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Satin 456Ti

I’ve been riding an On-One 456 Ti for the last 14 months, here are my thoughts. 

My previous hardtails have been aluminium and although I’d heard that steel and titanium give a different ride feel I was dubious until a test ride (previously written up on this site). The test ride blew me away, I bought one and I’ve been riding it ever since.

Build

18″ inch 456 Ti frame in polished finish with decals, Mavic 719 or 321 rims, Maxxis 2.35″ highroller tyres with DH slime tubes, Formula ORO brakes with 180mm rotors front and rear, Fox 32 vanilla forks (15mm axle), XT crankset, SRAM X9 shifters and rear mech, Thomson seatpost (Fizik Gobi saddle) and 90 mm stem with Azonic B52 high rise bars. It weighs in at 27.5 lbs.

Riding

The frame has a longish top tube and a very short headtube so I fitted 2″ high bars 30″ wide, the bars together with  the 140mm Vanilla fork lift the front giving me a perfect position which is very upright and not cramped.  The ride position is very comfortable and as well as singletrack I’ve done 50 miles rides with no discomfort on my back or neck. The comfort is also helped by the very thin chain and seat stays, when I lean my chest on the saddle and push down both the seat and chain stays can be seen to flex, large volume tyres also play a part. Basically it has a very comfortable riding position.

In singletrack the bike just flows around and over everything, it’s still a hardtail so long bumpy sections punish my calves but apart from this it is awesome. The geometry is perfect for technical challenges, the front is relaxed enough to give confidence on steep stuff but not enough to be too wandery on climbs. Getting weight over the back wheel is easy. On my local rides around the South Downs and Surrey Hills I do not feel at any disadvantage when my buddies turn up with their FS bikes. It is slower on the rough stuff than a FS bike but it is great fun and this is what counts. I’ve started to play a game of getting up to speed and riding a trail without braking or pedalling - brilliant – although I’ve yet to make many of the trails without coming off. Some of our local trails have a plenty of jumps and the 456Ti takes these without a care although I did worry that I might bend it as I’m not the most svelte or skillful rider.

Ovalised Mech Hanger

My worries about damaging the bike came true on 15th November during one of our rides from Whiteways. A smallstick 1cm diameter stick got jammed in the rear mech, I felt it and stopped pedalling but the damage was done. The rear mech was ripped out of the frame and worryingly the mech hanger which is part of the frame and not replacable was badly bent and the bolt hole ovalised. Swearing and elbow grease straightened the mech hanger enough for it to be servicable but the thread damage and ovaslised hole were a headache. 

A call to On-One resulted in an e-Mail from Mark Lynskey advising what could be done to repair the damage. On-One also offered me another frame under their replacement policy at less cost then their recent sale items. After weighing the pros and cons I went for the replacement frame, it is satin finish with decals rather than the polished finish of my original but crucially it does not have the chain/seat stay brace of the new design that I think looks ugly.

Conclusion

I originally bought the 456Ti as a second bike but it is the first one that I reach for no matter where I’m going, I do have a FS bike that is confined to playing in dry weather. I don’t have any emotional attachment to any of my bikes past or present but the 456Ti is virtually perfect for me, I often say if anything happened to it I would replace it with another immediately – in fact I did!  An awesome bike.