Project White: Finishing Details

That's a wrap....for now!

The Finish:

Okay, well....here it is! The On One Inbred Single Speed Limited Edition. She's all done, and it has been ridden a bit.  Following are some finer details for those who may be curious.

Changes: From Project Black, the wheels are different, the tires are different, and the fork is obviously different. Otherwise everything else transferred over to the Inbred. Again, I envisioned this to become a test mule for TNI.com, so the wheels and tires are on test, they will change at some point. Those wheels are pre-built Deore XT wheels with a 15mm through axle front/ 9mm quick release rear. The tires are tubeless Michelin Wild Grip'R 2.25"ers. The fork, necessary to support the axle standard on the wheel, is an RST First model with 100mm travel. I'll be mentioning some possible future changes later on here.....

The Look:

Visually this Inbred has a lot more appeal to my eyes than did the Vassago. That has a lot to do with the Vassago's odd short seat tube/head tube, which necessitated a bizarre set up to make it work for me. The Inbred looks far more natural here.

I didn't mind the blackness of the Vassago, but I gotta tell ya- the pearly sheen of On One's white paint is really a nice touch that doesn't really show well in images.  The wealth of black components here really work well with the amount of whiteness going on with the Inbred.

Of course, the lack of extra, unnecessary braze ons is a plus to my eyes as well. No odd tumor on the seat tube, no cable stop on the chain stay or seat stay "just hanging out there." No derailleur hangar dangling in the breeze. That may not be a big deal to a lot of folks, but I like the idea of a clean line and the idea that this frame, and those who ride them, are committed.

Impressions:

So, the big question is "what do I think"?  I did get to ride the bike a bit the past few days, and here are my initial impressions...

The Vassago geometry features a low bottom bracket. Well, you figure out real quick that the Inbred does not follow suit! I saddled up and found that the saddle was a bit higher than I remembered on the Vassago. Otherwise the only other initial thing I felt was the odd feel at the bars. The Vassago felt great with that stem and bar combo, but the Inbred had a floppy, vague feel at the bars that won't do. That stem and bar will eventually be replaced with a short, 80mm stem and some really wide bars. I may lower the bars on the steer tube at that point as well.

The ride was a bit colored, I think, by the super supple Michelin tires I was running there on lower pressures to handle the snow and ice. But there was definitely the feeling of a good steel frame. I will have to hold off on final judgement until I can hit some "real" trail with this thing with the cock pit dialed in the way I would like.

I'll tell ya what- I am thinking this will be a better, more of a lively rig than the Vassago was. Time will tell.....