[particle bored]

Friday I received my On-One Inbred, which I bought as a complete bike through Price Point. I also ordered some Oury lock-on grips and a Maxxis Ignitor / WTB ExiWolf tire combo to use, not knowing what tires would come on the bike.

Unpacked it and found the ExiWolf is the front tire, and NanoRaptor the rear tire, so I only had to swap the rear tire. Pulled the Dicta 18t freewheel and replaced with ACS 20t freewheel.

Removed the Truvativ 32t 175mm arm external bearing crankset, replaced it with RF Turbine 180mm + Evolve FR bb + Salsa 30t SS ring. Using Crank Bros Mallet pedals.

Removed the Avid SD 5 v-brakes and levers, replaced them with Avid Mech discs 185 front 160 rear + Avid Ultimate levers.

Left off the On-One "Reetard" saddle, used a Titec Ithys Gove Ti railed job.

Bike came with On-One Fleegle bar, wide-arsed 28.5" bar that is flat with a funky bend. Wasn't sure I'd like it but I did a ride on it anyway.

I have a Curtlo custom steel SS (true temper OX platinum frame) 26" wheeled bike, that was the standard I was judging the Inbred against. The Curtlo had 32x20 gearing and a Manitou Minute 1:00 fork set at 100mm travel.

The Inbred is running the On-One rigid fork for now, with a Reba 29er 100mm travel fork on the way. The frame is designed for a 100mm fork and the On-One rigid fork is corrected to 100mm travel.

I found the bike surprisingly springy, feels a lot like my Curtlo although a bit more flexy. When I pedal I can see the frame flexing somewhat at the rear triangle, very minor. On the trail this translates to a nice compliant ride.

The rigid fork feels really nice and with the ExiWolf 2.3 tire up front at 30psi, it's surprisingly comfortable. However, on choppy braking bumps it's more than I want to handle, my eyeballs start vibrating in their sockets and it's hard to focus on the trail! The Reba will be perfect.

The 30x20 ratio is a bit bigger gear than the 32x20 gear on a 26er. I walked a few more climbs than I would on the 26er at 32x20. My legs were more tired at the end of the ride, too. I'm going to get a 22t freewheel for the rear and try that with both a 30t front and a 32t front to see if I can't get a nice match to the 32x20 gear that was perfect on my 26er.

Overall it's a very impressive bike, and a great bargain at just under $1000 for the complete bike. The ride is very much a high quality steel ride, springy and compliant and smooth, and tracks accurately. The geometry is very good for me, I found no trouble at high or low speeds, trackstanding and near-stop maneuvering (trialsy stuff) was 2d nature, as if I'd been riding the bike for years.

Off "cheap air" hits, the bike is stable and feels very playful.

The most amazing thing about the 29er ride is the cornering grip and the pure carve sensation. You can angle the bike over pretty far and hold traction. I was surprised at the ExiWolf's grip. Its tread pattern is somewhat like the Hutchinson Python, not really chunky, subtle knobs. I didn't expect it to hold at a high lean angle, kept waiting for it to break loose. It never did.

The Maxxis Ignitor rear tire is a star, it never lost grip when climbing on any surface at any speed, under any torque. I couldn't make it break loose in corners without locking up the rear wheel.

The On-One Fleegle bar looks funky but it worked amazingly well. I won't be swapping it out. I like it a lot.

Overall I'm super impressed with the 29er experience and with the Inbred itself. I won't be getting rid of my 26er FS rigs, but for simple SS use, the 29er will be my rig of choice.

 

[Bicyclist]

Do you find it hard to adapt from a 26er to a 29er, or do you get used to switching between 'em?

I think a 29er SS sounds cool, but I'd be concerned it'd be weird getting back on my "regular" bikes.

 

[MMcG]

If you put the fork up for sale, and some of the other bits, shoot me a PM about it.

 

[mud'n'sweat]

I'll likely buy the stylo crank from you if you want to sell it.

 

[Guitar Ted]

Nice write up. Thanks, that is always a good thing to read. That is: the impressions of a first time 29"er rider. It looks as though you caught on to a few things rather quickly.

I might suggest that you consider going into the corners faster with less braking. Really, you are just about there with your knowledge of the cornering grip. Go faster than you would dream of with a 26"er and you'll need to only spin up slightly and not have to recover so much momentum as you would on your 26"er. If you do this, you will discover the limits of the Exi Wolf! They tend to let go all at once, once you cross the line of grip/ slip.

