My On One 456 Superstar Special

paulski1966

Got into mountain biking last year and bought myself a Voodoo Hoodoo which is a great bike but I had more then my fair share of issues with it (at last count, new rear wheel, new headset, new rear dérailleur, two new fork lockouts, complete new front brake and finally an entire new bike with the exception of wheels and seat!) which meant it spent a fair amount of time in being repaired.

I also discovered that XC riding isn't really my thing but I love riding trails (I don't see the fun in riding up hills except to get to the good bit coming down!) . As such I decided to build my own bike more suited to the riding that I wanted to do. That way I would know everything about the bike and be able to sort any issues, plus I could build it a bit more "burly".

As ever the bike had to be built to a budget, so decided to go for an On One 456 - available at a reasonable price second hand, tough and always gets great feedback.

So started off with this - a second hand 18" 456 in Pink.



Got this blasted and coated at a local firm for a very reasonable price. Colour I went for was RAL 2004 - Bright Orange.

Steadily built up the parts until build day



And all put together -





Final spec -

Frame: On One 456
Fork: RockShox Sektor RL 150mm
Headset: Superstar Nano
Brakes: Shimano XT
Shifter: Shimano Zee
Rear Mech: Shimano SLX Shadow+
Cassette: SLX
Crankset: Race Face Ride (Polished by me) with On One stainless 34T chainring
Chain Device: Superstar XCR
Seatpost: Superstar Simple
Handlebar: Superstar Descent 780-25 (cut down to 760mm)
Stem: Superstar Razor
Saddle: Madison Flux
Wheels: Pacenti TL28s on Superstar Switch hubs (20mm Front 10mm Rear)
Tyres: Schwalbe Hans Dampfs 2.35" (tubeless)
Pedals: Shimano PD M530

The bike was built to be simple and pretty tough, however I was stunned with how different it felt to the Hoodoo. It weighs in 1.5kg less then the Hoodoo, the lighter wheelset makes a huge difference, it accelerates a hell of a lot quicker, and the steel frame combined with the big volume Hans Dampfs and RS Sektor just sucks up the bumps.

Kowalski675

Looks good that. I've always said orange and blue work well together (I nearly went for candy blue wheels on my orange Triumph). Just to be pedantic though, RAL 2004 is actually Pure Orange I have RAL 2002 Vermillion orange on my shock absorber spring, that's a nice shade too.

bartimaeus

Parts on the ground I was thinking 'this could be hideous' - but in fact it is rather lovely.

mcnultycop

Nice, I like that a lot.

Jopo

Awesome mate! Did you buy the new frame decals or are they painted?

paulski1966

Kowalski675 wrote:

Just to be pedantic though, RAL 2004 is actually Pure Orange I have RAL 2002 Vermillion orange on my shock absorber spring, that's a nice shade too.

I stand corrected! Was actually stuck deciding between 2004 and 2002 - really nice colour too.

Bartimaeus wrote:

Parts on the ground I was thinking 'this could be hideous' - but in fact it is rather lovely.

I knew that the colours should work together (opposites on the colour wheel and all that) but even I was a bit nervous when I first laid it out, was considering blue wheels at one point too but glad I didn't, think that would have been too much.

*AJ*

Needs orange rims to match the frame!....

Looks lovely though!

paulski1966

Jopo wrote:

Awesome mate! Did you buy the new frame decals or are they painted?

New frame decals - paint seemed like far to much hassle.

James Q

Very nice!

Kowalski675

paulski1966 wrote:

Kowalski675 wrote:

Just to be pedantic though, RAL 2004 is actually Pure Orange I have RAL 2002 Vermillion orange on my shock absorber spring, that's a nice shade too.

I stand corrected! Was actually stuck deciding between 2004 and 2002 - really nice colour too.

I went for 2002 'cos it was the closest to the bike's candy orange bodywork. This is my 2002:

mountaincookie

that is one hell of a colour scheme!! I love it

ashleygreen

Wow ! Nice bike I am jealous the colours are brilliant. I agree with a couple of the comments, go for orange or blue rims.

blazingmonga

Beautiful bike! Great selection of kit too. Would probably build a similar hardtail to this if I was building from scratch.

I'm thinking of getting one of the On-One chainrings too. What is the finish like on them? Do you have any close ups of it?

paulski1966

Kowalski675 wrote:

I went for 2002 'cos it was the closest to the bike's candy orange bodywork. This is my 2002:

Christ that's nice - whoever powdercoated it did a damn good job too!

paulski1966

blazingmonga wrote:

Beautiful bike! Great selection of kit too. Would probably build a similar hardtail to this if I was building from scratch.

I'm thinking of getting one of the On-One chainrings too. What is the finish like on them? Do you have any close ups of it?

Cheers.

The chain rings a really nice - comparatively heavy combined to an ali chainring but pretty bomb proof. The only issue I had with it is that it wouldn't sit flush with the cranks - apparently this is pretty common. This is not really an issue with the ali ones as the material is easy to take back - being that these are stainless though it took a fair amount of dremel action to get it to fit - now it does though it looks great. Here are some pics of the issue, not sure I have any close up pics yet but will try and get some later.

JBA

I like that. Lots. 8)

*AJ*

How you finding the tyres for trail use?

I'm struggling to decide between the hans dampf and the maxxis minion!

Kowalski675

paulski1966 wrote:

Kowalski675 wrote:

I went for 2002 'cos it was the closest to the bike's candy orange bodywork. This is my 2002:

Christ that's nice - whoever powdercoated it did a damn good job too!

Cheers. The shock was a bespoke built to order item, spring and damping (separate rebound, low & high speed compression adjusters) tailored to my weight and type of riding (and specced 5mm longer than standard), so I specified the colour and the manufacturer (Wilbers) had the spring coated before assembly (which should've cost an extra 25 euros, but I got away without paying that, which was nice).

paulski1966

*AJ* wrote:

How you finding the tyres for trail use?

I'm struggling to decide between the hans dampf and the maxxis minion!

Not got a huge amount to compare them too - last bike ran ardents in the summer and mudX's in the winter. Not quite as fast rolling as the Ardents, but a lot more grip, and don't clog as bad in soft conditions. They are very big (I would guess the 2.35 Hans Dampf is the same size as the 2.5 minion which I know come up small) but the big size is great, especially on the hard tail as they suck up bumps. They were also an absolute doddle to set up as tubless on the TL28s (no compressor needed, went on easy, sealed easy, couldn't have been more simple) and from other people I have spoken too about them they behave pretty similar to the minion on the trail (I almost went with the minions too) - don't think you would be disappointed with either to be honest. In the end it came down to price - i was a cheap ass and went with the performance line Hans Dampfs - 40 euros from bikediscount.de for a pair - they still perform great though, and were a lot cheaper then I could find comparable minions for. Bike discount are doing a pair of Pacestar/Trailstar Hans Dampfs for 64 euros a pair too which is a bargain.