Monday 25 March 2013

On One Macinato - New bike build

It's been a long winter, and a quite one for me with not much riding done and not a lot to blog about, hence it's been a while since i've posted. I have got a new build project though, as i took advantage of On One's sell off of frames and forks in January to bag myself a set of Macinato frame and forks for a very reasonable £128.00 all in.
The Mac is On One's urban fixie/SS frameset and as i had a load of spare parts and wheels after my rebuild of my Pompino it had to be done. I had bought the Pomp as a cheap way to keep riding after i had my inbred mtb stolen as at the time i was out of work and couldn't afford to replace it.
I originally intended for the Pomp to be a fixie for riding round town on but after riding it a few times i just knew i had to build it up as a single speed cross, it just begged to be ridden offroad and i was more than happy to oblige.
I wasn't happy riding my pomp in town and leaving it locked up after spending so much on upgrading it, so that brings me back to the Macinato, like i said it was a no brainer with all parts i had lying round and just the job for a bit of cheap stylish urban transport. It's a nice looking frame and for the money you can't complain, sure the paint jobs on On One's are a bit thin but pound for pound they are hard to beat. I can't tell you what it rides like yet as it needs a crank as i had to cut the original crank of the pomp rendering it useless. The only other parts i've had to buy are the Sram Apex brakes. I'm not sure what bars i'll use yet so i'll try it with flats,risers and drops to find which i prefer, i've got them lying round so i might aswell have a play around.
I'm going to give fixed gear another try but not sure the local terrain suits it as there's a lot of hills but i'll give it a go. The first time i tried it i got a bit cocky and was sprinting out of the saddle when i unconciously stopped peddaling and the next thing i know i'm peeling my face of the tarmac and trying to pick my bike up with a dislocated collar bone ! Any hows here's the new toy !

Thought I would update this post with a pic of the finished Macinato.  It rides lovely, smooth but firm because of the 23c Vitoria tyres. It's only cost me a couple of hundred quid to get this bike built because of all the parts I had spare but I don't think it detracts from it, I think it looks the part.  I've not been able to ride it all that much yet but will be rectifying that as soon I can.

The finished Macinato

Wednesday 20 March 2013

Want it Wednesday-Engin Cycles Single Speed CX


It's been a while since I last posted mainly because I havn't had much to post about so I thought I'd join in with Jez Andrews Want it Wednesday over at followingthechainline blog which was a good way to ease myself back into the blogging saddle.
I hope Jez won't mind as he has done a want it with Engin mtb's, but when I saw Engin's single speed CX I just had to do a want it.
Engin's are a bit special being totaly bespoke with rider specific tubesets using tubes from all the main players and painted on decals. Engin's SSCX is part of a new wave as cross is really big in the states right now and is growing beyond the traditional side of cross with it's hour long race format into a more longer endurance format called gravel grinding or graveling, using off the beaten tracks.

l think you will agree it's a really nice bike and it's my want it wednesday !

ENGIN SSCX