Reviews and info actually seem to be a bit thin on the ground for these, plenty on the old C456, but not much on the Evo.

I fancy getting one to try for a bit but curious if anyone has one and got anything to say about it good or bad…?

My original one was a hooligan pointing downwards, I’d be interested to know if the new one climbs any better as mine had an insatiable desire to lift the front end if you didn’t really get over it.

It was a solid bike though and I do miss the outright fun it produced with little effort.

I got one as my secondary bike.

As Scandal says its pretty damn good pointing it downhill, couple it with some nice forks and a wide bar with a real short stem and it’s brilliant. Climbing steep stuff though the front end does love to come up.

That could be remedied by putting on a travel adjust fork to help push the front down like I do on my full susser or just put a 120/130mm fork on it (I have the max 150mm on).

Got mine built up rigid with 29er carbon forks for the A to C height. It’s been many years since I’ve ridden a rigid MTB but I’m loving it. It’s light, very quick and feels solid as a rock.

I’ve got one and did a review on here a while back.

In summary, very good. Best with 140mm forks I find. Felt very stiff at first but change of tyres etc makes a big difference (to me anyway). A bit wandery above 140mm food (I ride the quantocks though so short steep climbs). I’ve never tried but sure it would take 650b wheels no problem.

It’s very light too. love it.

Thanks rob, your original post was one of the only ones I did find

I’ve got an original C456 with 140mm forks with a 2 degree slackset. my head angle measures at about 66 degrees, I assume this is pretty similar to the evo?. I love it, lightweight on climbs (never have the problems scandal42 writes about), lightweight for getting active with it and not running out of steam (pilot rather than a passenger), very confident on descents, either fast or on slow speed tech.

I thought I’d add my comments on the 456 carbon evo after 12 months.

I should preface this by saying I am an experienced rider but perhaps not the typical 456 market. 42 been riding 30 years. 5’11 on an 18″. Ride in the New Forest, mainly undulating XC, gravel and horse tracks etc.

I chose this frame because my previous bike was set up perfectly for XC but way becoming too low at the front with my age. I can only say how the bike feels compared to previous rides. It was a full titanium (frame and fork), titanium seat post and bars, X517 or 1.6 Trailblasters. Superlight, double butted Ti, fully rigid and a rocket. Built with XT just over 20 years ago. Looks like a 26 inch version of the new Alpkit bikes! 72/72 angles.

With age (years of operating) my back is worse and I wanted a higher front. I prefer 26’ers as 30 years of riding leaves me with an experience of what it’s going to do. I’ve also had a Marin Mount Vision 5.8 which left me comfortable, but struggling on hills for speed due to its weight and rear sus. bob and it’s weight was too burly to throw over gates quickly. A dalliance with a On one Fatty (great for the beach) left me missing XC speeds, too heavy uphill and too heavy to lift over gates. I also wanted a ‘normal’ external bottom bracket and the big head tube, downtube and chainstays looked like it should give me the performance I was looking for. I’m really an XC, head down, type of rider. It’s more about XC speed than techincal ability with my riding, but that’s just a reflection of our local terrain.

So..the 456 Evo carbon, is built with 3×10 (24,32,42) XT, 11-32 and I love the gearing. It has range, chainline and close ratio’s. Carbon bars adnd stem (Tuvativ Noir’s), Ti Spoon saddle, and Merlin Stans Olympic rims on Deore Hubs shod with Thunder Burts raceskins at 395g. (quite and fewer seals than XT so there’s less resiatance). Coming off of Hopes on my road bike, I’m very happy with Deore hubs, they spin real nice and are easy to serice and use normal ball bearings.

The fork is a carbon Lurcher. I just dont’ need front suspension, and prefer the directness and lack of weight for the New Forest.

So previous bike all titanium head to toe, this one all carbon.

The ride. It’s immediately apparent that it is an ‘all day bike’. The comfort over the previous titanium bike is very noticable and appreciated. Its a real smoother over trail chatter. It’s also quiet with the new clutch derailleurs. In no way is it harsh. It’s definately a smoother. The material, the layup, the design, likely all of these. My first time with a slacker head angle, it does seem more stable on the downs. The seat angle still lets it climb normally seated.

Speed wise, the smoothness initally mean’t I wasn’t feeling the judder and vibration from the titanium bike as much, which I think because there was less (fatigueing) feedback made me feel it might be slower, but looking at the gears I’m riding it’s definately a sprocket or two faster. On the Thunder burts I’m usually riding 42/13 dropping to 11 on the downhills just nicely.

The front end is higher which helps my back (perhaps similar to a 29er) in this regard, and it’s very light to throw over gates on routes. I’m still to take the latex tubes out and run it tubeless.

It fits in the car wheels on, it’s very light, accelerates well, nible and I find it exciting to ride, which is what it’s all about. I might get some sus. forks or take the Fox F-120’s off the Marine just to try, but I’m very happy with my On One Evo Carbon, in full carbon rigid mode indeed. Take home message is it’s a very light, fast and comfortable ride: it’s a very well engineered frame to manage all three.

Edward

Got one as a ‘winter/mud’ bike. Was a bit of a shock after my Ghost full suss bike but once I adapted riding style it’s good fun. Not built particularly light but great on singletrack and comfortable once saddle position etc was sorted. Back end is very stiff though although I have never had a problem with traction. All in, a solid fun bike to ride.

I run mine with a 120/150 mm dual position coil sektor on it, so you can lower the front end on climbs.