BeOne Karma 3.0 Hardtail Frame 2008 > Reviews (1)

The BeOne Karma, is a lightweight stiff frame made from 6061 grade Aluminum. Even the large frame size(19”) only weights in at 1.8kg. Nomally, to own a frame of this weight you would be expected to be paying upward of £300. Not so, the Be One Karma is on sale at ChaionReactionCycles.com with a price tag of sub £100. Usually a frame in this sub £100 price bracket are normally heavy out of date models, something the BeOne Karma is not. The Karma is light weight, strong, stiff and has many features found on top end frames, making the BeOne offering excellent value for money. It is easy to see why this is an award winning frame. The full retail price of £300 makes this a good buy, however the ChainReactionSale price of £95 makes this an absolute barging.

Having spent many days researching the internet and browsing web forums for the best frame for my budget, I decided on the BeOne Karma, I’m glad I did.

The Frame

The tubing is all formed from 6061 Aluminum, making it lighter than the normal convetional 7071 series aluminum found on other frames. The triple butting provides strength, and reduces weight, whilst minimising the amount of frame flex, meaning the more power from the pedals goes into propelling you forwards.

The frame aslo has race geometry, meaning that like a road racing bike the riders position has been optomised to give a faster feel.

The tubes are shaped, again to reduce weight, and provide strength. The top top is Triangular shaped, the seat tube is circular at the top then becomes oval towards the bottom, while the down tube is oval. The seat and chain stays are oval shaped and snaked to give excellent tyre clearance..

The Rear chain stays are spread far enough apart to accommodate wide 2.35” thick tires giving excellent mud clearance.

Both the down and seat tube have water bottle mounts and are provided with the normal M5 screws.

Features

The frame comes with hydraulic cable routing for the rear brake. The brakes hoses are held in place with little plastic clips which come supplied, however these clips are rather flimsy and on my first ride one of these clips fell off. This is nothing major but a little niggle, nothing that a zip tie couldn’t fix. These clips are also available to purchase separately online. The frame is set up for a rear ISO disk mount for 160mm rotor disk. Also, the frame does not have any mounts for v-brakes, which in my opinion is good as these mounts even if they are removable look unsightly.

While we are talking about the cable routing for the brakes, I will aslo mention that the frame requires a top pull or dual pull front mech. This is mentioned on the chain reaction website but I did over look this, but thanks to a very helpfull fellow cyclist this was soon rectified.

The bottom bracket comes pre-machined; This is another bonus for the frame again saving a bit of cash as it removes the need to take the frame to the local bike shop to have it faced before installing the bottom bracket. The BB size is the typical 68mm.

The frame comes with a removable gear hanger, again an excellent feature that is normally found on high end frames. One of these hangers comes preinstalled on the frame and spares can be purchased from the suppliers.

Performace

I have now owned this frame for about 3months, in this time it is used 4-5 times a week for the daily 12mile commute to work. The weekend cross country runs around aberdeen and a jolt up Bennachie (where the attached picture was taking) . Due to the lightweight and stiffness of the frame it climbs like a mountain goat, and the race geometry gives a faster more racier feel to the sitting position on the bike.

I have no doubts that I will be riding this bike on my next off road duathlon.

Apperence

The Karma is a nice looking frame, the shaped alloy tubing and smooth paint job makes it very eye catching.

The differences between Karma 1,2 and 3 are the paint color schemes. Other wise these frames are identical. The paint job is very nice with a smooth glossy finish, however my one gripe is that the paint scratches very easily.

Summery

Compared to my old Saracen Rufftrax frame (which to be fair is now about 10 years old,) the Karma is a hugh step up in terms weight, stiffness and looks. For only £95 this is the best bargin I have had on my recent bike build.