I was in my LBS (City Bikes, Wells) and chatting about plans to build up a a compact HT fun bike. We were chatting about various inexpensive frame options (Kinesis, Dirty Jo etc) when I mentioned a small 456. Chap proceeded to give On-One a right slagging: "rubbish built frames", "rubbish welds and facing", "early DJ frames has rear tyre clearance issues"
I was mildly horrified as On-one is virtually worshipped on here!
They are what they are, cheap mass produced hi tensile steel frames. The sycophants can never see any bad in the 9 lengths of scaffold soldered together.
I believe that on ones get a good following on here because they are cheap, trendy and steel.
Steel fell out of favour with the big bike manufacturers and I truly believe that people have forgotten the wonder properties of steel. It has flex and at the same time incredibly strong. It is not as brittle as alu and has those sleek thin tube looks. Therefore it rides nice 
Of course there are much better steel frames out there but a little more expensive (especially if you go 853).
LBS in slagging off product they dont sell shocker.
"LBS in slagging off product they dont sell shocker"
Possibly. He has 3 steel bikes so he's not anti steel. But you might be right.
he has 3 steel bikes? perhaps there is more than a good chance at least one of them is made on the same production line as on-one's.
on-one's aren't hi-ten steel fwiw, they're cromo
Go on then who was it? Jason, Pete or Jim?
You get what you pay for and you get a lot for your money, some of the On-One full builds seem too cheap for them to be making anything out of it. I seem to remember reading in my MBUK reading days that On-One massively slashed the rrp when they discovered they had specced frames with restrictive clearance and the frames were hailed as a top buy. A couple friends still ride original gimps and love them.
Everyopne has their opinions.
They may not have the 'neatest' welds, but they're fit for purpose. Bike geeks are a funny bunch. 'Rubbish welds' usually mean they might not have a symmetrical pattern or look pretty - after all, how many typical bike nerds are metal fabricators? Don't know their arese from their elbow most of them, its just knowledge picked up from hearsay, LBS and the internet. In this day and age, LBS's don't really know much better than the rest of us (i.e. the buying public are better informed)
I've had a couple of on-ones. The fabrication has been fine as has alignment. They've modern geometry, arguably at the forefront of modern frame geometry thinking and not afraid the experiment. They've ridden pretty nicely to, but the paint is brittle and poor wearing.
Its a bike build to be competent, with sensible materials as cheap as possible (in relative terms) can't see a problem with that myself.
Its never going to be a curtis is it?
I was mildly horrified as On-one is virtually worshipped on here!
Not everyone on here worship On-one or single speed.
Cheap frames-can't go wrong get waht you pay for.
Who wants the same frame as everyone else?
They're ok but the On-one website is crap.
i had an inbred for years and couldnt fault it other than the paint oh and the fact for some reason my heels rubbed on the seat and chain stays and wore it down to the metal but thats down to me not the frame. I think lol. I now have a 456
They are what they are, cheap mass produced hi tensile steel frames. The sycophants can never see any bad in the 9 lengths of scaffold soldered together.
Who cares if they ride alright?
For every On-One sycophant on here there is somebody who can't bear the idea that 9 lengths of scaffold soldered together does 95% of the job of anything else on the market.
"early DJ frames has rear tyre clearance issues"
He'd be spot on with that. I remember the delight of driving back from the airport having picked up the airfreight shipment from the production run and not being able to get my Tioga Dh 2.3in the back.
Velociraptor 1.9's fitted (just!) so we sold them off for £100. 24's fitted perfectly (we found out later).
on-one's aren't hi-ten steel fwiw, they're cromo
Correct.
As to "rubbish welding" - have a look at the Summer Season frames - as nice as any TIG I've seen, naked and there for all to see.
Go on then who was it? Jason, Pete or Jim?
Not telling that would unfair! 
I'm really quite interested in a 16" 456 with my 130mm fork, for playtime. I also like the idea of these "naked", slacked out summer seasons (must the sunshine today)
They look pretty good to me whenever I've seen one in the flesh.
And the carbon forks I had were bloody superb.
And, by all accounts, they ride very well too.
Maybe its because the mark-up is going direct to On-One & not some bike-shop know-it-all...
Got two steel hard-tails ones an on-one and the other a dialed bikes.
OK the dialed is more expensive but I think its a nicer frame by a fair amount.
But the On-One is OK nothing hideous about it as a cheap, treat it dirty, smack it around and abuse it SS/rigid bike.
Never understood the hero worship of them though - not like its some hand made lovelliness. The Tinbread were nice - would understand it if on-one had gone down the niche ti route.
I have the pleasure of being an Inbred 456 owner as of January this year. I looked around at some of the dearer makes but to be honest cost was one thing that swung me to the inbred as I couldnt afford to invest in an 853 tubed frame. For me the low cost and ride quality and pleasure it has given me without that ' oh no I just dropped the bike is it scratched' feeling that I would with anything more expensive is great. After riding a Merlin Malt 1 hardtail the give that is in the 456 means I can ride all day on it whereas the stiffness of the alu meant that I felt it much sooner. As for the adaptability of it, if I had to only own one bike it would be my On One. As for the paint concerns I caught my cleat on the top tube during an unplanned dismount (a real pi55er) and thought that I was sure to see a big piece of paint removed-not so much as a scratch!
