In 2018, Chain Reaction Cycles had a Black Friday sale. Now, I think having Black Friday sales in the UK are a bit crazy. Unless we’re thankful, we lost the US? Still, they had an offer on a bike, the Octane One Kode. The price was stupid low, so I bought one.

I liked the look of the Kode. It was a simple steel single speed bike that you could run gears on if you wish. It was a pretty lovely canvas that you could change to suit your needs, a sort of Tesco Value Surly Steamroller.

Coming with a dirt jump background I was familiar with Octane One, and their sister company, NS Bikes. In fact I still ride an NS bike just now.

Octane One has a reputation for well-priced frames, and the Kode was just an extension on that. It was a great bike. It also changed its look over time. It has been ridden on the road. It has been on mountain bike trails. It has gone bikepacking. It has been a versatile workhorse.

Recently though it has just been lying in parts. It has had bits stolen to go on other builds and I just sort of neglected it, which is a shame as its a fantastic bike. It was time to bring it back.

The Octane One goes tracklocross

I looked around my parts drawer and saw I had almost enough bits to build the Octane One back up. All I needed was a saddle, seat post, and bars. When sorting bike stuff for work, I had bought some ISO cogs, which allowed me to convert the rear wheel to being fixed.

Flipping the wheel over and fitting the ISO cog was pretty simple. It is also so much easier than fitting a standard threaded fixed cog. It should also eliminate the need for taking the skin off my knuckles when removing the cog. Doing so means I still have a freewheel on the other side. But obviously will now have an issue putting a rear disc brake back on.

While we look at the rear end, look at how much clearance I now have. The tyre currently fitted is 37 mm wide. The frame can easily clear 42 mm. There are not many tracklocross frames with that clearance.

At the front end I decided I wanted to mess with a flat bar. The good news was that I had an NS flat bar lying around. On a side note, DJ bikes should not be shipped with an XC bar.At the front end, I decided I wanted to mess with a flat bar. The good news was that I had an NS flat bar lying around. On a side note, companies should not ship DJ bikes with an XC bar. I also decided to fit s set of grips by the BMX brand Relic, you should check them out.

I debated about running clipless pedals or playing about with toe straps for a bit. The answer resolved itself when I remembered that the Kode came with Wellgo toe straps that I had put aside when I got the bike. In my spares cupboard, they were sitting beside a pair of Demolition BMX pedals. The pedals were a swirled black/purple design that went well with my wheels, so they were a no-brainer.

The GRX chainset was for another build, but it never happened, and it now pops up on other builds. I think I’d rather have a BMX chainset on here to go with the thin steel tubes of the Kode.

All I needed to get was a seatpost and a saddle. I went with a Gusset S2 as they are becoming my go-to saddle. Seat post wise all my usual choices were out of stock, so I decided to try a Tioga. It was pretty simple to set the saddle up and will probably become a choice I am willing to make again.

That then was that. It was a pretty simple build, with no brakes and gears to worry about you’d probably hope so. Now, it is time to go and shred on it.