Forked

Original '06 Inbred fork (L) and Carbon Superlight fork from On One (R)

The tale of my old 2006 (it may actually have been an '05 model) On One Inbred 29"er continues. A brief recap in case you haven't been around here for long:

I purchased a close out On One Inbred 29"er frame and fork very early in 2006, (thus the possibility that it actually is an '05 model), and built it up as a single speed which I then used in the inaugural Dirty Kanza 200. Sometime later in 2006 I got an On One Carbon Superlight fork to mount on it and the steel fork was retired by myself, never to be used again by me. Fast forward to 2008 and I sold the frame with the original fork to a co-worker with the caveat that I had first dibs on buying it back should he ever want to get rid of it.

Meanwhile the Superlight fork made a few appearances on other bikes but was retired and eventually I sold that fork in either 2015 or early last year to another co-worker. Okay, so the original frame came back to me in May of last year, I believe it was, but with no fork. Then the original fork came back later in the year last November. So.......the old bike could be built up, right?

Actually, this brings us up to the story as it sits now. So, here is the latest.

Team Stoopid- First place 12hr Team category. We all rode rigid single speeds!

The Inbred is a special bicycle to me, not only for the DK 200 run I had on it, but also because I had used that bike for the only event I ever got a first place in. Well......it was a team event, but we came in first place. It was the 2007 Iowa 24hr Race held near Boone Iowa. I raced on a team which all used rigid single speed devices and we entered the 12 hr category. So, while it wasn't a well contested category, (we may have been the only team in the 12hr category, I am not sure), we still got first place. So, the Inbred had a special place in my heart.

Yes, I probably should never have sold it, but c'mon! We've all sold something we wish later we wouldn't have. Anyway, this is my "I shouldn't have....." and I got it and the fork back. Amazing, right?

It sure looked like I was going to be well on my way to putting the Inbred back together. However; in the years that the Inbred was with my co-worker, it led a life of hard use. The co-worker lent the bike to a brother who needed a mountain bike, then the fork was separated and sold off to someone in Colorado who rode it hard. Really hard. When the fork came back it was in rough shape. There was rust, there were plenty of scuffs, and a scratch that concerned me. Maybe it wasn't a scratch? I needed to investigate. I wasn't about to ride a fork that was compromised in any way. So, I took it to the deep looking scratch with Mother's Mag polish, hoping that it was only a deep scratch in the paint. However; upon further application of "elbow grease", it became apparent that it was something much more serious. It was a crack.

Ah! Forked!

This fork was no good.

That put me in somewhat of a pickle, since straight steer tube, 1 1/8th forks with long off sets and 470mm axle to crown heights are pretty scarce these days. Back in 2007 they were a dime a dozen, but ten years down the road they are antiques. A cursory search on the innergoogles brought up almost nothing, so I decided to shelve the project until I could bring myself to slap on a G2 offset Reba I happen to have which would have worked. I just didn't want to use any suspension fork because I never had used one on the old Inbred and I wasn't about to now.

The project was out of mind until last week when I noted that the coworker who had the On One Superlight fork was interested in selling the fork back to me. We made an agreement, and last Friday I got a hold of that fork and it is in excellent condition. This means that the Inbred project is back on again.

The ironic thing is that the Inbred was set up with the Carbon Superlight for the Iowa24hr team event I was in. So, it is a good deal that I was at least able to obtain that fork again. It preserves the geo/handling the Inbred was designed for, and obviously, it is lighter.

Stay tuned for more later on in the Spring......