental, so maybe it was just as brutal but we rode it slower.

I'm just curious, since I went to watch the XC World Cup at Dalby last year and after walking the course, although there were some technical climbs, the course didn't look very hard on rider or bike (other than from the obvious strength/endurance perspective). I had thought that given all the progressions in bike technology the courses might have become more "harsh", but it doesn't look like they have.

I'm rambling, but as a XC racer, your views would be much appreciated

nickel

That really is a stunning bike, I'd love to build up a really racy xc bike when I leave uni.

A bit of a random query, but as an xc racer what width bars are you running?

Cheers

Forbsey

The bars on this bike are 58cm wide but some them wider. I like quite a tight cockpit hence the bar width.

nickel

Forbsey wrote:

The bars on this bike are 58cm wide but some them wider. I like quite a tight cockpit hence the bar width.

Cheers, I quite like a tight cockpit too as well as I've got narrow shoulders and it just seems more comfortable, running 600mm bars atm.

Choccy

Not sure if mine will be under 20lb but I'm sure it'll be close. Went crazy today and ordered stuff that I wasn't going to, but gave in.

Are those the WC Edition forks, look scary light at 1250g. I had Pace forks before but hated the amount of flex and poor seals. I'll let you know how the SID RLT's are once I've set the bike up.

Scott what seatpost clamp did you go for.

Will start a post at the beginning of next week once stuff arrives.

Choccy...

Forbsey

Yes they are the WC edition forks and yes scary light. I had the bushes replaced with stiffer ones to reduce the flex. They are very stiff but with the 28mm diameter legs you can feel a small amount of flex. The new bushes reduce that almost totally.

I went for an On-One seat clamp and it works fine. Don't go too light on the clamp as you may not be able to tighten it enough.

Post some photos when your bike is done.

Mr Dog

Wow... hot hot hot. Asolutely MAGNIFICENT. 8) . Would even give a roadie a boner.