Not ridden the ti version, but have demoed the 456 before I bought my Soul. The soul definately lives up to the hype!!

Plus just look at the number of people on here who say they regret selling their Cotic Souls!!

140mm fork will work on the soul but might not be the sweet spot for the frame. The 140mm will be perfect for the 456 though.

If you were feeling stretched on the 18″ 456 then maybe try one with a 50mm stem or opt for the soul as it’s a tad shorter. Of if you have an layback post then ditch it for an inline.

I haven’t ridden a 456 Ti Evo, but I own a Ragley Ti and, as far as I can tell – oddly no-one seems ever to have reviewed the Ti Evo – it’s not dissimilar but the 456 has a slightly lower BB height. I have ridden a Soul and it was a really sweet ride, but not as fundamentally aggressive as the Ti. I suspect the simple answer is that if you like your bikes slack you should go for the Ti Evo, if you want something a little more neutral, the Soul makes sense.

I actually went through the whole deciding between those two frames vicariously a few months back and ended up opting for the Cotic, because I reckoned the riding style of the potential owner wasn’t quite aggressive enough to work properly with the Ti Evo. I’d go ti over a standard steel 456 every time, I did the same switching from a Blue Pig to the Ragley Ti and the weight saving and ride feel was worth every penny of the price differential.

That’s my take on it. I’m slightly biased because I do really like ti frames, but if I were buying steel it’d be the Soul or maybe a Stanton. Nice dilemma btw.

There isn’t a ‘sweet spot’ for the frame, only for how you want it to feel. I vastly prefer the Soul at 140 to 120 or 100.

His is a small frame with a kinked top tube – please tell me the top tube is meant to be straight and he bought a damaged one…. 😈

Sorry, my mistake.

Having said that, WTF is going on with the angles there? Mine does look like a proper bike!

Haven’t ridden an Evo, but the old 456ti was a weird one… Lovely “feel”, well made, etc but still the old lumpen ok-at-everything 456 geo. So hopefully the Evo moves on a bit from that.

My Soul gets ridden more than my Ti best hard tail. It just plain works so well. Do the new 456Tis have better mud clearance than the Lynskey ones?

I’ve got a 456ti lynskey one and love it

Me too, and works brill at 140/150mm whereas one of my riding buddies runs a Soul and reckons that it’s right with a 120mm fork.

I’d really like to know which is the more compliant read end of the two,

I found that my 456 steel was more compliant at slower speeds whereas the 456Ti is more compliant at higher speeds. But this is the Lynskey version, so no idea if an Evo is still the same.

As a 456SS owner i sort of understand the ‘too hard back end’ thing but really only notice it when i’m seated on the way up. The rest of the time i’m standing and that firm arse feels great with just the right amount of give for me. I should say that mine’s a 20″ frame and i’m 200lbs so the rear stiffness may be lessened by the slightly longer tubes and my mass. I guess it’s all relative though as i cut my teeth riding much stiffer bikes.

At some point it’ll be replaced and i’ll be faced with a similar dilemma to the OP

Evo / evo 2
Rear seat stays are totally different than any other frame from 456 stable . Thinner tube and 30.9 post not to sure what else !

Email me number etc .

Never really noticed how flexy the front end was until riding the c456 – bought to fill in while the ti was getting a warranty repair. That’s a seriously stiff front end! After that I got a bit concerned about it. The Lynskey ti has a really tiny headtube (external 1 1/8″). Might be what makes it so comfy… realistically it is not bad, just the newer (read tapered) stuff is much more accurate when steering. The frame is sensational – I got rid of several suspension frames during the 5 years of the ti (Ibis, Santa Cruz etc), because the ti rode better than all of them. The Soul has proved to be more than equal to it, with a stiffer front end (and only a little bit heavier :-)). I’ve given up caring about the weight to a fair degree – okay it’s still around the 24lb mark with big tyres, which ain’t heavy, but it’s no weight weenie 🙂

Full bike or frame? What if the customer service department had none available? They probably work in a totally different location to the stock.

If someone asked me for a picture of the bits I sell I wouldn’t have access 24/7.

Have you asked Cotic the same question?

But not as important as lightness or compliance from your OP.

If you want to know what a bigger size look like, try searching. Or look up there ^

But that’s not On Ones fault that other people have posted pictures.

How can you possibly know what a frame size is on google images?

I googled 18″ On-One Ti Evo images and it gave me this complete with what I’m guessing are images of the bike in question:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/On-One-Ti-456-EVO-SRAM-X9-Titanium-Mountain-Bike-18-Medium-26-Wheels-/301032860530

Personally I suspect a 140mm fork will work better on the On-One, but as it’s a fair bit slacker, it’s going to ride rather differently. I’d be making a decision based on that rather than the availability of images. Not that the Soul isn’t a lovely frame mind.