Guess who’s taken off his moleskin trousers, lost his stylus & rejoined On-One. – Page 4 – Bike Forum

qwerty · 2018-10-05T19:39:48Z

He's back: I don't imagine you google "brant on-one" very much. But if you do you'll see an odd picture of me. With hair. Wearing a wedding ring, and using a mobile phone with a stylus. It's an interesting shot, captured in bike tester Guy Kesteven's "bat cave" and featured in an article published when I was (or wasn't) leaving (or joining) on-one. Or something. It's a step back in time. To a time when I had hair, and a time when the future was going to be phones with styluses. Or styli? Whatever it was, I certainly didn't have style. It was also about that time that 27.5in wheels started to creep in to our radar. 29in was already around, and we had been somewhat at the forefront of that with our 29er Inbred. We even made some carbon forks with 47mm offset to "quicken up" the steering, which is what people kept telling me needed to be done. The thing was, at the point that some people were trying to get 29in bikes to handle like the fast twitchy 26in bikes of old, there was also a group of people who were trying to get 26in bikes to handle more calmly. All those long offset 29ers spent a couple of years in development, with different LONG offset forks and fast handling, whilst the other side of the coin were going longer travel and bigger tyres and just having fun. We probably trod both sides of the line with our slack Summer Season and fast handling Inbred, but there was definitely some confusion there. And all the time 27.5 (or is it 650B) was in there muddying things. I think it's same to safe that I dragged my feet and was very rude about 650B for a long time. The 45650b was a good model, but lots of people said we should have done something sooner, meaning I should have designed something sooner. And they're probably right. The thing is that still, when we launch a tyre sale the tyres that sell faster than anything else aren't 650B. Or 27.5in. Or 29in. 26in tyres sell more in our sales than anything else. And if you've got a 26in wheeled bike you know why. Not just the fact that it's harder to get parts and tyres, but because actually, it's just a tyre. When you're sliding around in damp mud, the bit of the tyre that's in contact with the ground doesn't really know what size wheel it's attached to. It's just a bit of rubber, rolling along, trying to do it's business. Sure there's a small radius difference, but actually? It's tyre tread and compound vs whatever is in the way. And actually, yeah, in a lot of situations there's not much difference at all. With good geometry (and we know about that), there's no issue with a 26in wheel with a good tyre. Different size wheels are just a bit different. It's not a major step change. It's not like a phone with a stylus. That's really different. And actually, that turned out to be stupid. Nearly as stupid as growing my hair long and thinking nobody could see the bald bit. Are we making a new bike with 26in wheels? We might. We'd love to, but actually the problem is that the wheels and forks we'd need to make that bike how we want it are increasingly difficult, or even impossible to get, unless we commit to HUGE quantities. There's certainly a strong movement for 26in to continue with many bike brands and suppliers continuing to support 26in as a "kids" size. So it's not dead yet. Clearly as a manufacturer we're meant to be giving you clear decisions and clarity about our future models, but at times, well, it's just nice to be honest and explain that yeah, it's a bit mad. I mean, rewind back up the page there a bit... See how in the early days 29er riders were wanting longer offset to quicken steering? The latest thing out there in bike geometry land is SHORT rake forks to slow down steering more. Which isn't a new thing at all because it's what Keith Bontrager was doing way way back when the Rock Shox Mag21 launched. So yeah -things come and go and move forward. Will 26in stay as a kids bike size? I'd not bet on that. 650B is now a road size, with Road Plus. 29in used to be 700c. And still is. We're here for you whatever, even though I've a design which I say takes 30in wheels, because that's what really big 29in ones measure up as. Oh, and tyres... Yeah. We've got them. Whatever happens. Thanks for reading. Hope you have a good one. Remember, drop me a line if you want to chat -- brant brant@on-one.co.uk He's been very creative in the past, I wonder what the mad professor will create next.........

kimbers

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Posted : 03/12/2018 3:19 pm

otsdr

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It seems to turnip wherever there is a missing product image.

Posted : 03/12/2018 3:33 pm

brant

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If people still bought SS’s or TD-1’s in any volume don’t you think On One would sell them?

🤔

Posted : 03/12/2018 7:52 pm

Trimix

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Posted : 03/12/2018 8:16 pm

fatmax

Posts: 1310

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I'm after a TD-1 type bike. Singular Pegasus is a possibility at the, but would consider a Brant designed alternative.

Posted : 04/12/2018 12:32 am

scotroutes

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Go custom?

Posted : 04/12/2018 12:47 am

epicyclo

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brant

If people still bought SS’s or TD-1’s in any volume don’t you think On One would sell them?

It was a niche you pretty well developed and owned in the UK. And for good reason, your bikes functioned as well as fancy USA brands, and when I travelled I got the impression you were gaining traction overseas as well.

I regarded niche marketing as On-One's strength.

An SS bike is also one than can run a hub gear and that's a niche that could be developed and sold to a much wider market. It struck me as a niche you could have developed and widened.

I reckon there was more development room left in your classics.

Take the Pompino - if the design was adjusted so a 650B wide tyre fitted it would rejuvenate the name, and you would have a decent low cost gravel bike that would appeal to lots of people. Existing Pompino owners would finally have a reason to buy another. I love mine even though I have much "fancier" bikes.

However, when it comes to bikes and their markets, I'll happily agree you know better than me. 🙂

Posted : 04/12/2018 9:21 am

thisisnotaspoon

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If people still bought SS’s or TD-1’s in any volume don’t you think On One would sell them?

Spin that arround, the market for on-one hardtails dried up (are you still selling carbon 456's) because the market moved on to better hardtails, not because hardtails themselves were unpopular.

Go back to more innovative designs (like a 456 with 29" wheels and 480mm reach) rather than buying yet another container of open mold carbon xc frames. If market research says people want an xc hardtail like a Scott scale then dont copy a scott scale because people will still want the scott. Ditto that titus, they seem to have been flogging them at sale prices longer than most bikes stay in other brands ranges, yet I've never actually seen anyone riding one. In fact you see more inbreds.

Build it (a container load of £200 hardtail frames) and they will come.

The last time on one pulled that trick (making something a bit different to what everyone else offered, and making it cheap) was the fatty and that seemed to sell well?

Posted : 04/12/2018 9:40 am

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[Closed] Guess who's taken off his moleskin trousers, lost his stylus & rejoined On-One.