Hora a go on one so he stops asking the same question over and over?

I was about to buy one but then they went out of stock and the yellow 400quid one is erm ‘is it too much with that paint’? 😐

New Orange with contour graphics.

I was about to buy one

you nearly bought mine ages ago.

New Orange with contour graphics.

Like the graphics but for me (ok its subjective) I’d have a burnt orange or gold one. It’d suit the shape better….

Why don’t Gold-coloured frames make a come back?? This hue would be awesome..

hora – Member

So folks- is the rear harsh, too harsh or have a little give (i.e. more than alu frame)???

Can’t remember what you’ve had to compare… It feels more like a Soul than a Chameleon, if that makes any sense. Not too soft, not too hard. Not as springy. Carrying on the On One tradition of making non-steel frames that ride more like people expect steel frames to ride than the steel frames do.

Don’t worry about where the compliance comes from, it doesn’t matter in the slightest unless you’re designing a frame 😉

Oh- and if you come across the mad Bikeradar review, ignore it. “Simultaneously both so stiff that you can’t ride over a pebble without stopping for a rest, and so noodly that when you pedal it doesn’t move 1!!oNE!”

The yellow one is lovely in the flesh, absolutely lovely. Makes an asset of those huge tubes. Not for the shy, though. You don’t seem shy.

heres mine

it is my only mtb so by default a do it all

Was going well up Rivi on Saturday Mat! (Fat bloke eating bacon sarnie just out of shot)

SiB

MRPHIL……I bet there weren’t too many folk around in the dark telling you you should be on the bridleway when you took that photo!!? I often go for cheeky rides round the Dungeons in the dark then up to Thurstaston Hill, so much nicer when its quieter!

lol, only saw 2 other cyclists that night. Both had no lights on, and ironically it was between Caldy and Thurstaston. They were on the walk/cycle path and I was on the Bridle way lol.

I like the ride from West Kirby to Neston, a nice 7.2 mile, much better in the dark.

Off out tonight on the 456c with a cycle club called Palefish, meeting in Greasby @ 7.30pm

Jeesus after my SX if I did ride a c456 I’d be a missile up a hill, especially if they opened a pie shop at the top or bottom.

New Orange with contour graphics.

Weren’t you tempted to do a red-and-white “Starsky and Hutch” one?

I now have only one MTB and it’s a c456.

Best fun I’ve had on a bike and I’ve owned a fair few – mainly full sussers too.

Heavy build but where I life the downhills are pretty scary.

Love it. It’s a keeper.

Wotan 120-160s, SLX, big brakes, big sticky tyres.

Was going well up Rivi on Saturday Mat! (Fat bloke eating bacon sarnie just out of shot)

jeez… you never said you had bacon sarnies Tony! 😀

It’s Glenn – tony wont be happy 🙂

I bought one of the yellow ones thinking it was end of line and didn’t realise it was a new colour. Been in the garage for a week waiting to be built up and hopefully getting round to it this weekend.

It’s Glenn – tony wont be happy

doh!

Here’s a pic of mine. Other than an old skool Orange Clockwork that my daughter uses it’s the only MTB currently in my garage. It’s one of the best bang for your buck bikes I’ve ever owned

I love it. I stopped riding my 5 Spot when I got this

Rear triangles are triangular, which historically has been quite a rigid structure.
Any sense of “feel” from a chassis flexing vertically is from splay caused by the wheels spreading further apart under load, and not from the rear triangle.

I’ve seen you write this before Brant but I’m not 100% convinced. You may not have noticed but the front half of a hardtail frame is also a triangle! 😉

Not having designed a bike frame nor chopped any up, I don’t know the actual wall thicknesses typically found. But it wouldn’t be a massive leap of engineering logic to assume that the total cross-sectional-area of the tubes in the rear triangle is similar to that of the top plus the down tube, but spilt between four skinny tubes rather than two fat tubes, as the frame needs to withstand similar loading before fatigue failure front and rear.

Having done the sums on a post-it note, if the front tubes have the same wall thickness but twice the diameter of the rear tubes their CSA will be equal (approximating for a thin wall tube) but their second moment of area will be four times as great. I’m sure the front triangle contributes to frame compliance feel but I don’t see it dominating the back end flex, based on these engineering fundamentals.

Brant – do you have any pics of the orange 456 built up? Would quite like to see it as a complete bike, it looks a bit neon Orange ish ala Orange five colour?

