First commutes on my new pompetamine!

jedster

I will get round to posting some pics but a few thoughts on my first couple of rides.
Old bike - Planet X Uncle John (ally with carbon fork), 105 triple, cantis
New Bike - On-One Pompetamine Versa 11 (steel), alfine 11 hub gear, cable disc brakes

I've cycled 40 miles, no proper hills yet.

The bike is so SMOOTH. It's not just the transmission - which is silent, no clicks or rattles at all - but the ride too. I find I'm riding through rough patches that I would have avoided on the Uncle John. It could partly be the tyres (28mm Stelvios versus 28mm gators on my old bike) but they are similar enough that I wouldn't expect a big difference.

The handling seems very good too. The whole bike just seems solid through the bends, less twitchy. I wonder if this is partly an illusion due to less road buzz and noise but I think the angle of the fork may be a bit lazier which may play a role.

Thus far, I'm liking the alfine hub and the versa shifters. The gaps between the gears seem nice and tight. From the gear table I thought it might seem a bit gappy after a 10 speed triple but I'm not feeling the difference. The connection from pedal to wheel feels very positive and the simplicity (just changing up or down, no issues about which ring you are in or needing to trim) is very nice, it's like a halfway house to riding single speed. The shifters aseem nicely built and are very similar in shape to shimano. A downshift needs quite a long push on the lever but you get used to that quickly.

The disc brakes are a huge improvement on cantis (I know the gap over dual pivots would be smaller). You can do one finger braking like on a mountain bike. The main reasons for me wanting discs was ease of adjustment (just turn a little thumb wheel rather than booger about with allen keys getting filthy) and avoiding rim wear (particularly valuable when you have pricy hub gears and hub dynos meaning you can't just buy a cheap pair of wheels).

Downsides so far? Well it's not light, especially now its in full commuting gear (guards, rack, lights) but the difference isn't meaningful once you've stuck a panier on. I didn't buy it to race. The top tube is significantly shorter than the uncle John. I sort of knew this and almost went for a longer stem (one of the nice things about buying from on-one/planet-x is you can specify all that stuff). As it is, the reach feels fine on the hoods but a little cramped on the drops. I'll give it a bit then may fit a longer stem. The head tube is a fair bit shorter too so I need to get used to a flatter position too.

All in all I think the bike is good value for £1200. Probably that makes the Versa 8 a steal at £800 but I'm not regretting spending more.

davis

Good - glad you like it! Mine was posted 25 minutes ago..

notsoblue

I'm so tempted by this bike... thanks for posting the review. How heavy do you reckon it is? And what are the gear ratios like? Could you granny up a 10% with laden panniers?

pangolin

My 8 speed hub broke It's back with On-One at the moment.

How were your brakes when it came? Mine took loads of tinkering to get them to stop rubbing.

jedster

10% hill? I'll give one a shot with one panier in the next couple of days and let you know
weight - website says 11.8kg built which sounds right to me (not weighed it). obviously the rack and guards would be on top.
brakes - there was a slight rub at first but I just twiddled the thumb wheel until it disappeared. Actually, I backed off the front quite a bit, figured there was a risk of me grabbing too much brake until I got used to them.

BTW - one other thing with the frame. Given it comes with a hub dyno you would think that the fork would come drilled so that you can fit a light to the fork crown (optimal place for any light but particularly a fit and forget dyno light IMO). It doesn't. It does have a hole at the rear to fit a guard. I just reached for the cordless drill and drilled through the front. I think the steel crown should be plenty strong enough to live with that but I'll keep an eye on it for a bit.

Oh and another. I found the best place to fit the front mudguard stay on the disc brake side was one of the callipar fixing bolts. Seems to work OK

dilemna

Cool, these bikes are so tempting. What colour? A picortwo would be nice.

bobinski

Jedster,
Great review You are clearly enjoying your new bike. And i am beginning to enjoy mine. Gears, brakes etc are great. Got a dynamo light attached to the hub now too after my lbs drilled a hole in the fork crown to take the bracket. No more batteries needed! cool! Even got used to the additional weight over my sl pro. Actually its only really noticeable from a standing or slow moving start but even then not for long. Once up to speed i dont notice it.
The only BUT is that i just dont find it as smooth and comfy a ride as my sl pro. Every bump seems to send a jolt through the bike in a way which is plain exhausting especially at the front end. Did you spec non standard at the front by any chance ? I am running 25m Durano's, not the plus's and perhaps i have to change them for something else a little more supple to take the edge off the ride.
What rack did you use?

Pangolin
brakes needed a bit of adjustment then once run in were great. Slow you down very quick mind so having to learn to feather them in a different way to calipers.

Wrath Rob

Nice bike! I was toying with the idea but got an offer I couldn't refuse on something else so took a different path. Glad to hear you're enjoying it.

Jay dubbleU

Seriously tempted by one of these - I'm due to retire in Jan so I'm after a hobby bike either this or a Salsa Casseroll

jedster

Every bump seems to send a jolt through the bike in a way which is plain exhausting especially at the front end. Did you spec non standard at the front by any chance ? I am running 25m Durano's

Isn't that funny? I've not ridden an SL Pro but I didnt think they were known to be overly comfy so my Uncle John must be harsh. I'm pretty sure I've got 28mm Durano's (also not the pluses, I did go for a non-standard option I think). I think this kind of bike is really more suited to slightly wider tyres.

bobinski

jedster wrote:

Every bump seems to send a jolt through the bike in a way which is plain exhausting especially at the front end. Did you spec non standard at the front by any chance ? I am running 25m Durano's

Isn't that funny? I've not ridden an SL Pro but I didnt think they were known to be overly comfy so my Uncle John must be harsh. I'm pretty sure I've got 28mm Durano's (also not the pluses, I did go for a non-standard option I think). I think this kind of bike is really more suited to slightly wider tyres.

