5th Nov mtb funny bike report

[Alan M]

I like the look of the on-one 29" and I am thinking of trading my fixie commuter and rockhopper to get one next year so that I have fewer but better bikes in the garage and getting plus a spare wheel and tyre set so that I can go on road or offroad, Waddya think?

[Jon H]

Sound like Sylv's fixed-wheel off-road experiment might be fairly short lived.

Isn't the 29" MTB thing a case of re-inventing the wheel? People have been riding on 700c wheels off-road for donkey's years in cyclo-cross.

[Dr Frigo]

It was a bit of a "pain in the ass" - especially as marco took us on a road trip ..
Once off-road, it wasnt as bad as I'd thought - i tried not using the brakes, and as a result my upper thighs felt very sore the following day.
On flat or uphill ground it was ok, just had to pay more attention to my lines, in order for the pedals not to hit roots or rocks.
On downhills ... not much fun. You have to work against the bike and it is knackering. All the weight goes into the arms/hands and you cannot change your position on or around the saddle in the technical stuff. And you can't go very fast which is frustrating (I'm sure marco enjoyed it though).
On the road down to Epsom I hit 39.5km/h - equating to 148rpm. On steeper downhills I had to unclip and ride feet in the air to get a bit of a rest. You don't want to hit a bump or pothole when in this position.
I couldn't be bothered to switch the wheel back to freewheel, but as I got a rear puncture it was the perfect excuse.
I got some mobile phone pics but can't seem to download them to the computer.

Will I do it again? Maybe yes, on flat-ish twisty singletrack. Marco want me to do the SDW fixed as no-one is likely to ever have done (then you find out someone actually did, in the 1920s, in five hours ...)

[Bo-Gilly]

Marco failed to mention the most amusing moment of the day - when he discovered the 2 festering bananas that had been in the pocket of his jacket since the bec hill climb. Apparently he hangs his jacket above a rad, so they were diffinately ripe - well more liquid really.

Ok, Sylvain might have struggled a little bit, but I was hugely impressed how he remained in the normal upright position for the entire ride, and, returned home with both cranks still firmly attached to his BB. There were some pretty steep rocky downhills.

And yes Alan, I love my On-One 29er to bits. Marco will testify how I bore the pants off him going on and on how brillient she was.
By the way Marco, this is the character I was talking about when I said "Ma bicycle is ma wife now, Dave"


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFwUY0CpkZY


Perhaps I should be point out that I'm not much of a Papa Lazarou fan myself - more Chuckle Brothers me.

Comic geniuses them

[Andrew G]

Great write up Marco, sounds like a fun, and interesting, trip. There was a review of a 29" MTB in the last issue of Cycle (CTC magazine) and they liked the way it rolled too.
[quote]i tried not using the brakes, and as a result my upper thighs felt very sore the following day.

[sid_day]

Five hours