On-One Parkwood or 45650B or?

[cbs]

Having just signed up to my company Cycle to Work scheme (Cyclescheme is the provider), I am trying to choose a new mountain bike for £1K. What I think I want is:
- Hardtail as this price point is too low to get a decent full-susser and I don't really need one for the XC and trail riding I envisage
- 1 x 11 as I like the idea of the relative simplicity and the chain retention features
- 100 to 120mm air-sprung fork travel from either Rock Shox or Fox. Other options at this level don't appeal as much, the Manitou coil spring forks on my old Rockhopper are too flexy and Suntour seem lower budget
- 650B wheels as I think they just look and feel better

So far, the two options in the subject from On-One tick the boxes, except that the 45650B sports a 140mm travel fork. The main difference between them is that the Parkwood is aluminium and the other steel. I like the thought of steel, and it does look good in an old-skool way, but is it a good steel frame? The specs say it is a DN6 cro-mo steel, but I don't know if that is any good, or if it's going to be a bit of a lump.

So, tell me what I want

Seriously, are On-One OK? They are better value than many of the bigger brands it seems, so the question is where they have cut corners, if indeed they have? What other alternatives are there in this price range that would meet my requirements?

Thanks.

 

[fossyant]

Both are cracking machines. Cro-mo is a good material. Not sure of the make, but it will be a reasonable weight - steel is never super light. The 456 has a well proven frame geometry. The Parkwood is a 29er isn't it.

 

[cbs]

Hi fossyant, thanks for the info, good to know and pretty much what I thought. The Parkwood I am looking at is the 650B version, as they do it in both wheel sizes.

This one: http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/CBOOPW27GX1/on-one-parkwood-275-sram-gx1-mountain-bike

 

[cbs]

Popped into the LBS yesterday to see what they had, and was recommended the Trek Superfly, specifically the "6" model, which I had a good look at. First impression was that it was very light for a mountain bike, certainly compared to my old Specialized Rockhopper, and fairly well specced. It's a 29er, with Rockshox reba forks, through axle at the front, and also Trek's own through axle at the rear. Gearing is 2 x 10.

Downside is that it is £1200, so I would have to stump up the additional cash. I'm also not fully convinced by 29" wheels, although I haven't ridden them, they just look and feel huge. I also really do like the simplicity and looks of a 1 x

The LBS guy then gave me the Trek sales pitch, which I get, they are a well respected brand after all, and during that he talked about the R&D that goes into the frames, plus the excellent warranty. He then went on to say that many of the direct sales brands, like On-One (I hadn't mentioned them at all) get cheap frames from the Far East, which enables them to bolt on a good set of components, whilst keeping the price low. The result of this is that the frames are not as good generally, and if they do break, you can have problems getting good customer service.

I know that he would say these things to persuade me that the best thing would be to buy a Trek from his shop, and there may be some truth in it, but I am also pretty sure that Planet X determine the geometry of the frames that they have made, and they would quickly get into difficulties if they supplied poor quality bikes.

What has piqued my interest a little though is the rear through axle on the Trek - it sounds like a really good idea to add strength to that area, but how often do standard QR skewers break on the rear of a hardtail anyway? Is it really a weak point given that it's all triangulated back there anyway?

I guess I need to take a chance either way - there is no perfect bike, but there is the one that I can ride, so as long as I enjoy doing that, what is there to worry about?

 

[HarryTheDog]

