 |
| The Inbred as it appeared in June of this year. |
It's THAT time of year again when I have my year-end reviews. This series will cover my bikes I used during 2020, any changes made, and why I still like each one- or don't! Thanks for reading!
This bike has quite a history with me and I haven't really ridden it much in many years, and in fact, it didn't belong to me for a long time. This bike is one I sold a long time ago to a former co-worker of mine. At that time, we were working together, and Craig got the bike and rode it on one of the old Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitationals back in the day. Then Craig gave it to his brother, it spent a long time in Kansas, and one day, it showed up again on my bench at work. Craig gave the husk of the bike back to me!
So, I eventually built it back up with drop bars and used it earlier this year as a way to test some big MTB tires for gravel in a review for RidingGravel.com. It was 'okay' as a drop bar bike, but there was something that just didn't quite feel right to me about that set up. Not enough to make me get around to switching parts and experimenting on it though. I just kept riding it for the review and then I figured I'd get around to swapping out parts this Winter.
However; another item which came in, the Archer Components D1x electronic shifting system, came up for review. I needed a flat bar bike to test it with and that was the impetus I needed to swap the Inbred back out to flat bar controls. At first, I put the Whisky Parts Co. Millhouse Bar on it but that was a ridiculous set up. So, I swapped bars with the Snow Dog, which had a pre-production carbon bar that Brant Richards, then of Ragley Bikes, gave to me.
 |
| You cannot really see the handle bars here, but trust me- they are not drop bars! |
So now I have these weird, bent bars on it that resemble the old On One Fleegle Bars in a way, and flat bar controls, of course, with a flatter stem than before. the result is that the On One Inbred now rides like it is supposed to ride. It's definitely not a drop bar rig!
So, in the future I am not sure how I will handle this bike. Originally it was my single speed bike and it handles Mid-West single track superbly well. It also makes a great flat bar gravel bike as I found out when I rode this bike in the first Dirty Kanza in 2006. This is from an era where 29"ers had to be a jack of all trades to make sure they sold at all. So, this Inbred supported cantilever brakes with these funky, bolt on brake bosses, (which I still have), a sliding rear drop out that is so diminutive it almost isn't there, and cable routes for a fully geared set up. The only thing these early 29"ers didn't have was a ton of braze-ons. That craze didn't start to happen until the Fargo came around.
I suppose I will make this another single speed, eventually. I mean, why not? It would be kind of a tribute build to mimic my 2006 DK bike set up, although some things I had then could not be recreated on this bike today. Anyway...... It's fun to have this back and up and running again.
I still have my 2003 26" geared On-one Inbred and keep thinking about putting it back into service. Where I am in the Surrey Hills (south of London UK), it can still be a versatile bit of kit and it rides so well.
ReplyDeleteI used to have it singlespeed (white with pink anodising, which seemed to wind people up no end!) and it always felt like a big BMX. 100mm fork travel is plenty enough for fun.
Nowadays, it feels tiny, even though it was always touted as having a long top tube. Well, long compared to what?? Compared to the roomy cockpits MTB riders have grown used to it feels cramped, but that may be down to the bars I have (Easton EC90s at 680mm!). In singlespeed guise I had some 720mm bars, which suited it much better. Too wide and the frame flex ruins it though.
As it currently sits, with narrower bars and a 2x10 setup, it feels - and is - markedly slower than any modern bike. But a winter of UK mud-plugging would probably suit it down to the ground...