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".