Another round of news and rumors has come and here is the latest stuff that we can print……
Image courtesy of Origin 8’s Facebook page.
Carbon, Carbon, and More Carbon!: We’ve heard about this for months, someone introducing a carbon fiber 29″er frame. Well, now it is Origin 8’s turn. Here is their “Paladin” 29″er with painted to match carbon fork.
We don’t have any hard details but if what we are seeing on-line for pricing is true, this will be a very inexpensive choice for those looking to add some of that black, plasticky stuff to your big wheeled diet. How much? we’re hearing well under a grand.
And Speaking Of Carbon…. Quality Bicycle Products, the big distributor of bicycle parts headquartered in the MidWest, announced a new brand called “Whiskey”. The brand will be featured in an upcoming debut at QBP’s summer dealer show at its Utah facility in July.
The new brand will roll out unidirectional carbon parts for cross, road, and mountain bikes, including carbon forks. We don’t know, but we wouldn’t at all be surprised if this means that we will see something for the front end of a 29″er.
The parts are said to have been tested to “beyond CEN standards”, and should instill confidence in riders who are wanting to use carbon components on mountain bikes. It was also said in the press release that the Whiskey carbon bits would be much more subtle in graphic treatment than many carbon components on sale these days.
No mention of frames was made in the announcement, but since QBP brands are clearly lacking in the carbon fiber area concerning frames, it wouldn’t be a stretch to think that at some point we might be seeing such a thing. Look for more on Whiskey components come Interbike time.
Image courtesy of On One’s Facebook page.
On One Teases Snow/Fat Bike: On One, the U.K. based firm we have featured several times here on Twenty Nine Inches, has teased a bit from an upcoming snow/fat bike project they have been at work on since last winter. The image above shows a chain stay assembly.
From the image we can tell it will be a 170mm OD rear end, symmetrical standard, and may include some sort of swappable drop out system. The drop out idea wouldn’t be any surprise, considering the company we’re talking about here. The frames are said to be in prototype stage now, so no solid details on anything with regards to geometry.
We will update you all with more when we can get the details.
Fat Bike Update: Back in January and February we were featuring some posts on “fat bikes” and we had this test going on a Salsa Cycles Mukluk. I thought it only fair to re-visit this to let everyone know what was going on with that test.
Stalled out due to a bum hub….
There was a technicality involving the 170mmOD Phil Wood hub on the bike which I was hoping to get resolved quickly. However; due to problems at Phil Wood, the hub/wheel assembly is still in their hands and this test is stalled out for the time being. Until I can reach some resolution with regards to the hub, or decide to pursue a different path, I will have to postpone the review until further notice.
I apologize to any readers that were looking for more on the Mukluk. I fully intend to complete the review at some point. My intentions and hopes were that Phil Wood & Co. could resolve this situation in a more timely manner. So, there you have it. Look for more on the Mukluk when I can get a rear wheel up and going.
Charge “Cooker” 29″ers In Steel And Titanium Coming To The U.S.: Charge Bikes, who have a following in the U.K., have announced that they now intend to come to the U.S. with 29″ers in September, have shared the following information with us.
Our contact was with Charge Bike’s Neil Cousins. Neil shared with us what was up with the name on this particular bike: “”Cooker” is the model name for our 29″ bikes, keeping our kitchen-based naming system. We will have a Rigid, Mid and Hi models. The Ti frame is available separately.
We then asked Neil about the handling of this model, and what it was they were looking for in a 29″er: “Not all 29’ers are sluggish and slow as you know. Some of the not so well executed bikes we rode were sluggish and slow, it felt like you were steering in treacle. We set out to get a bike that felt sprightly and fun and keep those big wheels. We have gone quite steep up front with 71 degrees to get that nimble feeling back at slow speeds. On our steel models we have a 73.5 degree angle to sit you more evenly than other bikes. Some bikes sat you bolt upright over the bottom bracket and didn’t feel engaging.”
“The longer wheelbase and “sat in the bike feel” keep the stability at speed. We didn’t really have a problem with high speed stability on any of the bikes we rode. The bike isn’t anything new or revolutionary but conceived out of what we know already and the feel we wanted.”
Neil said Charge Bikes isn’t ready to announce pricing or distribution at this point but to expect an announcement on that “soon”. Until then, enjoy this video about the Cooker 29″er.
Cooker 29r – Charge Bikes from Charge Bikes on Vimeo.
Scott Spark 29″er: We don’t have much info on this image making the rounds on the internet, but this looks very interesting….
Thanks for reading and look for more News and Rumors soon……
QBP might roll out carbon head tube badges? Rawk!
I guess it could be a carbon headset, too… hopefully painted, available in a variety of Fruit Stripes colors.
What else goes on the front of a 29er? Ooooh I know a carbon fiber 142.5mm travel suspension fork! It’s got more! With 35mm stanchions just to frustrate everyone whose id demands an even bigger, thicker, (heavier)… fork.
On-One has more balls in the air right now than Rep Weiner tweets. Oh, yah, they also leaked what appears to be a Lenz Milk Money-esqe chainstay. And 8 pictures of painted Lurchers. More buzz, nothing to order.
D, you may not be interested in news of forthcoming models, but I think most of us who read this are.
Of course On-One has loads of balls in the air right now. They are an expanding progressive company. There would be something wrong if they didn’t have a number of models under development.
WIthout On-One 29ers would not have taken off in the UK. Their ability to provide good handling frames of a reasonable weight at a more than reasonable price ignited the market beyond the limited number of niche riders who were prepared to pay a premium for a bike with proper sized wheels.
I forecast that their adoption of fatbikes is going to kickstart the market for fat wheel bikes in the UK.
They will have to look for an alternative supplier of tyres though. The biggest impediment at the moment to building a fatbike in the UK is getting hold of Larry/Endomorph tyres.
Any chance you guys (and gals!) will be getting one of the new carbon Myka 29ers to test?
My bad, they’re calling it the Fate, not the Myka.
GT-Thanks for the update! Good report…Sorry to hear about Phil Woods troubles. I thought they were supposed to be bulletproof, both the hubs and their service. You pay a big premium for ….
Is the Charge titanium frame made by Lynskey? Are those Crank Brother’s Wheels in the photo?
Why do UK bike companies made their products after drug references? Brant Richard almost named his company “Crack head ho’s” as few years back. Do they not have meth heads in UK?
@dgaddis: We may be, but it depends on what their marketing department wants to do.
@yogi: I don’t think the Charge bike is U.S. sourced. The references are to kitchen products, by the way. Charge is famous for setting up complete kitchen show stands for their U.K. bike show.
Brant’s original name for his latest venture was to be “Tweak”, but yeah, it’s not a good translation for U.S. culture. Probably just as well he landed on Ragley Bikes. 😉
“US Sourced” that is awesome! Some of that preference may be attributed as a success to the NAHB shows. FYI – there are many people in and around TN building nice stuff. That region might be considered a cluster for high end frame building.
Sure thing… High end unfortunatelly means high price.
And Charege Bikes is synonymus of affordable price. Almost as affordable as On-One…
Cheers!
I.
@kurti_sc He said “I *don’t* think the Charge bike is U.S. sourced.”
Ah! thanks for the correction Anand. My enthusiasm has been dashed 🙁 and the only affordable – well, affordable is relative, let’s say “non-premium” – frames are still made elsewhere. I realize that the costs are associated with much of the quality and that’s fine, I just thought that this company was somehow bucking the trend.
Somehow British riding looks so cool to me. I’d much rather ride over whatever hill and dale those Charge guys were lost in than hit Moab. The dirt looks perfect.