First Ride on the Octane One Zircus 2022
I got up at 6am and went into the office for 7am on the Octane One Zircus 2022. As I expected there were some bolts that needed tightening (Namely the stem bolts which made the steering go out of line when I first tried to turn a corner) but after that the bike was good to go and rode really well.
The suspension made it much less painful on my wrist compared to the BMX which was amazing and I think that the gearing os pretty much the same as the BMX too. I will find this out for sure on Saturday at gates as I am going to ride the jump bike to try and not hurt my wrist any more! The ride into the office was also really nice as the sun was shining but it was not too hot yet so it was really pleasant and as I rode along the river it was also super flat and as it was only 7AM ish it was pretty quiet although it was busier than i had expected it to be. I even tried a couple of manuals and the bike felt really nice too!
The seat post is a bit of a pain on this bike as it is a little short to ride the bike sat down although I got used to it after a while but I think that it will hurt my knee if I rise it like this all the time and it is defiantly too long to get the seat low enough for the track! I am thinking that I need to try and find a slightly longer post somewhere online and then cut the Gusset one down to use at the track. I would use my cooldown post with a shim but the curved seat tube will mean that the post will be too long to use so I will have to find a longer post that I can customise for this bike I guess! I also want to put on a more BMX Racing seat on to use at the track as the current seat is a bit bulky really! As the seat post is pivotal using a BMX Race seat with it will not be an issue!
Again I didn’t get a chance to go to the track at lunch time so I can’t say how the bike will ride at the track but I will try my best to go to the track tomorrow to get the bike setup for the track before gates on Saturday.
I am also not overly happy with the cranks as the non-drive side crank arm fell like it is going to fall off all the time even though it is not actually loose as far as I can tell! I will get the Forward Cranks on it in a bit to see how they feel tomorrow! I also can’t get used to the grips so I am going to swap them for some ODI Vans Lock-on grips when I get paid on the 15th of May then I will have the same grips on all of my bikes apart from the Sunday which is a park bike so shouldn’t have lock-on grips. I have decided that I like the jump bike better than the Sunday so I am going to finish building it up and get it on the internet to sell to free up some space. I will then have 3 bikes to ride. The Octane One Zircus 2022 jump bike is perfect for riding in the skatepark, BMX track, pump tracks and also riding to work etc, the Dialled MX20R is good for BMX Track (racing and training) and pump tracks and I will save the S&M Steel Panther 24″ for gates practice and racing only. At the weekends my Son can choose which bike he wants to ride and I will use one of the other 2 bikes. When the Curtis 24″ is ready I will give him the S&M Steel Panther as his bike and I will then use the Curtis for gates and Racing only and use the Octane Zircus 2022 and the Dialled MX20R as my training bikes. I am super happy with my 3 bikes now and apart from swapping out the frames for Curtis frames I don’t think that I will change much on them other than some small changes on the Octane One Zircus that I have already mentioned, I also want to swap out the forks on the Dialled MX20R at some point in the future too, I have already swapped out the forward cranks for Shimano DXR’s and swapped the tyres for Maxxis Torch 20×1.75″ folding tyres and the tubes for Tubolitos so there isn’t really much else to swap on it other than a seat post that doesn’t need a shim (really not a big issue to be honest so very low on the list of changes!) . There is literally nothing that needs changing on the S&M Steel Panther as it is perfect as it is!
I am also thinking that I will sell one of my road bikes as I am not using them so they are just taking up space in the garage and the money would be better in the bank. I also need to get money together to buy some new wheels to build up the Curtis when it is ready as I will need a new set of Onyx Ultra Disk hub wheels and I will probably need some new parts as well like seat, disk brake, stem and grips and I want to try and get Maxxis Tourch 24×1.75 folding tyres for the Curtis too then my 20″ and 24″ have the same tyres.
I also need to get the Speedco Pro Cruiser frame built up and sold as well to put the money towards getting some wheels for the Dialled 4x bike then I can get that built up and use it to ride to the track at lunch times or sell it to get more money back.