One One Scandal 29er Review

[MintSauce]

After my weekend in Cape Town I headed

back to Hermanus on Monday and left my MTB behind, thinking I needed

to put in some road miles.

 

However, after my Tuesday night road

ride my mates decided a MTB ride would be in order for Wednesday.

Being without a bike, I dropped crashtestdummy a mail Wednesday

morning and asked if the offer to take his new steed out for a spin

still stood.

 

An hour later he dropped it off at my

office. Great service....told him to give himself a raise!

 

Now if CTD is known for one

thing(besides injuring himself while riding) it's the fact that his

bikes are not the best maintained ones. There were some minor brake

issues. Firstly, the back brake makes a hideous noise while riding, a

result of some discrub. I put it down to either a badly warped rotor

as the rub is inconsistent or a slightly bent but still usable rotor

combined with a stuck piston. The front brake has hectic squeel and

when you press through the squeel you encounter....absolutely

nothing. There's ZERO bite. It's pretty useless.

 

None the less, the bike was ridable so

I thought I'd leave the repair work to him and just get on with it.

 

My first thought once hitting the road

on the way to the trail was that the bike felt very sluggish. Granted

a 29er is always going to feel ever so slightly slower under

acceleration, but once it's up to speed it's generally easier to

maintain momentum. I have ridden a few 29ers and none of them felt as

sluggish as this bike.

 

I'm not quite sure what the cause for

this would be. I suspect that the brake rub might play a part,

although judging by how freely the wheel spins when I lift the bike I

think not. I suspect it might have something to do with the wheels.

 

He bought one of kiwi's rolling chassis

kits which include the frame, RST M-29 fork, and wheels and tyres.

The tyres are Kenda Nevegal 2.2's. Now these are not known to be the

easiest rolling or lightest tyres around. I think he also runs it

with tubes as opposed to tubeless, will have to confirm. This all

adds a lot of additional rotational weight that might be why the bike

feels so sluggish and take so much effort to keep momentum up.

 

Perhaps TitusTi will be kind enough to

lend the man a set of his vast selection of 29er treads so we can see

what this baby feels like then...?

 

As for the bike itself, it was more of

what I've come to expect of a 29er. As usual it rolls over rocks with

ease and makes for much easier going over any sort of trail

imperfections. There are some that expect it to compensate for the

lack of rear suspension. I wouldn't take it quite that far, but it

certainly is easier to get over obstacles in your way. I was hitting

technical sections with confidence in no time.

 

When it comes to cornering, the bike

had a lot to live up to. I'd ridden an On One Inbred 26er and loved

that. It was one of those bikes that just feels right under you and I

was kind of expecting this to feel the same.

 

I was once again impressed by how well

these 29ers carve. They really do feel more stable and secure when

you lean them over in a turn. It's hard to explain, but you'll know

it when you ride one.

 

The bike responded to steering

inputs very well. And I don't mean 'for a 29er'....I mean compared to

any bike. It's not quite as precise and responsive as the Niner EMD9

I've tried, but very close.

 

The fork was very impressive,

especially at the price. R 2372 including remote lockout. I'd feel

bad complaining about anything. Truth is that there is nothing to

complain about. It was very smooth and seemed well damped, soaking up

big and small hits as best as you could expect of an 80mm travel

fork. It can be set to 100mm if you so wish.

 

One other standout component was the On

One Fleegle bar. Although I had been keen to try one for some time, I

wasn't sure how I'd cope with the serious sweep on this bar. I'm

still not sure if I'd go for it. It certainly didn't affect handling

at all, whether seated or standing. It provides a more natural wrist

position and as such makes perfect sense. It might just take a bit

more time on the bike to get better acquainted with it.

 

Overall, a lovely performing bike that

is beautifully made.

 

I didn't quite manage to bond with it

the way I did with the 26in Inbred, but I was nonetheless very

impressed with the overall feel of the bike.

 

Hopefully we can experiment with some

lighter tyres and/or wheels. If the bike can be made to feel a bit

more lively under power it will be an even more impressive ride.

 

 

MintSauce2009-02-19 04:26:02

[Velouria]

Nice report - although I think we would get a very different report if we were to ask CTD to write one. I think he treats this bike like the runt of the litter - it gets the occasional bit of attention, but only when all the other bikes are busy or broken.

 

Those bars are quite hectic - a bit like riding an old Post Office bike.

 

I would still like to get one of these though!

 

[TitusTi]

Did you just try and help yourself to some of my tires?

[MintSauce]

 

Did you just try and help yourself to some of my tires?

 

 

Erm....I was appealing to your kind and generous nature....oh wait.....wrong person.

 

Velouria....he treats all his bikes equally bad! There was a pic that the LBS circulated a few years ago of the internals of his previous bike's fork. Scary sh*t!

 

Back to the bike....I just glanced over what I wrote earlier and I feel it might reflect a bit negatively, so just to make my stance clear, I loved the bike!

 

I'm kind of hoping CTD doesn't read what I said about lightening the wheels, gets sick of it, decides 29ers aren't for him and in a cloud of disappointment flogs it to me for half of what he paid for it!

 

 

 

 

[Flea]

Maybe we should lend it TT to get a second (third) opinion  - help us all?

[Velouria]

 

I'm kind of hoping CTD doesn't read what I said about lightening the wheels' date=' gets sick of it, decides 29ers aren't for him and in a cloud of disappointment flogs it to me for half of what he paid for it!

 

[/quote']

 

That was my plan!!!!! (Especially after I helped him out with his new frame)

 

[TitusTi]

Maybe we should lend it TT to get a second (third) opinion  - help us all?

 

If all goes well I'll be race test a Scandal 29'er at the Argus mtb, let you all know what I thought then.

[_Daemon_]

Found this old thread, and what did you guys think of the on-one 29er? I am quite tempted to try one out.

[Flea]

TT did you race the 29er on the Argus?

[TitusTi]

TT did you race the 29er on the Argus?

 

Naah, sale of my other 29'er fell through so I couldn't get this one. Woulda been cool but alas so be it.

[Guttersnipe]

I have dibs on one of the new ones that can run single speed or geared as soon as Kiwi gets it in from Taiwan. Wheels, Reba, etc arrived from CRC last week, but I am planning to run it mostly with a rigid carbon fork ... we'll see - I am buying purely on gut feel, I've never even been on a 29er, and I have a pretty light Blur XC that a like a lot.

[crashtestdummy]

Minty you little critter, I?ve only just read this. In my defense I did at least warn you about the breaks and didn?t leave you to find out the hard way, not like the seat and seat post you left me with.<?: prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

 

I love my Scandal, it's fantastic on rocky sections, incredibly smooth in technical single track and that rolling over things is definitely not a myth. I would recommend this bike to anyone on a budget looking for a softer ride that a 26? HT

[MintSauce]

I confess. I left the seat adjusted to my position because Velouria's wife told me that if I don't she was going to make me regret it. She mumbled something about "making sure he doesn't beat Velouria again".

 

She sounded serious! You know how scary she can be!

 

BTW....telling me the front brake is "a little soft" is a long way from it being completely and utterly useless!

 

 

 

[Velouria]

 

I confess. I left the seat adjusted to my position because Velouria's wife told me that if I don't she was going to make me regret it. She mumbled something about "making sure he doesn't beat Velouria again".

 

She sounded serious! You know how scary she can be!

 

BTW....telling me the front brake is "a little soft" is a long way from it being completely and utterly useless!

 

 

 

She did? I knew she was competitive, but that is just plain nasty. I'll have to have a word with her.

 

Anyway, it didn't work