Just something for you to think about, I have recently bought a Specialized Stumpjumper 1 x 11 gearing 29er. I bought it to race XC on and it does that job fine and the gearing range is spot on for me, low gear is just low enough and the high gear is just about high enough. I have commuted on it a couple of times and on the flat I can spin it up to 22 mph fairly easy but anything higher I run out of gears and really have to spin. ( ok I am an old guy and below 90 rpm is my comfort zone) . Downhill on tarmac I could do with a higher gear or two. If you are to use yours on-road a lot the 2 x 10 should have a better gear range.
As to wheel size, when I was choosing a bike, nearly everyone said go 29er faster than 650B, better rollover etc. I test rode both, handling wise I could hardly tell the difference. A minority said because of my shortness I should go 650B but as a coach said to me, you can make a 29er handle like a 650B, just needs more effort.
Within my MTB club ( 300+ members) the vast majority of people who ride XC "seriously" use 29er hardtails,80-100mm of travel, most who rides "serious" trails uses 650B full bouncers 130mm+ of travel.
( there are of course a few people who like the different and go for fat bikes or no suspension at all or singlespeed or 650B+, even a few like me up to recently still on 26 inch)
Personally I would only consider a 650B if I did a lot of seriously twisty technical riding, and then it would be full suss as well. But some people say the 650B is more "fun".
I know what you mean about flexy Manitou forks I had them on my old Scott.

 

[cbs]

Thanks Harry, info much appreciated as there is a difference between what some nerds say on the Internet and real-world riding experience...

I doubt I'd be doing a lot of really technical stuff anyway, so I guess it's best not to discount the 29" wheel. I had almost got to the point of deciding on the On-One Parkwood, which they do as a 29er too, but a couple of things may send me elsewhere
1) they charge a 10% admin fee to use the Cyclescheme voucher, so a £1000 bike becomes a £1100 bike. Not sure if more local bike shops would be a better bet in this respect, I shall have to find out
2) They are too far away from me to try one out for size, so I would have to base my choice on measuring. Not too concerned about this as long as I get enough standover height, and I can also ask about to get more info

I take your point about the gearing, but I will most likely spec it with a 32T chainring rather than 30T, which with the 10T rear, gives almost as high a gear as the 2 x 10 version. I have a Cube Litening road bike if I want to go fast on the road

It's a bit of a shame that you have to choose your retailer before you get the voucher (although you can easily change it afterwards apparently) I am due to visit Evans in MK on Saturday to pick up a road bike for my son, so will probably have a look then.

 

[cbs]

Update time - got chased by my company to sign the agreement, which meant having to select a shop, so in the end I went for Evans in MK as they do have a pretty good range of bikes and are not too far away from me. I have been told it's also not too hard to change this at a later stage, so it's not set in stone.

Also been thinking about the bike choice, and much as I like the idea of the On-One as something a bit different and "niche" (I chose the Cube road bike over a Trek for partly that reason), it's a bit of a gamble when I can't get to have a look at one beforehand. I had a look at the Pinnacle Iroko 3 in Evans at the weekend and that's a well-specced bike for £1250. It is, however, their own brand, and a bit of an unknown quantity with respect to the frame.

So, back to the Trek - the more I look at it, the more I think that it is probably a pretty decent bike. Apart from the gearing, it's got everything, and for the type of use I shall make of it, I would probably be better, as HarryTheDog says, going for the bigger wheels and wider gearing. I also know, having picked one up, that it is a light bike, so should be quite sprightly. Then today, Trek have pulled a master stroke by reducing it from £1200 down to £1000, which has pretty much made my mind up for me

Now all I need is for the voucher to come through and I will order one, although still need to decide on the colour - black and yellow or purple and blue?

 

[cbs]

I did go for the Trek in the end, helped along by a well-timed price drop taking it to £1000, with no admin fee, so all covered by the voucher. Got the Superfly 6 in black and green, apparently one of the last of that frame size anywhere as this is the run-out model and is being replaced:

Haven't had a chance to ride it much yet, but have been out on the road a bit, and a little light off-road. Feels really good, much better than my old MTBs, without that feeling of putting in lots of effort without much forward motion resulting from it. It rolls really well, is smooth and stable, and the fork is really plush when it gets rough. First time I have had SRAM gears, so is taking a little getting used to pushing rather than pulling for the changes to smaller cogs. Hoping to get out on it a bit more in the coming weeks, and looking forward to it...

 

[MarquisMatsugae]

Looks good to me @cbs
I'm loving the yellow decals on the Shox.
The Bonty wheelset should serve you well,I consider Bontrager to be one of the old skool cool brands,so quality is not an issue.A bit like Ritchey(don't hear much of them these days)
Have fun on it,it looks the bollox !!!!