Hi everyone, I hope you're safe and healthy out there through these crazy pandemic times!
For me I felt the need to build another bike, it had to be a cheap hardtail, what else,
and that's how I discovered this Octane One hardtail, let's take a closer look!
For those of you that associate NS Bikes with Poland you're correct, this is the sister company of NS Bikes
that were well known for their dirt jumpers.
These days they are making all kind of bikes.
My frame is an Octane One Prone 29er small size in red,
you can see that this is manufactured in Poland
unlike many other bikes these days that are manufactured in China or Taiwan.
I bought it online but these days you can find it in North America they do have a few distributors
And here it is! This is the red color they have a black and the blue.
And aside from the frame all you have here it's a little baggie with the rear axle.
Yes, this is a real Boost thru axle and a few pieces of hardware.
You have foam protecting the dropouts and the head tube
and otherwise the frame is all wrapped in bubble wrap.
The only other protection for the frame is this piece of foam here.
Interestingly as I removed this from the bag you can see metal shavings that came out of that bag as well
I hope that doesn't mean anything.
For those of you following my channel you know that my last winter project was this Brand-X frame
that's a 27.5 that I had to do a lot of modifications on it
just to bring it to a standard where I could install a dropper post and run the cable smoothly.
I have all that documented on my channel
but if I am to compare the 170 dollars that I spent on that frame with the 270 that I spent on this one
I think I would pick the Octane One frame every time, and this is why.
The paint has a few blemishes here and there, meaning that it's not a Lexus like quality
but otherwise if you see this red in person, I'm telling you, you're gonna just love it in an instant.
It's just a deep colored burgundy red that looks absolutely awesome, camera doesn't do justice to it.
Second, this is a true Boosted thru axle frame.
No more 135 QR, no more 141 Boost and all that jazz.,
This is modern in every possible way and it provides a 73 millimeter shell for a threaded bottom bracket.
You have a drainage hole here on the bottom bracket and
all cables and hoses for this frame are run externally.
You can see the clips here that's for your shifter cable, over there for the brake hose
and then they continue underneath the top tube right here
31.6 mm seat tube, 34.9 seat tube clamp which is not provided by the way,
and you do have the frame prepped for an internally routed dropper post.
That information is also provided here in this tiny user manual that's included in the bag.
Also in the bag you will find these clips and bolts that will help you
attach that cable onto the down tube all the way up to your headset.
There's 3 of them provided but it would be interesting to see how do I install a bottle cage here
because it's going to be raised from one side.
This bolt would be common for the bottle cage and also the clip provided.
They also provide a rubber grommet that I really struggle to find for my other build
or a plug if you don't plan to install a dropper at all.
The head tube allows for tapered forks,
also if you look here you'll see that the bearings will sit into the frame
so that means that these are integrated headsets IS42 / 52 as you see it here.
Also in the manual you're going to see that these frames are supposed to use 120 to 140 millimeter forks
but the geometry provided for the prone is with 120 millimeter fork.
And if you take a closer look at this geometry numbers
you're gonna see that this frame is actually quite modern by any standard without being too too crazy.
You have a 74.5 seat tube angle, you have a 66.5 head tube angle,
the reach is neither too long or too short by today's standards,
the top tube is not too short either,
so all good reasons to actually consider this for a good hardtail trail ready.
This little user manual also mentions the biggest tire you can fit in this frame and that would be 29 x 2x35
but remember this is a 29er so you can put a 27.5 with a fatter tire like 2.8,in here
I'm very curious to see if I can fit a 2.8, if not a 2.6 rear would do.
The derailleur hanger is provided in this little baggie
and it is common for a few of the NS Bikes today.
I would always recommend to buy a new derailleur hanger spare when you buy the new frame.
The second part of this little user manual it's a warranty card.
They cover any defects for 1 year.
Obviously, if you are like me in North America, I don't think I'm ever going to ship this to Poland
regardless of what happens to it.
Weight of this small frame is 2008 grams or 2 kg, the medium is supposed to come up at 2.2 kilograms.
All in all I'm pretty excited about this little frame and I can't wait to build it,
and it's almost almost ready to go if you remember that you don't have a seat post clamp so 34.9, you gotta get one.
Chainstay protection non-existent you gotta apply something.
The paint is beautiful but if you read some of the reviews people complain that this is easily damaged
so I'm going to have to cover it with some 3M tape.
I do that for all the frames anyway.
And because of the IS (integrated headset) you cannot install any angled headset
to change that 66.5 degrees in any way
so you would have to install a longer fork if you want this even slacker than the 66.5 degrees.
And to my surprise, this bottom bearing of the headset doesn't really go in smoothly
so I'm gonna take a 120 grit sandpaper and just polish the inside of it.
I think it's just a bit of paint overspray.
And here it is installed!
I didn't mention the lack of ISCG 05 tabs here around the bottom bracket.
There are some interesting welds here around the bottom bracket as well,
and I didn't mention it but the chainstays are 425 mm which is fairly short for a 29er.
You can see here I've already applied some protection actually there is film applied here on the frame as well.
I'm not going for anything super fancy.
If you look here this is the 3M Scotchgard that you can find online, you find strips that are 4 inches wide
and this rubbery material is actually this
Scotch moisture sealing electrical tape which is actually thick and rubbery
so fairly easy to find if you want to prep your frame.
What do you guys plan to build for this winter?
Have you ever used Octane One frames or bikes?
What about NS Bikes?
Let me know what you think in the comments below.
If you found this useful don't forget to like subscribe,
let me know if you have any questions
and until next time hope to see you guys on the trails.
Cheers guys, cheers!