On One was terribly upset that it didn’t make it into Chipps’ show roundup from yesterday, so today they gave Matt a run through the range and highlighted a couple of new bikes: a prototype fat bike and a new 29in version of the El Guapo…
On One Fat Bike
Available: June
Complete bikes from: £999.99
If ever there was a bike that divides opinion, delights owners and confuses the rest, it has to be the fat bike. Originally developed for snow racing in Alaska, Minnesota and other chilly places, the fat bike is now trying to muscle in to the ‘ride anywhere’ world and to give something else to aim for when you’ve finished buying a singlespeed, fixie, ‘cross bike, tourer and tandem.
On one reckons its Fat Bike is “…a mega-tyred unsuspended uber-fun bike for big-grin rock-bashing; riding sand; snow; and flattening small Welsh villages. Small Welsh village not included.”
Developed originally ‘just because’, the proto proved popular with test riders, so On One looked to make a complete bike. And then to make a complete bike for under a grand. The Fat Bike will come complete with monster 4in tyres, wide rims, wide a rigid fork and everything you need to adventure on sand or snow – or alternatively, to annoy, delight and puzzle onlookers. It’ll be out for midsummer…
El Guapo 29:
Available: Mid/Late February
Frame price: £899.99
Complete bikes from: £2199.99
We reviewed the 26in version of the El Guapo back in 2008 and said of it at the time: “Flat out downhill and in the tight and twisty it’s responsive and stable with superb tracking, the suspension coping well with square edged hits. Also impressively good at the slow, steep and nasty. I was happy to take El Guapo anywhere. And it felt lighter to ride than it did to pick up. The rear is laterally stiff for instant acceleration and climbing traction is good standing or seated.” and this is a newly designed 29in version. Featuring 120mm rear travel and capacity for a 140mm fork, that puts it into the realm of the long-travel, all-mountain 29ers. The nouse of new Titus owners Planet-X has helped bring this 29in frame in at half the price of that old one.
We’re not entirely sure about that sort of rasta ano-job, but Planet X has never been one for subtlety. Mind you, neither has the El Guapo. We’ll be interested to see how this one rides, given the rave reviews of the 26in version.
“Proving it had anything to do with the frame might be difficult,” or impossible even, those magnets self destruct when you hacksaw the stays open to look for them.
The On One chainsuck thing has gone around quite a few times now. My conclusion is that a certain era of on one frames were designed for as fat a rear tyre as possible – in fact the frames were advertised for it. This pushed the chainstay out so there was not much clearance between stay and chainrings. Now every bike suffers from chainsuck – its just on that era of on one frames it was more noticable because the consequence was the sucked chain ground away the chain stay. The worst ones were the 853’s I think were Brant made various suggestions from pushing out the chainline to wacking the stay with a hammer to dent it out of the way. My guess is thats why the finger thing for the ragleys was ntroduced…
That Guapo looks lovely credit to the Titus name – hope its been been properly tested out :o)