Thoughts on On-One Whippet 29er

[The Kilt]

I have been a big fan of On-One bikes in the past, owning a 26" Inbred, 29" Inbred (which i regret selling massively) and a 45650b which was great fun but on the small side. All bikes handled very well, but their latest lineup of bikes havent thrilled me with their slack angles etc and have been a lot more expensive. I purchase the latest 29" Inbred frame for £160 and their other frames at the moment are on the more expensive side.
However i need a bike for commuting and forest thrashing, and they have a good deal with the 29er Whippet rigid (https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/YBOOWHGX/on-one-whippet-sram-gx-carbon-fork-mountain-bike) I havent had a carbon bike before, so has anyone had any experiances with these? any quality issues? i would like to try something lighter, and would hope that this carbon frame/fork combo would be lighter than the steel inbred with Surley steel forks!

 

[27motorhead]

I have an Planet-X Dirty Harry which must be about 10 years old. Haven't ridden it loads but it goes like stink. This was back when Whippets were still 26" and this was their first 29" carbon XC race offering. Build wise it's OK. Not the best quality vs. premium brands and I had a stripped threaded t-nut on the rear caliper mount which was easy to resolve, but amazing bang for your buck. They lack kudos, but we're all adults now and who cares what sticker is on frame when your hacking along the trails. Whippets have been going for ages, so too have On-One/Planet-X. I'd go for it, you won't have any regrets. The only unknown for me are SRAM groupsets. Never owned a bike with one.

 

[brocklanders023]

I had one of these until recently and can confirm they are decent. I bought it a year or so ago when they were cheap as I'd never had a modern XC bike and wanted to compare it to my gravel bike. They ride very much old school and not like the modern stuff as the bottom bracket is pretty high and the riding position far more upright than the current trend but this makes it very comfortable. Compared to my gravel it was slower on road, similar on the canal paths + mild off road and better the rougher the terrain became. My mate still rides a 29er Inbred and the Whippet isn't a million miles away to be honest, although much lighter.

Budget to change the tyres and go tubeless as the ones on mine were very heavy and the ride was transformed when I changed. The Sram SX I had was rubbish but GX is meant to be a fair bit better. All the finishing kit is perfectly adequate. Make sure you have a good check of the bike when delivered as the box mine came in was very thin and I suspect part of my gear problems came from the rear mech getting bent in transit, as well as a scuff on the seat stay. Oh, think about getting a larger front chainring too if riding on road as I found the gearing a bit high.

Sold mine as I needed to pay for a car clutch and tbh, I liked the bike but never became particularly attached to it so it was easy to let go. Sounds like just the job for your needs though and they are mega value. If you want any more info let me know.

 

[27motorhead]

definitely run tubeless!

 

[The Kilt]

I had one of these until recently and can confirm they are decent. I bought it a year or so ago when they were cheap as I'd never had a modern XC bike and wanted to compare it to my gravel bike. They ride very much old school and not like the modern stuff as the bottom bracket is pretty high and the riding position far more upright than the current trend but this makes it very comfortable. Compared to my gravel it was slower on road, similar on the canal paths + mild off road and better the rougher the terrain became. My mate still rides a 29er Inbred and the Whippet isn't a million miles away to be honest, although much lighter.

Budget to change the tyres and go tubeless as the ones on mine were very heavy and the ride was transformed when I changed. The Sram SX I had was rubbish but GX is meant to be a fair bit better. All the finishing kit is perfectly adequate. Make sure you have a good check of the bike when delivered as the box mine came in was very thin and I suspect part of my gear problems came from the rear mech getting bent in transit, as well as a scuff on the seat stay. Oh, think about getting a larger front chainring too if riding on road as I found the gearing a bit high.

Sold mine as I needed to pay for a car clutch and tbh, I liked the bike but never became particularly attached to it so it was easy to let go. Sounds like just the job for your needs though and they are mega value. If you want any more info let me know.

Thanks for that, great info. I am going ahead with it, so will report back. Its the first time i will be running sram brakes and groupset for a long time (X9 groupo and elixers were the last i had!), so will have to see how this goes. Im normally a Shimano guy and much prefer the brakes, but can slowley and slighly updgrade (wife not knowing!), hub is normally the first thing. I am not hugely keen on tubeless to be honest, i have always had better experience with tubes. But I will plan on getting better tyres too.

 

[brocklanders023]

I think the brakes on mine were Sram Guide R's. They were okay without being brilliant but not a patch on Shimano. As mentioned, I had the SX build and I could never get it to index properly but that could have been down to it being bent or the fact SX is terrible. GX is much better apparently. My plan if I'd kept it was to change it to 2x10 Shimano as there's a front mech mount and I thought that would suit the bike better. It's worth remembering that Shimano 12sp is compatible with Sram 12, unlike the 11sp stuff so you can mix and match if you want.

 

[coomber]

I'm a shimano fan, but the level brakes aren't that bad actually. Pretty reliable. That price, that bike is a bargain