Bikeradar - The world is for riding

0n-One owner and product designer Brant Richards runs the company from his garden shed in Todmorden, Lancashire... This unconventional approach to business saves a packet on rent, rates and bills, which means On- One bikes are normally pretty good value - and the Scandal 29er looks like being no exception.

The chassis

The principle behind 29ers - bikes with fat tyres fitted to road-sized 700c rims, so the outside diameter is around 29 inches - is simple: big wheels put more tyre in contact with the ground and roll more easily over obstacles. Sounds good, but designing a bike that'll cope with the tyre clearances and handle both high and low speeds is a bit more tricky than wedging a pair of oversized wheels into an existing frame...

Luckily, On-One have 29er experience in the form of their Inbred 29er, a refreshingly simple - and cheap - steel framed bike that's built a cult following. The Scandal 29er borrows its steel counterpart's successful geometry and translates it into a svelte, aluminium tubed version that masks its lightweight smugness under stealth black anodising and laser-etched graphics. The low weight comes courtesy of thinwalled scandium main tubes and a skinny, 7000 series aluminium rear end. The main tubes on our pre-production sample will be beefed up a tad to improve torsional rigidity by the time the bike's available, although On-One say it'll hardly affect the weight. A lot of thought has gone into the frame's detailing, from the weightshaving, internally machined head tube and bottom bracket shell to the generous tyre clearance and elegant cold forged dropouts.

A choice of forks is available, including a superlight (sub 2lb) rigid carbon fork with huge tyre clearance. Our test bike arrived with the other option: a 29erspecific RockShox Reba fork with 100mm (4in) of travel. It's a perfect complement to the supplefeeling frame, although the tyre clearance under the leg brace is disappointingly miserly.

The detail

Unusually,there's a full complement of Shimano XT on board the Scandal including transmission, brakes and hubs. There are lighter parts out there, but none that work so well for the money. The finishing kit by On-One and Planet X all works well, including the oddlooking Fleegle handlebar; the pronounced double sweep - forwards and then backwards - looks strange, but puts the rider's wrists at a comfortable angle and feels like a normal bar.

The ride

One of the first things that will strike any rider who's not tried a 29er before is the sheer size of the wheels. Three inches over a regular 26- inch wheel doesn't sound like a lot, but in terms of sheer acreage of spokes, rim and tyre, it adds up to a heap more... and that, of course, is the whole point. But while you get more tyre/ground contact and extra ability to roll over obstacles, all that additional rotating mass takes a bit longer to get up to speed. It's a case of swings and roundabouts...

The Scandal - like all big wheeled bikes - certainly doesn't look particularly nimble. It doesn't even seem to like being pushed around the car park, the front wheel flopping morosely from side to side like a stroppy, lanky adolescent. But - and here's the weird thing - sling a leg over it, start pedalling, and everything slots into place. The ride position feels familiar and perfectly balanced, while the steering changes its tune and comes over all helpful and cooperative. The extra wheel weight is probably a factor, but the light scandium frame and well sorted geometry counter it effectively enough that you probably won't even notice it.

It's in the rough that the Scandal really comes into its own, floating nonchalantly through rough sections at speeds that leave regular-wheeled bikes falling into all the ruts and holes. It's almost - but only almost - like having a very small amount of rear suspension, and it's surprisingly addictive. We became used to attacking lumpy bits of trail far faster than we would normally dare on a hardtail, because we knew the Scandal would shrug it off. And, despite its ungainly looks, it's amazingly easy to loft the whole bike over obstacles at speed. It isn't, if we're splitting hairs, quite as nimble as a regular rig in really tight, twisty situations, but on an average trail ride it's both faster and more comfortable than most hardtails - and that's quite an achievement.

Bookmark with:

• Digg
• del.icio.us
• reddit
• Facebook
• StumbleUpon

Shopping partners

Shopping partners