Pole's New 'Onni' DH Bike - Sea Otter 2023
The Onni is the latest addition to Pole's lineup, a mixed-wheel aluminum downhill bike with 200mm of travel. As it turns out, it can also be turned into an extra-long travel enduro race machine, at least if your name is Leo Kokkonen.
For those who aren't familiar, Leo is Pole Bicycles' founder, and he hasn't been shy over the years about expressing his opinion that more travel and long, slack geometry is the way to go for almost all riding scenarios. He's going to be competing in the Trans Maderia enduro race next month, so he decided to take the new downhill bike, which hasn't been officially released yet, and build it up into the pedalable beast pictured here.
Getting it enduro ready involved installing SRAM's new Transmission drivetrain, an AXS wireless dropper post, a OneUp EDC tool in the Boxxer's steerer tube. and mounting a Fidlock bottle to the top tube.
The Onni casts a striking profile even when it isn't shining in the California sun. The elevated chainstay design gives it a retro-futuristic look, sort of like what would happen if a frame from the 1990s was re-imagined for the modern era. Ensuring that the Onni was stout enough to handle the rigors of elite level DH racing was high on Pole's priority list, so they went with oversized bearings where the chainstays meet the seat tube.
It's also worth mentioning that Onni Rainio is a recent addition to Pole's race team. This isn't technically his pro model (Onni means 'luck' in Finnish), but having a bike with your name attached to it probably doesn't hurt.
The overall frame shape will undoubtedly be polarizing (I personally think it looks cool) but the beauty of the head tube profile is hard to dispute.
Leo's been experimenting with different mounting positions for a Fidlock bottle on the top of the frame. It's unlikely this will be on the production version, but you never know.
The frame only, without shock, weighs a claimed 3.5 kg. As pictured, including pedals and inserts, the Onni weighs 18.4 kg (40.6 lb). Going with a standard downhill drivetrain and a ditching the dropper post would lighten it up significantly – it shouldn't be hard to build up a dedicated DH version in the sub-17 kg range.
More details, including geometry, pricing, and availability will be released in the near future.
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I like all Pole designs, but I think this one is the best so far..
It is great that there are companies that have chosen a different way how to do things, especially with CNC machined alloy, suspension design, paint technology (although in this case it is not really a paint) and one should not forget the environmental aspect, as aluminium can be recycled ad infinitum, unlike carbon.
More of this please.
Reminds me a lot of the PB podcast of the santa cruz engineer talking about 29 being the best for the 5010 because he only rides squamish tech trails.
Yes these things are good if racing and tech is your main type of riding, seems like most companies are assuming these are the only types of riding because it's all they personally do.
It's funny seeing the Darkfest riders using custom smaller wheeled bikes, and even 6 year old frames. Look's like Nicolai is back on the older version demo too. There's a big void in the industry and race bikes aren't filling it.
Like imagine posting this video and thinking you are good at jumping.
www.pinkbike.com/video/546072
If you said you preferred 29 inch wheels that would make sense as a personal opinion but you said everyone benifits from 29 and noone would benifit from similar bike setups to pro freeriders. Do you think all the riders at darkfest just woke up one day knowing how to do everything they do? Spending a day in a place like Kamloops bike ranch would be enough to show you that your view of the sport is very limited and you have no idea what normal people are doing on bikes. 29 sucks up steep lips, steals your pop, and makes it harder to flip, spin, ect.
>If you said you preferred 29 inch wheels that would make sense as a personal opinion but you said everyone benefits from 29 and noone would benifit from similar bike setups to pro freeriders.
Dunno how hard it is to read a comment that is literally right there, but I specifically said an average consumer, not everyone. The average consumer does not jump super steep lips that have high consequences, much less spin or flip. The main thing that a consumer wants is a bike that allows them to ride most of the trails on bikeparks with umps and tech. A long, slack 29er is stable, will get you out of trouble and save you from OTB. And, if someone wants to start jumping steeper lips or doing whips, its not like its impossible to do it or learn it on the 29er, there are plenty of kids whipping about bikes that are too big for them as they grow into them, no reason an adult can't learn all the same shit on a larger bike.
The main argument that really shows that 27.5 fans really are just hipsters is if the advantages of the smaller wheels mattered, then they would all be buying older 26 wheel DH frames (like in my profile pic ironically), because those supposed advantages are even larger. There is no science or engineering that says that 27.5 is the optimal wheel size that balances agility with roll efficiency. Bicycle history could have gone with 27.5 wheels first, then 29, then 32 (which is basically what 29+ bikes are), and yall would be SIMPing hard for 29 as the best DH wheel size. So if you wanna stick to your guns, you either go with smallest wheel commercially available, or you realize that your preferences are your own and have nothing to do with design of frames for mass consumer market.
#wontbecompetitive
Genuine question, despite the ironic tone.
I knew it reminded me something as much ugly!
(sn*gger)
And yes, it does remind me for (Steve Romaniuk) Mongose BootR which was snappy too..
Bottom Bracket and the rear hub looks not ideal...to me...
No idea why Pole moved away from their previous, much more stylish design
ep1.pinkbike.org/p6pb15962923/p6pb15962923.jpg