Lets face it there are a lot of bike snobs out there-we cannot all justify or indeed afford a top of the line Ti hardatil or full suss so those of us that are at the lower end of the market appreciate a good value product for what it is and how pound for pound it preforms.
I have a naked On-One Summer Season frame @ 16", superb, my favorite sunmmer play thing until I fell for one of these:
For a bit of extra special summer luvin!
I'll ride it this summer to the shops and back then, in October, it will probably get resprayed and pimped a little.
One ones - cheap simple and they just work.
I got my first Inbred this week - 2nd hand sliding dropout DN6 frame running 32/16. Doesn't look it's aligned very well at the back, ropey paint, 1.5lbs heavier than the frame that I swapped out for it...
... but boy is it fun! I can see what all the fuss is about.
So saying, if someone wants to sell me an Indy Fab for the same money, I'd take it!
I've had to face the disc mount on an on-one and it was not possible to do using the facing tool as the weld was in the way, this is probably the reason the customer was advised not to buy one by my colleague. In my opinion this is a valid reason as it is a very important thing to get right on any frame otherwise you are limited to what brakes you can fit correctly. There are three of us working at the shop who have all been riding and competing for years. I personally have been Mountain Biking (and Road Riding)for around 15 years and have done loads of stuff including, epic coast to coast rides, short coarse races both as an individual and as a team, 24hr racing, Enduro races, I have done the 100m south downs way in a day and had some great holidays in the Alps courtesy of RideTheAlps.com. I have worked for the shop for almost 3 years now and I pride myself on giving the correct advice as being a cycling fanatic I want to encourage others to get out and ride and enjoy theirselves and the best way for people to do this if they have the right bike and kit for the job! We also try and give back to the local community by doing weekly shop rides where I have spent time at the back with newbies giving riding tips and heaps of encouragement, talks to the local scouts and by doing free mechanicing at the Clic24 and being invoved in trying to open up new family cycling routes! It seems to be the in thing to knock you LBS on the forums but I don't see the likes of CRC and wiggle who seem to get a lot of mentions doing the same on the local trails! Not all LBS are the same! p.s. The Shop is called Bike City not City Bikes.
15 all.....
I cant fault the welding on my P7, very uniform/smooth, and it just won another head to head with the On-One
so because 1 frame got through quality control you dismiss all of their frames? seems a bit overkill
Only reason to knock On-One is snobbery.
For the money they are brilliant bikes, many times better than any frame of an equivalent price.
If they do 97% of the job, getting something 100% is going to cost several hundred pounds more.
They also possess the benefit of being designed specifically for UK conditions, unlike some of the generic frames that are badged up to look flash.
@ <blank> - So you've ridden an On-One then or are you just writing them off due to the disc mount facing for one frame?
uh oh, you've roused the on-one fan boys
Hmmm....
difficult exactly to see what CRC / Wiggle define as their local trails, given their customer base is so wide, but I wouldn't be surprised if their staff, if not as an organisation but as individuals are also involved in supporting cycling locally too. And - let's be blunt here - it's not pure altruism is it, it's a shop ride and one of the aspects that addresses is developing loyalty for the shop in the hope that the regular riders will use them for their bits, the newbies will become regular riders, the scouts will get enthusiastic and their dads will take them there for new bikes and so on.
To me the true 'altruists' are (jeez - will I say it) people like SFB @ the Bogtrotters, the guys at BOB who lead the weekly family rides, the people who organise and lead new folks around their local trails with nothing more to it than wanting to pass on an enjoyment of riding.
i'm not even a fan, they are just bikes, but advising some one against buying one because of one incident is a poor show.
i've cracked a Marin frame and i'm going to be buying another Marin very soon (hopefully). i've not gone about advising people to stear clear regardless of how many miles i've ridden.
uh oh, you've roused the on-one fan boys
The brand really is that relevant. To dismiss a brand based on the disc mounts of one frame seems absurd and that's what I wanted him to clarify: had he actually ridden an On-One?
I didn't like the funny paint Marin used to put on their bikes. I've never owned a Marin.
Sorry - are we comparing dubious logic in this thread? A weld was in the way so they are poop. Gotcha.
LOL @ blank-member he has just reminded me why I cant stand LBS they are staffed by know it alls with a superiority complex
Going by that logic I should shun all Shimano products because a hub I had squeeked...... surely the whole point of facing a frame is to get rid of the little imperfections?
"LOL @ blank-member he has just reminded me why I cant stand LBS they are staffed by know it alls with a superiority complex"
Just mouse over Member and it shows jasonlock
This topic has been closed to new replies.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
