Octane One are the sister company of NS Bikes and seem to be growing all the time, with two frames to their name and, for 2012, a full range of components. The Void is their dirt jump offering. Consider the quality of the frame and the components attached to it, and the £1,048.86 package we have here seems pretty good value.
Ride & handling: Versatile and confidence-inspiring; a dream to ride
For our 5ft 8in test pilot, the sizing was great, although it’s worth bearing in mind that there's only one size available. The Void comes with a 565mm top tube; because the frame is low-slung, it doesn’t feel long but still gives plenty of room to move about and transfer your weight around.
The 12.8in bottom bracket height and short 15in chainstays gave us a huge amount of confidence when it came to manuals and hanging off the back of the bike – so much so that we saw our riding improve in the short amount of time we had on the Void. The super-low-slung 12.2in frame height helps in creating room to move too, giving you enough space to handle some sticky situations.
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We put the Octane One through its paces everywhere from the dirt jumps, to pump tracks, to the local concrete bowl skate park and it handled every situation well. Its light weight – less than 12kg – helped, as it meant we could throw it around in the air and put it exactly where we wanted it. The Void felt like a dream to ride.
Our 25/11-tooth gear ratio was good too, with enough snap to get some quick acceleration between jumps if it came to panic stations, and enough overall go in the gear to get up to speed on the BMX track.
Frame & equipment: Good looking and well made chassis; decent own-brand parts
Constructed from custom-butted 4130 chromoly tubes, and available in a choice of four colours, the Void certainly looks the part, especially the polished finish version we tested. At a whisker under £200, it’s affordable too.
Octane One say they’ve gone for the ultimate clean-looking frame – and accordingly, the Void has an integrated headset and nice integrated seat clamp. There are no cable guides on the frame, which helps achieve the clean look, and gives you free rein over where you run them. There’s no mech hanger either, so the Void is strictly singlespeed only.
Our test bike came built up with almost a full complement of Octane One components, with the cranks, wheels, bars, and seatpost/saddle combo all own-brand offerings. In addition, we had Manitou’s Circus Comp fork with 80mm (3.2in) travel, which resulted in a 70-degree head angle, and a Hayes Stroker Ryde rear brake on stopping duty.
This article was originally published in Mountain Biking UK magazine.