New bike content.....

Oh come on its November....time for a new frame.

After riding Iain OK / Zebs On-One 456 I instantly fell in love with these frames, I always fancied dipping the toe in the new Long Travel HT genre so thought I'd give it a go. I always remember reading the ‘WhatMTB’ review of the Lynskey made Ti 456 when it was voted the best Hardtail ever getting 10/10 (shared with only 2 other bikes AFAIR SC Heckler being the other)....so I’ve been on the hunt for one of the original Lynskeys for a while(Current Ti 456 is made by Van Nicholas).

The rest is history, found one, built it up from bits off the Yeti (which was punted on and sold after snapping a friends and having a ridiculously twitchy rear end). Total build of the 456 comes in at 26.5lb, and thats with Crossmax SX and Fox 36's so no real XC whippet components apart from drivetrain.

This thing ROCKS, really, I’m not just trying to convince myself like I normally do after buying a new frame, it really does make you feel like some kind of MTB Porn star !! The quicker you go, the more of a lunatic you become. Climbing is retarded, as you'd expect from a Titanium 3lb hardtail, but having the ability to wind out the forks to 160mm, creating a nice slack head angle, you have a bike than can handle all the kickers and drops running down into the jump park. I rode the line closest to the Woburn Sands to Woburn road last weekend 4 times, and I was hitting everything faster than on my Devinci. Its bizarre how forgiving the frame is for a HT. I’ve had a few Litespeed Ti frames in the past but the geometry is out and out race, even the Obed, therefore having a mixture of a great climber AND an amazing “descender” (I made that word up I think) is awesome, plus add a decent height BB and you have a star performer. I really think I‘ve found the perfect bike for Woburn, or dare I say the UK. If we were hitting any of the UK trail centres (bar 7 Staines) this bike would be perfect, I would def choose this over a FS for smiles per mile.

I hereby name the On-One 456.....”The Woburn / Trail Centre Killing Bike”





Oh and as an aside I invested in the new XT M785 trail brakes. They are virtually the same as last years XTR trail brakes but now have the improved resevoir. If you are looking for new stopeprs, you NEED these in your life. The old M775's were awesome, but these things are on a different level. Up there with Hope M4s, Formual The Ones etc for half the price. I replaced 2011 Saints with these bad boys and they are on par with the Saint 4 pots. Over the bar stopping power, with enough adjustment to allow simply one finger breaking. (1 Finger Breaking = No wrist punp). Jurys out on the funky fan assisted cooling brake pads, but then haven't needed extra cooling power at Woburn yet, no doubt they'd excel in The Alps !

I'd recommend these to all. If you see me up the woods, grab me and have a test, I'll help you off the floor !

Nice trailer, what sort is it

Actually, you've convinced me I need a HT in my life, that was the easy part. Now convince Pinky!!

I've had a crush on the Ti 456 for some time now. Kept telling myself I did'nt really need one but now you've gone and done it! Look forward to seeing it up the woods, in the meantime i'll be checking my lottery numbers!

Your leaves need hoovering/raking.


Nice bike by the way. I have an Inbred and a 456 Summer Season and just love the way the 456SS rides, even on 100mm forks. It makes me ride like a bit of a loony at times, moreso than on my ful suss. Would love a Ti 456 as a keep-for-a-very-long-time bike, very jealous.