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TECH NEWS

Just in: On One Ti Pickenflick

A disc-equipped titanium cyclocross bike priced at £1,499.99

You'll struggle to find any other titanium framed, carbon forked, SRAM Rival, disc brake equipped cyclocross bikes at close to the price of the On One Ti Pickenflick. The promise is that it's a lot more than 'just a cyclocross bike' too. We'll be putting it through its paces, both on and off road, over the next few weeks to find out.


Yorkshire based On One and parent company Planet X are marketing the Pickenflick as a 'limited edition' titanium framed cyclocross bike, but they won't say how limited it is. You can buy it as the frame alone for £999.99 or as the complete bike package we'll be testing. But by the time you add the cost of a carbon fork and a headset to the frame the full bike package - at £1499.99 - is looking like the better deal... by a long way.

It comes equipped with a SRAM Rival 10 x 2 drivetrain, but with a twist... the SRAM S350 chainset has 42/28 chainrings, much more suited to amateur off road riders than the bigger rings favoured by many pro cyclocross racers. An 11-32 cassette continues the wider, smaller ratios theme, essentially providing far more usable gears than those on many race-bred 'cross bikes. Inevitably, this won't necessarily suit those who plan to use the Pickenflick on road more than off but chainrings and/or chainsets can be upgraded easily. There's way too much machismo posturing about manhandling the gears pro riders use so it's good to see a bike with a range that's more manageable by regular riders.

There aren't that many titanium framed cyclocross bikes around. Of course, this is mainly to do with the fact that you'll regularly pay more than this for a Ti frame alone. The latent vibration absorption capacity of Ti tubes should theoretically be ideal for a fast off-road bike with blacktop aspirations so it'll be interesting to see how the On One deals with our regular trail and rough road test loops. The complete bike package comes with a good looking matt finished carbon fork with disc brake post mounts. Avid BB7 discs take care of stopping duties, with full outer cables to each calliper.

The frame geometry (72 degrees at the head, 73.5 degrees at the seat on the 56cm model) should lend itself well to both road and off-road outings. The top tube stretch is 10mm shorter than the seat tube. The tube profiles, ovalised at the junctures for bigger weld contact areas and lateral stiffness, are pleasing to the eye and left brushed bare... great for ease of cleaning, and there are no corrosion issues with titanium. There are two lots of bottle cage bosses but no mudguard or rack eyelets. The head tube is tapered 1.125in to 1.5in. 

There's loads of room for bigger tyres than the Schwalbe CX Pro 30mm ones fitted: we'll experiment with this during the test period. The wheels on the test bike are Selcof WHT29s but On One lists their Reet'ard 29s. A finishing parts package includes a decent quality mix of Planet X and On One branded stuff, with a double bolted 31.6mm seatpost, a slim but comfy saddle and a shallow drop 44cm handlebar. Our test bike weighs 20.8lb/9.36kg without pedals.

While the On One/Planet X marketing focuses strongly on the Pickenflick's off-road potential, we'll certainly be mixing it with a lot of road miles over the next few weeks, simply because bikes like this have so much all-rounder capacity.

www.on-one.co.uk

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23 comments

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denzzz28 | 10 years ago
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That feeling when you get soo excited and soo want to buy it and then they say the bike have no eyelets......  14  102  20

Shame.....

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mattsccm | 10 years ago
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According to the crossjunkie site you could fit a road chainset. But not with 44m tyres .With race legal tyres there was way more clearance than needed .So it could be done.
In fact the early web pages listed it as having a compact chainset. I was told that it did. And that's why I bought it. It didn't and the response from the company was so what? Brant eventually made noises to sort it out but weeks later its all gone cold.

But why the moaning. If you don't want the bike the way it is buy another. I would argue that it's a pretty poor show, but maybe economically sound ,for PX/OO to add guards etc.
A CX bike doesn't need them.
If you were using a CX for something that isn't CX, say riding it generally or rough stuff, then I see your points.
BUT.
CX is racing. Its a race bike.
I assume that many of you have whinged to Mr Pinarello about his Dogma's not having guard eyes.
I added guards to mine in a few minutes by the way. Just enjoy it for what it is rather than what you want.
It is good value though isn't it?  1

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andyp | 10 years ago
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'I can't quite imagine why anyone would choose to omit a few tiny threaded holes for the sake of aesthetics, 'the rules' compliance or hardcore-ness or something'

Agreed entirely re rules compliance and hardcore-ness. Which is all just pointless tossery.
But why if you are considering a thing of beauty is it so odd to want it to look the best it can, for no functional penalty?