I’m seriously tempted to do it, can I run my 1 1/8 th forks on it? Think I’d need a new hope headset?

Are you doing any discount for that colour at all? Like the others that seem to be 299?

Cheers

Those countour graphics do look quite nice. Already discounted to 399.

I’ve seen you write this before Brant but I’m not 100% convinced. You may not have noticed but the front half of a hardtail frame is also a triangle!

You forgot this bit:

Kid of makes it a triangle with 4 sides… 😕

In which case this:

Is also a triangle with 4 sides.

Northwind
Aye, I’d second that, the Smoothie is absolutely ****. Mine was free with the frame and still not worth it.

I’ve heard a few people say this, but I don’t really get what the problem is.

It’s been fine on mine and to me it’s just the same as any other cartridge bearing headset I’ve used. Not saying they’re not crap for a lot of people, but not sure what the problem is. That’s with a straight steerer however. Maybe I’ll find out when it goes wrong though.

Anyway, onto the bike… 26lbs mine comes out at at the moment, with 130mm Recon forks, carbon bars, 1×10 with old Firex cranks converted to single ring, X0 brakes, X9 gearing. Basic Alex Rim wheels off my old GT and single ply Minion / HR tyre combo with tubes. Vault pedals. Alloy seatpost.

Migrating X0 cranks onto it however once I’ve converted them to 1×10 and may have a go at a tubeless conversion with the intention of keeping the single ply tyres same as I’ve done on my big rig. Theory goes a bit of a weight saving.

Ride… rides like a hard tail to me. I’ve not ridden many and can’t comment on the flex other than it rides over all the same terrain as the big bouncy bike with no problem other than having to adjust for it being a hard tail and a little less comfort over the rough stuff.

Chuckable I’d say. More so than my Nomad. Climbs great. Any slacker an angle might be a problem however.

Raw finish which is odd but I like it and doesn’t have paint chipping issues I’ve seen some have. Nice stealth black.

p.s. alloy seatpost + carbon frame = potential jam. Though that’s not a criticism of the C456, just what you get with carbon frames. I use the carbon paste stuff and had no problem until I’d left the bike for a few weeks and found the post was bonding to the frame. Now I take the post out after every ride and put more paste on for next ride.

Oh, and top tube is longer on my small C456 than my medium Nomad. Hence why I got the small. Not sure that means it’s a long frame or the Nomad is short. Leg reach is equal on both for me.

Northwind – touche 😉

How will it climb compared to a five, techy steep rocky etc? Running it with 140mm up front? I love climbing and as my five is 3 years old I’m totally use to it, should it be just as easy given the weight saving?

I’ve seen you write this before Brant but I’m not 100% convinced. You may not have noticed but the front half of a hardtail frame is also a triangle!

Indeed. Apparently it might look like that. But if you consider the way loads are applied to the main triangle of a bike, they are somewhat different to the way loads are applied to a rear triangle. And the way those loads are applied make it not a triangle in terms of analysis or practical purpose.

Consider the loading from the front fork of the bicycle. What’s it trying to do to the main “triangle”?
Quite different to the way the rear wheel is loading the rear triangle.

Clearly the typical loads from the front wheel represent rotational leverage pivoting around a lateral widthways axis through the centre of the headset – that’s the same whatever the bike. But we’re talking about the loading via the rear wheel – you are claiming that the front triangle dominates the compliance because the rear triangle is a triangle. However, when you consider the forces applied to the front triangle via the rear triangle from the rear wheel, the front triangle is also a triangle!

Clearly the typical loads from the front wheel represent rotational leverage pivoting around a lateral widthways axis through the centre of the headset – that’s the same whatever the bike. But we’re talking about the loading via the rear wheel – you are claiming that the front triangle dominates the compliance because the rear triangle is a triangle. However, when you consider the forces applied to the front triangle via the rear triangle from the rear wheel, the front triangle is also a triangle!

Only if the front wheel axle is mounted at the headtube …

Oh come on, do try to think! What are the force vectors on the contact patch when braking and what torque do they generate? Ditto when hitting bumps or landing jumps/drops? How do those forces apply to the moving masses of bike and rider? What are the resultant reaction forces? And when the action and reaction vectors act about different points, what torques are generated?

Isn’t the front more of a Quadrilateral and the rear actually a pyramid?

Sooo how come Bikeradar gave it 2 stars out of 5 and said that it was so harsh even for a hardtail it barely sticks to the trail.

Because they’re eejits. They’ve actually reviewed it twice, and the “first look” review was totally different.

