After spending many hours on the OS Bikes Blackbuck frame doing various fork tests, I can now write up my final review for this steel single speed steed.

In all of my testing, the Blackbuck became an extension of my riding experience and I must say, it was easy for that to happen. First and foremost, the frame fit me. This is even a bigger deal when you know that there is only one size available with 29″er wheels. (OS did show a 650B in a smaller size at Interbike 2008, but there is no word on when it might be available as of this writing) This stinks for all who fall outside of the approximately size Large frame. That is because this frame rocks.

Most folks point at the rear of the Blackbuck and wonder if the gracefully arcing seat stays have anything to do with the ride quality of the frame. I suppose they might be thinking that it has some vertical compliance mojo going on there. Really, it never felt anything other than what a great steel frame should feel like. Well……a great single speed frame, I should say. This frame is actually stiff in the rear end, which I greatly appreciated when mashing up a hill out of the saddle. The Blackbuck never rubbed on my tires, even though the WTB Weir Wolf LT, which was on the back for most of this review, filled the stays up to near capacity. If the rear triangle of this bike displayed any amount of lateral flex, I would have heard about it. I even inspected the rear triangle without a wheel in it last night just to be sure. Nope! Not a rub mark to be found!

Speaking of mud clearance, it isn’t huge. As I said though, I ran probably the largest cased 29″er tire out there in the rear. If you ran a narrower tire, the mud clearances would be just fine. As it was, I did manage to pack up the Blackbuck once so badly that the wheels quit turning!

When it comes to ways to tension the chain on a single speed, it gets to be almost as intense a debate as the Hatfield’s versus the McCoy’s. Some won’t even look at an eccentric bottom bracket, and even within that camp there are disensions. Well, you don’t hear too much about the “split shell” eccentric, since it is a bit rare to see. However; the split shell is a fantastic way to single speed. I never had any troubles with the split shell creaking, although towards the end it would “pop” occaisionally. I only mention this because it did make a noise, but I also never cleaned that area of the bike for several months. Honestly, I was too busy swapping out forks! A bit of cleaning and I rid myself of that occaisional pop, and other than that, the system is so easy to use and reliable, I have found it to be my favorite singlespeed tensioning system yet. (I have used track ends, traditional pinch bolt EBB’s, Bushnell EBB’s, On One sliders, and Paragon sliders.)

This frame comes with an option to buy a rigid fork. But not just any ol’ rigid fork, no! This fork has a short, short axle to crown and a whopping 51mm offset. I won’t go into too much detail here because I wrote about this specific subject here earlier this year.

All in all, this is a crazy deal for what you get, and especially when you consider that only 100 of these have been produced. If you happen to fit one, I highly recommend looking at a Blackbuck a bit closer. It rides really well, performs exceptionally as a single speed, and is a great looking rig to boot.