(That's re mudguard mounts, not mudguards. I don't know why anyone would choose not to use mudguards just for aesthetic reasons either. My reasons not to are functional ones)

Naturally I understand that it wouldn't be in the frame companies' interests to make two different models just to suit a very small number of riders. But *if only*  1

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colinth | 10 years ago
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Looks great, I've got an XLS on order, was very tempted by this but just too much money for what was supposed to be my "run around" bike. It'll be just about perfect when they add rack and guard mounts, there's my next but one bike sorted  4

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Joelsim | 10 years ago
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I think I've found my next bike  41

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andyp | 10 years ago
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'As I've just posted on Planet X's Facebook post I think they miss out here and with their XLS models by not having mudguard or rack eyelets. It would make the bike so much more flexible '

It'd be great if these things were optional. It's nice to see bikes without them. Maybe some kind of bolt-on mudguard mount for those with sensitive bottys.

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harrybav replied to andyp | 10 years ago
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andyp wrote:

Maybe some kind of bolt-on mudguard mount for those with sensitive bottys.

It's not the mud on my breeks, it's the slurry mist in my face!  31

Bike looks great, that gearing sounds brilliant, nice weight too. Out of my range I think, for now, but just great to see the amateur-level gearing.

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Bez replied to andyp | 10 years ago
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andyp wrote:

Maybe some kind of bolt-on mudguard mount for those with sensitive bottys.

Or who ride in a group. Or who don't want their feet in a cold shower for hours on end. Or who want to mount a rear light and a post pack. Or who don't want their bike and drivetrain covered in so much crud. Or who don't want muck flicked into their eyes. Or who don't want their expensive technical clothing ruined by oily road muck. Or…

 1

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joemmo replied to andyp | 10 years ago
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andyp wrote:

'As I've just posted on Planet X's Facebook post I think they miss out here and with their XLS models by not having mudguard or rack eyelets. It would make the bike so much more flexible '

It'd be great if these things were optional. It's nice to see bikes without them. Maybe some kind of bolt-on mudguard mount for those with sensitive bottys.

I can't quite imagine why anyone would choose to omit a few tiny threaded holes for the sake of aesthetics, 'the rules' compliance or hardcore-ness or something. The alternative is that when you do want to fit useful stuff on your bike for whatever, you have to resort to ugly and sub-optimal clamp on parts.

This is almost, nearly, my ideal one bike but I would definitely want guard eyelets at the minimum. The chainset choice is a bit esoteric but unless the clearance is super tight then you can get 48T rings in 4 bolt pattern which will do for most riders top end.

In fact, a double ring more-compact set up like this might suit more people than the road compact. You can run a closer ratio cassette with a 44T ring and use most of the range for road riding, then you've got a big drop to the smaller ring but a similar close ratios at a lower end.

You might also get a slightly better chainline using a MTB double with 135 spaced hubs than with a road chainset. If 2.5mm makes a difference...

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finbar | 10 years ago
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Quote:

"We're evolving the design to be a bit more all-road style - a longer top tube and a lower top tube to get a bit better more conventional road fit on there. The essential elements will remain - a wheel at the front and back, and disc brakes. We'll add some rack and guard mounts too."

Classic On One strategy of using paying customers as beta product testers.

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Bez | 10 years ago
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"All-rounder"? Pfft. No guards, no rack, no dyno lights, no Bez-sized model.

That's a silly price, though, and no mistake. For that money it's almost tempting to superglue the road paraphernalia on  1

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Steve Worland | 10 years ago
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We'll obviously be saying much more about the Pickenflick after the test period, which started a few days ago with a thoroughly enjoyable few hours of mixing bridleways and roads. Meanwhile On One brand manager Brant has said this... "We're evolving the design to be a bit more all-road style - a longer top tube and a lower top tube to get a bit better more conventional road fit on there. The essential elements will remain - a wheel at the front and back, and disc brakes. We'll add some rack and guard mounts too."