I like the Ignitor as a rear tire too, but you might slap on the Nano for a lower rolling resistence, hard pack kind of ride.

I'm trying out a Bontrager Switchblade fork on my Inbred and so far, it's been more forgiving than the stock Inbred fork with no bad traits noticed so far. Sure, it's still a rigid fork, but it's pretty nice, and light!

Anyway, Keep at the 29"er thing. You'll discover some cool things along the way. Happy Trails! :biggrin:

 

[particle bored]

Do you find it hard to adapt from a 26er to a 29er, or do you get used to switching between 'em?

I think a 29er SS sounds cool, but I'd be concerned it'd be weird getting back on my "regular" bikes.

Actually I was concerned about this so yesterday I took out my 26er trail bike (Turner 5-Spot). No difference other than the rigid to FS transition. I've been riding FS 90% of the time in the past 3 seasons, so I'm used to riding FS. It's probably fairer to say that it would be more strange to ride the 29er, but then again that's mostly because of the rigid vs FS differences.

The 29er experience is not really drastically different. It's just that the cornering is more "carvy" if that makes any sense. I'd have to say in all honesty that the Turner's outstanding cornering ability makes the difference between the FS and the 29er much smaller. I've owned other FS rigs that don't corner as well as the Turner. On those bikes it'd be a bigger difference. I think it would also be a bigger difference riding a 26er rigid. What I notice most about the Inbred 29er is that on that bike, the fully rigid experience isn't anywhere near as punishing as a 26er fully rigid was every time I tried that route.

For totally subjective comparison, my ride Saturday on the Inbred was done with a friend who's ridden with me a lot. We rode a trail that both of us know well. He said I was going almost as fast as I normally do on the 5-Spot.

What he didn't notice is that in the rough sections my eyeballs were vibrating a lot more on the Inbred, and I had a harder time going fast and seeing clearly there. :biggrin:

 

[particle bored]

I'll likely buy the stylo crank from you if you want to sell it.

Shoot me a PM about it. I can send you digipics of the whole setup if you like. I haven't priced them at the internet web retailers, so I'll do that today and we can agree on a fair price if you're still interested after you see the pics.

 

[particle bored]

Nice write up. Thanks, that is always a good thing to read. That is: the impressions of a first time 29"er rider. It looks as though you caught on to a few things rather quickly.

I might suggest that you consider going into the corners faster with less braking. Really, you are just about there with your knowledge of the cornering grip. Go faster than you would dream of with a 26"er and you'll need to only spin up slightly and not have to recover so much momentum as you would on your 26"er. If you do this, you will discover the limits of the Exi Wolf! They tend to let go all at once, once you cross the line of grip/ slip.

Thanks for the suggestions!

I was finding toward the end of the ride that I was doing that very thing -- coming into turns hotter, trusting the carve ability. I can believe that the Exi is a "give out all at once" tire, since it didn't have any sense of progressive breakaway of traction.

I'm eager to see the Kenda Nevegal 29er tire, and the new Panaracer Rampage (Nevegal imitation). I run Nevegals on all my MTBs, I really like those tires a lot. They work really well where I ride (Northern Rockies, western MT and northern ID). But for now the Exi / Ignitor setup seems good. My 29er friends suggest Exis front and rear for really rocky rides. I will try that setup on a rocky singletrack ride later this week.

 

[N8 v2.0]

Excellent write up!

I am running Ignitors front and back on my 29er SS and I love them!!!

I run them at about 25 psi and they stick like glue to the trails

 

[jncarpenter]

Do you find it hard to adapt from a 26er to a 29er, or do you get used to switching between 'em?

I think a 29er SS sounds cool, but I'd be concerned it'd be weird getting back on my "regular" bikes.

....the first time I spent a couple weeks exclusively on the Inbred & swapped out the Turner (RFX5) for a ride it freaked me out how different the steering was. It was a 15 minute adjustment mid-ride then all was well. Once you get used to the 29" ride, you do notice the differences when jumping back on the 26"....however, the longer I have been swapping back & forth, the less of an issue it becomes. If you enjoy ss'ing, the 29" format is the ONLY way to go IMHO.