You could well be righ about the tyres. I use 25m Rubino pros on my sl pro. Lovely supple ride. Before that Specialised Armadillos which were a really hard ride. Might try the rubino's on the Pomp but then again I would want something with some really good puncture protection to avoid taking the rear wheel off

jedster

So, tried the 1in10 hill this morning. It's It's 800m long with a hairpin in the middle. Going up, you take the inside/steep part of the hairpin and it's much more than 10%.

I wasn't that heavily laden - one panier with about 12lbs I reckon but it was very comfortable. I stayed in the saddle in 1st on the hairpin. Shifted to 2nd for the rest. 1st gear is a bail out gear, it's a significant gap below 2nd. The standard set up is 45/18 and I think something lower would be better if you planned to tour in a hilly area. Top gear is quite high and I could probably happily live with something lower.

notsoblue

jedster wrote:

So, tried the 1in10 hill this morning. It's It's 800m long with a hairpin in the middle. Going up, you take the inside/steep part of the hairpin and it's much more than 10%.

I wasn't that heavily laden - one panier with about 12lbs I reckon but it was very comfortable. I stayed in the saddle in 1st on the hairpin. Shifted to 2nd for the rest. 1st gear is a bail out gear, it's a significant gap below 2nd. The standard set up is 45/18 and I think something lower would be better if you planned to tour in a hilly area. Top gear is quite high and I could probably happily live with something lower.

Nice one cheers I could well be pulling the trigger on this next month. The hub gears make it more attractive than the Croix de Fer.

essex-commuter

I think I will wait until the 14 speed Alfine is released.

woodford2barbican

essex-commuter wrote:

I think I will wait until the 14 speed Alfine is released.

I thought the next one was 17? something to do with the increments possible with a reverse orientated rotating architecture.

essex-commuter

woodford2barbican wrote:

essex-commuter wrote:

I think I will wait until the 14 speed Alfine is released.

I thought the next one was 17? something to do with the increments possible with a reverse orientated rotating architecture.

Sorry, typo. Meant 17.

itboffin

Wooh I think you lot took a wrong turning somewhere, clearly you want the "other" section, move along now and we'll say no more.

Mods mods surely this is in the wrong place? It's making me feel sick, plus I have a doctors note.

Gussio

bobinski wrote:

jedster wrote:

Every bump seems to send a jolt through the bike in a way which is plain exhausting especially at the front end. Did you spec non standard at the front by any chance ? I am running 25m Durano's

Isn't that funny? I've not ridden an SL Pro but I didnt think they were known to be overly comfy so my Uncle John must be harsh. I'm pretty sure I've got 28mm Durano's (also not the pluses, I did go for a non-standard option I think). I think this kind of bike is really more suited to slightly wider tyres.

You could well be righ about the tyres. I use 25m Rubino pros on my sl pro. Lovely supple ride. Before that Specialised Armadillos which were a really hard ride. Might try the rubino's on the Pomp but then again I would want something with some really good puncture protection to avoid taking the rear wheel off

28c Gatorskins on my Pompino and it is sooooo comfy. Had a puncture yesterdy for the first time in just over 2,000 miles. Shard of glass as long as your finger.

davis

Rode mine for the first time today, for about an estimated 40 miles.

Before I start, I've got to make a comment about On-One. It took just over a month to get the bike, despite the frame initially showing as "in stock". They were always polite on the phone, and so was I, but they didn't call back when they promised they would. I didn't really mind waiting for the bike -- it was a winter bike after all, but the lack of contact did annoy me. After offering me a different colour frame, and then finding out that they couldn't supply that, I got the frame I originally ordered in the Glow-in-the-dark white.

The good: It's comfortable, practical, and it looks classy (in my opinion).
It takes nearly all the buzz out of road surfaces, and gives a comfortable ride. The disc brakes are very good - I'd wondered about them being too "grabby", but they're very progressive with plenty of feel. There's still a bit of rub in the front disc which I haven't yet fettled away, but I'm really impressed and almost looking forward to a wet day.
Hub gears are just plain cool, though they're noticeably less efficient than derailleurs. Looking at the frame there's good tyre clearance, and I suspect the 35c Marathon Winters I've got will fit easily.
The bike is also very stable: hands-down the easiest bike I've tried to ride no-handed, and it's encouragingly stable downhill.
It's basically a cross bike. When riding past a bridleway I realised that the bike should be more than capable, so off I went. It coped really well, riding through rutted forest paths without a murmur.
The glow-in-the-dark is spookily cool!

The bad: It's not the fastest bike in the world, and takes a bit of effort to get rolling. The hub does seem to sap some power, and the rubbing front disc is something I have to fix.
The gear changes aren't as smooth as I think they should be. I built an 8-speed Alfine bike with the original Shimano shifter, and I think the Pompetamine isn't quite as smooth as that, with an occasional ghost change in the first 20 miles or so. I'll check the cable tension to make sure it's correct.
I'm also slightly surprised at the geometry: I got the large (even though I'm only 5'10, this was closest to my "ideal" top-tube), and, while it fits me fine, the bars are lower than I expected, even with the ~40mm of spacers.
When you're in the drops, it's almost impossible (for my hands) to use the change up lever.

Overall, I'm very happy. I get the feeling that I could become quite attached to this bike. I'm much less sold on the £400 extra for the Alfine-11 vs the 8, but there's no way this is going back!