Relatively new to MTBing and I’m after a wee bit of advice. I am looking to buy a 650b hard tail for around the £1000 mark and like the look of On One’s 45650B and Whytes 901. Being totally non technical I have no idea how the specs on each bike compare so I need a bit of advice from anyone with a bit of knowledge on these things. So anyone with an opinion then please opine away! Or let me know if there are any 650s for a similar price that I have overlooked.

Cheers!!

Aluminium vs steel frame, SRAM/avid vs shimano kit. Both absolutely fine bikes
Personally I’d go for the on one purely to get shimano brakes and save £200

I like the look of the 901.

I’d go for the Whyte, they ride well.

45650b

Steel, shimano, available in raw. What’s not to like? The Whyte looks ok but the SRAM and aluminium would put me off.

Use the money you save to buy a dropper post 💡

Tough choice.

That’s a nice alu frameset vs a basic steel one. And does the On One’s fork have Motion Control or is it the more basic damping?

I’m a Shimano fan, but the SRAM stuff at that level is quite nice actually and you can always swap to Deore brakes for very little money if you want.

But the On One is a fair bit cheaper… hmmmm.

I’d probably go for the Whyte as I rode the 26in version and it was really nice, and part of that was the lightness and quick turn of speed – along with v good geometry.

Edit: Where are you gonna ride and what kind of stuff do you do?

Ride the trail centres mostly in the lakes (whinlatter mostly) some of the 7 stanes. To be blunt, I am a technically inept rider!

I’d go for the Whyte for the frame. Everything else wears out or breaks, but buy a good core and you needn’t ever change (you will of course :-))

The Whyte would be ace for trail centres and then when you gain experience and venture out onto the more rugged (and amazing) natural stuff in the Lakes you’ll probably want to upgrade to a full-susser anyway.

😉

Both bikes are very good choices though I reckon.

I have the Whyte 905, which has same frame as the 901 and similarish spec. I am really enjoying riding it, especially now the trails are drying out.

But I haven’t ridden the on one, so can’t say what rides better.

On one is more ‘all mountain’ that would like to be thrown about. If you’re an xc type of person choose the whyte.

Whyte by a country mile, really nice ally frame, I really don’t buy into the generic steel argument, design trumps frame material I think some just like the aesthetic of steel. The Whyte is certainly tough enough for getting rowdy and with the reduced weight you wont mind going up again for another run.

*this is of course in no way biased by the fact that I won one 8))*

Aesthetic of steel…? Sorry…but thats tosh.

Cannot comment on the on one but from a ride point of view the whyte has no trouble mixing it up on the rough stuff

Is there anything else better vfm than the 45650b?

This is very interesting reading.
Particularly as we are launching a couple of new alloy models shortly.
Steel rhymes with real, but it seems to be falling out of favour for even UK use now.

matther01 – Member
Aesthetic of steel…? Sorry…but thats tosh.
POSTED 11 HOURS AGO # REPORT-POST

Puzzled…

Oh no, steel out of favour? Quick I had better sell mine…

Particularly as we are launching a couple of new alloy models shortly.
Steel rhymes with real, but it seems to be falling out of favour for even UK use now.

I confess I haven’t ridden a 650b, but on my alu 29er HT the big wheels seem to do a nice job of smoothing out the bumps – and the light weight of the frame counters the heavier wheels/tyres a bit.

Just seems to be the right choice for the job.

Is the 45650b frame weight mentioned anywhere?

You guys have certainly gave me plenty to think about, gonna get to the shops to have a proper look at both bikes. Gotta say I like the idea of adding a dropper post to the On One though!

Thanks

Oh the 45650b is weighed in at 13kg compared to the Whytes 12.2kg. Not that much really and for what I do certainly not enough to matter.