And because their reviews are based on advertising revenue. After all they are a business, save the good reviews for those that spend lots on buying advertising space.

any one give me any feedback about the climbing skills of this? i only use a five, so im guessing it would be worst case scenario no worse than a five for climbing?

guessing descending may be slightly less uncomfortable or slower but i quite like the idea of testing myself a bit more….

i do like that orange though, but sounds like the pain may be an issue? is it powdercoated or just stand paint job?

I was about to buy one but then they went out of stock and the yellow 400quid one is erm ‘is it too much with that paint’?

I was only half-teasing you Hora, but seriously – can’t someone let him try one. Seems every other bugger on here owns one.

any one give me any feedback about the climbing skills of this?

Mine climbed very nicely. Low weight and chainstays seemed shortish so it digs in well.

cheers chakaping – what about the paint job? heard/read a few stories about it flaking off etc, i know its a cheapish frame but i dont want it to look crap after 3 months use

Oscilate Wildly

Lots of questions about every aspect of the frame and ride which suggests to me that you are nervous about your potential purchase.

You are currently on an Orange 5 that has 140mm of travel and a certain geometry and you ride the Peaks.

A 456c will be about as different as a bike can be (except a stiff ali ht).

Straight of you will notice the lighter weight but you may have to go to stronger tyres so that may take some of the zip out of the ride. You will then find yourself bobbing up and down, kinda bouncing on the saddle as you over pedal, be prepared to buy a replacement saddle to as you may well do the rails on yours as you adjust, staying seated through a fast hard compression puts alot of pressure on said saddle. Climbing it will feel good as geometry change is much less than on a saggy bottomed FS but traction over rocky ground won’t be as forgiving. Descending on smooth trails will be ok but introduce rough ground and back wheel stoppies will kill your speed. General pedalling on rough ground will be much harder and fatiguing.

All sounds terrible right…. so why do i love riding a HT…. who blooming knows but i do and you do learn/adapt and then you will love it…. jump back on a FS and everything feels easy and fast, best have 2 bikes I reckon.

As for the paint etc… all my bikes get marked so I tend not to worry.

If worried buy second hand and try… if no good sell and the whole experiment has cost nothing or very little… how tall are you, do you know what size frame you want.

cheers mbnut!

really interesting read in great input! its certainly made me question it a bit, i dont think id be half as bothered, its just all my riding is done in the dark/white peak, so im in the perfect place for a f/s, if i was down south or something i dont think id even question swapping it…

the fives regardless of whats said on here are fantastic bikes, problem is, i cant afford a new frame as much as id love one even with discount….really unsure what to do, as hora mentioned above, may just buy a c456 and then save my five just incase i dont like it, that way i havent lost anything and im sure i could sell the c456 for not much loss

Hopk1ns – Member

And because their reviews are based on advertising revenue. After all they are a business, save the good reviews for those that spend lots on buying advertising space.

That must be why they test massive amounts of On One/Planet X bikes and most of them get higher than average marks eh. Doh!

I’ve had a c456 for a year or so (nearer 2 maybe?). To be honest I haven’t ridden much offroad this year so I’ve not fully explored it’s potential. Certainly, as for all hardtails in comparison to full sussers, it rewards practice and confidence.

Riding it after having no MTB practice for a few months in the Peak district was a pretty harsh lesson, and the guys I was with (who I was quicker than in the previous year) were whupping me on their FSers.

After the 1st day the margin decreased, but I think (if pace on technical terrain is important) you really need to be riding a HT a lot to reap the benefits.

Whips up the road though 😉

Certain reviewers/test riders at wmtb/mbuk/bikeradar are too pally with a certain importer in North Yorks, for my liking. A certain importer who relies on selling this mystical carbon black magic for upto £2600 a frame.
I have wondered if it’s been a step too far by On One, selling Carbon frames at £249, and putting a lot of industry noses out of joint, devaluing the potential cash cow or something.

Northwind – As with most things in life it all comes down to money, while the guys that write the magazine are passionate about bikes. Its the guys in suits that really have the influence.

Those mags are no longer about passionate people making a magazine its baout a large corporation of magazine titles making a profit. Nice big double page advert, lets have a slightly better review for them. Not overating but you know, lets just like it a little more.

Sorry way off topic OP

I have a 456 as a 2nd bike (other is full sus 150mm). Pretty much agree with MBnut above.

If I was to only have a hardtail then the c456 would probably feature high on the list.