The bike is a 2006 On-One Inbred 29er, a steel frame equipped with sliding
dropouts for single-speed use. It came with extra dropouts as
well for gears (as used by Carl Hutchings to take the same model to 2nd place
in this years Great Divide Race). Mine was used stock for a couple of winters
wet and muddy SSing, then got a makeover for the SDW double – basically
all the nice bits from my geared 29er (On-One Scandal, as used for the geared
SDW record back in 2007) were transplanted onto it for the attempt at
the singlespeed record.

The tubeless 29er wheelset was built by Jon at JustRidingAlong, using
Stans ZTR Arch rims and DT Swiss 240 hubs. A wide SS rear sprocket and
a spacer kit replaced the rear cassette, making it easy to change ratios.
In the end a 32:21 combination was used (because of the bigger wheels
this is roughly the same as 32:19 on 26″) – it turned out to be
maybe a tooth low for the ride but it certainly saved the legs!

Along with the wheels, the carbon bar and rigid White Bros 29er
carbon Forks also came off the geared bike. Braking is taken care of by
Hope Mono Minis with floating rotors, 180mm out front and 160mm at the
back (the floating rotors make nice pinging noises as they cool off after
a fast descent).

On such long rides the bar layout and contact points become very
important. Seating duties are therefore taken care of by a Fizik Gobi –
almost miraculously, still comfortable after 200 miles. Grips are
Ritchey WCS (foam) and pedals Shimano XTR. The usual 90mm stem was
swapped out for 110mm given the distance involved, to slow the
steering and get some extra room to stretch out.

From left to right the bars carry a 12W halogen lamp, Garmin GPS
and on the other side of the stem a Cateye computer, USE Joystick
MaXx LED light and a 5W halogen. The lighting set-up might seem overkill
but after an unfortunate experience with a HID failure on a fast night
descent, belt-and-braces is the order of the night. Even
on the 10-hour setting (for an 8-hour night) the Joystick gave
enough light to ride by, and cranking all the lights to max on the
descents never failed to put a grin on my face. Spacing the lights
right to the ends of the bars makes for great shadow detail and surface
relief, which helps a lot for fast night riding.

The bike ran absolutely flawlessly during the ride, it didn’t even need
the chain lubed and afterwards it didn’t need any attention either.
Just like any good SS, in fact. All-up weight (including pedals, excluding
lights and GPS) is 23lbs though it’ll weigh a bit more after the stock
forks and wheels go back on it. A good solid bike, it just did the job
and was ready for more. Rugged and sensible more than bling, admittedly,
and as Brant at On-One likes to say “It’s just a bike for riding”.