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Bez replied to Steve Worland | 10 years ago
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Steve Worland wrote:

"We're evolving the design to be a bit more all-road style - a longer top tube and a lower top tube to get a bit better more conventional road fit on there. We'll add some rack and guard mounts too."

*does a sex wee*

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minnellium replied to Bez | 10 years ago
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I "helped" design this - as a Planet X team rider - and rode the prototype* since March 2012. I hear what people say about rack / guard eyes. That's an economic decision by Planet X / On One and I have no part in it. It's a race bike though. The geometry here is very race-based but carbon bikes - particularly a year or so ago were really struggling for mud clearance - so Ti and discs gave a great opportunity to put together a modern but classic race Ti bike.

I can see the appeal to all sorts of non-racers though so it's a tough one.

As someone who's properly ridden in the bike at length though - I can confirm that it is an absolute dream to ride. I want for nothing else. I also took it on a family holiday with two pairs of tyres for road / off road choices and ended up riding it on the road lots. It's not out of place on the road.

Here's a bit of a film of my teamie Crossjunkie and me hammering ours anyway in summer 2012. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVN5dYakWk8

*If you're interested, there were very few refinements to the original prototype in the end. The rear brake cable / hose line was moved slightly out of centre on the seatstay to keep it away from leaves and muck, and that's about it.

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STATO | 10 years ago
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"Inevitably, this won't necessarily suit those who plan to use the Pickenflick on road more than off but chainrings and/or chainsets can be upgraded easily"

But you cant, according to PX it wont take a standard road chainset.

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minnellium replied to STATO | 10 years ago
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STATO wrote:

"Inevitably, this won't necessarily suit those who plan to use the Pickenflick on road more than off but chainrings and/or chainsets can be upgraded easily"

But you cant, according to PX it wont take a standard road chainset.

That's the official line. I run a standard (well... compact) on mine with a couple of BB spacers on the right. Fine.

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bikerdavecycling | 10 years ago
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Aye, maybe not but seems silly to not put them on when it probably would cost very little to do so. They'd have a real Kinesis Tripster ATR alternative then (appreciate cheap price already gives them an massive advantage!).

Presumably the small ring clearance issues which put some people off because they want to run a 50/34 type of gearing can be easily overcome by fitting a 52/42/30 triple or something like that? That's what I'd potentially do as I run Campag usually.

Despite the mudguard eyelet thing, I'm so tempted to get rid of my crosser & road bike and move to one bike with this.

Hope you get the bike back Matt. That's not good news.

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STATO replied to | 10 years ago
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bikerdavecycling wrote:

Presumably the small ring clearance issues which put some people off because they want to run a 50/34 type of gearing can be easily overcome by fitting a 52/42/30 triple or something like that? That's what I'd potentially do as I run Campag usually.

Despite the mudguard eyelet thing, I'm so tempted to get rid of my crosser & road bike and move to one bike with this.

Hope you get the bike back Matt. That's not good news.

Apparently the 42/28 is the max it will run. Thats a dafter idea than not including guard mounts.

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mattsccm | 10 years ago
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Now the shorter TT works best for me being short. You can adjust the seat height much easier than the reach.

I don't think PX are worried about mass appeal and bosses etc will put of racers. Some don't even want bottle cage bosses.

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mattsccm | 10 years ago
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Now the shorter TT works best for me being short. You can adjust the seat height much easier than the reach.

I don't think PX are worried about mass appeal and bosses etc will put of racers. Some don't even want bottle cage bosses.

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bikerdavecycling | 10 years ago
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As I've just posted on Planet X's Facebook post I think they miss out here and with their XLS models by not having mudguard or rack eyelets. It would make the bike so much more flexible

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ped | 10 years ago
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Quote:

The top tube stretch is 10mm shorter than the seat tube.

This is out and out discrimination against those of us 'short of arse'. Shame on you On One, shame …

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mattsccm | 10 years ago
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These are great. I had one for a month until some git stole it on Thursday. will replace it.
The gearing is surprisingly good. Work it out . top is over 100" bottom is silly low.
I was running mine with an 11-25 which meant less gaps and was great 99% of the time.
Nothing else out there like this for sub2K that I have found.

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