Love/Hate mini review

I promised I'd say a bit more about the new singlespeed. I can't claim to be much of an expert, I ride a singlespeed most of the time, and over the last few years the singlespeed has been an On One Inbred. I haven't thrown my leg over many different bikes (I believe that's how most reviews are done these days), so I can't be big on comparisons. But here goes...

First impressions. It looks cool and I like the slightly retro baby blue paint and gothic decals. Nice clean steel lines, fairly skinny tubes and an uncluttered look give it that efficient and purposeful singlespeed aura. The lack of cable guides might be a problem if I ever get round to gearing it, I'm not sure how Dialled Bikes expect you to do that (it is meant to be a geared/singlespeed after all). I probably won't ever stoop to this though, so no problem for me. The EBB looks a little chunky and perhaps a bit ugly, but if it works, I'm happy.

The first ride was a night ride from Hayfield in the Peak with our Peakmidweek bunch. It was to be a Christmas 'do' so we had a short ride and long pub-stop planned.

The lively and sharp handling seemed to translate into a reasonably planted and solid feel when climbing. That was a relief, I was concerned that the front end would lift too easy, but no worries there. The frame feels stiffer than the Inbred, maybe the big EBB shell is partly responsible for that, but still has a nice steel twang when really stomping on the pedals.

Descending was where I hit problems. I suggested a nice rocky and steep descent to the pub, a cheeky trail that none of the others had done. The Inbred was a bit 'point and shoot' on these sort of descents and loved to crash its way through rock gardens. The steeper head angle on the L/H needed more concentration and I wasn't 'dialled' into this sort of riding. I took a bad line and was off, rolling around in the heather giggling like a big kid. After this, I lost my mojo and everything went tits up. I was glad to get to the pub.

I came away from that ride thinking I had made a mistake choosing the L/H. The clear light of day, and a bit of a hangover, made me realise that steep technical nightriding is not the way to test out a new bike.

I got to know the bike over the next couple of rides, and my aging synapses gradually relearnt how to handle a ride like this. The handling has now gone from 'ooh-er it's a bit twitchy' to an instinctive 'I think about where I want to go - and I'm there!' The involving nature of the ride has livened up some of my trails and it certainly is a bit more capable than the old Inbred on the nadgery stuff (think steep step downs, trialsy rock gardens and tight singletrack). And despite the budget tubes on it, it still has a nice steel feel. Yes, Im happy.

Love/Hate

The Love/Hate is a month old now and it turns out that the name is spot on.

Dialled Bikes make it - see the link above. It is a no nonsense steel frame, butted Reynolds 520 tubing, so reasonable quality, but not bling enough to make me cry when I drop it. It has a lovely baby blue paint job which seems pretty thick after the Inbred's 'fart and it'll fall off' paint job. I built it up one December evening in an hour and a half! Aren't simple bikes great? It got all the same bits tansferred from the Inbred apart from a new SKF bottom bracket and a Chris King headset that has been sat in my spares box for more than a year.

First impressions from riding it around the street where I live were to prove quite accurate. It's a sprightly creature, turning eagerly and sharply, although it feels quite planted and solid. The front end lifts nicely and the top tube seems noticeably shorter than the Inbred. I was a bit concerned about how it would handle on steep ups and rocky drops... I was to find out quite soon.

Bye bye Inbred

It's been a long and happy relationship. We've been together 4 years, so the flush of new love and the novelty wore off long ago and we've been settled into a comfortable coexistence for some time. There comes a point though, where the little things begin to annoy, and if you let them, they can grow out of all proportion....

Enough of that twaddle, I've got rid of the Inbred. The fact that it didn't have a disc mount, and that I had to use a disc adapter combined with horizontal dropouts, was getting on my wick. Every time I took the wheel out was a right faff, and dealing with a flat tyre on a night ride, in the pissing rain was made much worse than it already was. I'd persevered with it for too long really, just because I loved the way it rode so much, and felt a real emotional attachment to it, something I have never done for any other bike.

The replacement took some thought. A disc ready Inbred wasn't available right now, that would have been the first choice. It needed to be something quite cheap and simple, my singlespeed is my everyday, bread-and-butter, workhorse type bike. I didn't want something that made me wince every time a rock hit it or a new scratch appeared. It needed to be steel, because that just feels right on a single.

The one that took my fancy was the Love/Hate, an EBB (eccentric bottom bracket) frame by Dialled Bikes. Dialled are one of the newish british microbrands to follow in the muddy footsteps of On One (Cotic and Pastey are other examples). My friend Wayne has just got one, I had a car park spin on it, so knew the sizing was OK, and he was having a lot of fun with it. So off the order went, a week before Christmas. More about it later...

I couldn't sell the Inbred, it was just too shonky. I couldn't leave it in a skip at the tip either, that would have upset me. I asked around if any of my riding pals wanted it, no one did, but then they are mostly bling loving shortarses. I put it up on the Singletrackworld classifieds as a freebie and got quite a few responses. The 'winner' is coming along to pick it up this weekend. I'll have to try and resist behaving like a father meeting his daughter's first boyfriend - "If I find out you haven't been treating her right, there will be trouble..."

Back online...

Hey, I'm back at last after more than a month. My disappearance can be blamed on - broken laptop/wireless connection, being mad busy at work, Christmas craziness and a small dose of apathy.

I'll try and get on here a bit more in future. That's not a New Years Resolution or anything though, so I make no promises...