In the words of Oscar Wilde, the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about. With that in mind, here’s what’s landed in the office lately for us to test and for you to have a virtual poke and prod – it’s Fresh Goods Friday!
Ragley Proto Full Susser
Matt’s got his hands on this pre-production version of the 160mm front/130mm rear travel full suspension Ragley we brought you news of here. As a test mule it’s basically got the correct angles and suspension geometry but the detail is likely to change for final models having more mud clearance and possibly a 12mm bolt-thru back end. This one has coil Rock Shox Lyrik U-Turns up front with a Monarch on the back. As you’d expect from Ragley, it’s on the slack side, which is A Good Thing.
Price: TBC
From: Ragley
Virtual pivot style suspension system and shock/link cradle assembly. We’ve also been sent a different high volume Monarch shock and a tuning kit consisting of some rubber band to increase or decrease the volume. Fettling ahoy…
The back end is an asymmetrical swingarm connected to the frame by two small links, the lower one also being where the shock attaches.
Easton Mountain Products Kilo Tent
With the weather improving in fits and starts there’s a been rash of bikepacking in the office – probably dating back to one night the staff spent on a hillside huddling for warmth. Anyway, this is the latest and lightest tent from carbon fibre specialists Easton.
Thanks to the cunning carbon poles and lightweight ripstop nylon inner and outer this two person tent weighs in at, you guessed it, a kilo. There’s a neat entrance vestibule or kit storage and it stands about a metre high…
It’s remarkably simple to put up and down and the poles use a rather neat retention system that involves absolutely no pieces of very long elastic.
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If this has got you fired up to get out and camp under the stars then check Issue 66 for Dave and Sim’s feature where they search to see if spirit of ‘Professor of Adventure’ and cave dweller Millican Dalton survives in Cumbria.
Price: £449.99
From: Madison
San Marco Aside TT Xsilite saddle
As well as being a rather glamourous white colour, this saddle uses made from a mix of titanium, silicon and carbon that they claim is stronger and lighter than standard titanium alloy. The saddle is designed for triathletes, having a wider nose than usual to offer support when shifting weight forwards – which should also be rather useful for mountain bikers.
Price: £94.99
From: Madison
PRO Tharsis grips
More white bits! These grips have a single titanium lockring to keep them secure on the inboard side with an expander bolt to stop the outer end spinning. The lack of outer lockring should give a more comfortable feel for people who like to hang their hands over the ends. They’ve got a slightly tapered shape and low profile pattern too.
Price: £26.99
From: Madison
Morvelo T Shirts
It’s fashion corner/middle bit! Startled Jon is wearing a rather nice Icon Charcoal T….
Price: £19.99
From: Morvelo
Matt is modelling the Card V1 T from their new High Roller range…
Price: £21.99
From: Morvelo
…and finally, here’s Matt showing the camera which finger doesn’t hurt in a Woods T shirt. How rude.
Price: £19.99
From: Morvelo
Olympic Gangster
This is the story of Le Tour cyclist, French Resistance gun runner and man of fortune José Beyaert. His wartime hero status was followed by an Olympic Gold medal in Windsor Park in 1948, but moved into murkier ground as he moved to Colombia for a month, ostensibly to set up a velodrome. He eventually spent 50 years in the country, by turns businessman, smuggler, coach, athlete and – perhaps – hired killer.
Written by award winning author Matt Rendell we’re rather looking forward to spending some rainy evenings with this one.
Price: £8.99
From: Mainstream Publishing
How I Won the Yellow Jumper
More books, with ex-Soccer Saturday presenter Ned Boulting’s account of his transformation from clueless rookie Tour De France commentator to seasoned cycling fanatic over the course of eight Tours. It didn’t get off to the best of starts, the titular Yellow Jumper referring to an unfortunate mistake he made live on television at his ITV presenting debut. We’re promised plenty of the inside line from the madness and thrills of the world’s biggest bike race from an irreverent but always engaging point of view.
Price: £12.99
From: Random House
Giro Socks
We’ve got a trio (of pairs) of socks from Giro, with their low cut CoolMax Classic Racer (£13.99), the on trend 6″ cuff High Rise (£13.99) and the soft and wooly Seasonal Wool (£17.99) made from Merino wool in Italy.
From: Madison
Pivot Cycles Cadet Cap
Chris Cocalis, the main man behind Pivot Cycles, popped into the office the other day on a flying tour of the UK. We had a bit of a chat and a look at the bikes in the Pivot range so keep your eyes peeled for that coming soon, but in the meantime here’s a Pivot cap for your head…
Price: £18.99
From: Pivot Cycles UK
Giro Cycling Cap
More headwear – a classically styled cycling cap from Giro. Wear it peak-up…
…or peak down if you prefer to keep the sun from your eyeballs.
Price: £11.99
From: Madison
Portland Design Works _3Wrencho
This is an integrated 15mm nut spanner and tyre lever with a metal body that’s tough enough to free really tight tyres. It’ll be kind to your purple painted aero rims too, with a plastic coating to prevent any damage. Ideal for fixie riders on the move…
Price: $25
From: Portland Design Works
Giro Code shoes
These are Giro’s top off-road disco slippers, using an Easton EC90 unidirectional carbon composite sole, Teijin Sammo lightweight uppers, ratchet and velcro closure and grippy outsole with removable metal toe spikes. They also come with the SuperNatural Fit kit which allows you to tune the amount of arch support you require to get them just so…
Price: £249.99
From: Madison
Rode Videomic
Previously, some of the sound quality on our videos has been put to shame by the production values used in gonzo filth. That’s set to change, with the arrival of this new uni-directional video condenser mic. It fits to the flash hotshoe and has a cunning rubber band based jig to isolate the mic from any camera vibration. Expect beautiful clear sound from now on…
Price: £79ish
From: All good camera shops
DMR Mugs
Nothing improves the simple pleasure of drinking hot beverages more than a nice hot beverage container. These DMR mugs have a nice feel, a handle you can grasp firmly and fit a decent amount of liquid in them. They’re also available in your pick of green, orange or blue – what more could you ask for?
Price: £6.99
From: Upgrade Bikes
Continental Mountain King 2.4″ ProTection tyres
Lovely rubber! This is the redesigned Mountain King, now using a tread pattern that’s more similar to the very popular Rubber Queen. Matt checked them out a while ago, but this is the first time we’ve had some on home turf (and soil and rock).They’re pitched at the all-mountain market with 2.4″ and 2.2″ version These are the more durable ProTection versions with a reinforced sidewall. We’re looking forward to testing these – Conti have been reinventing their rubber lately and we’ve been pleased with the result so far…
Price: TBC
From: Continental UK
Comments (32)
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OMG! a sweary finger. it will be like roll-up-gate all over again…
Something about that Ragley doesn’t make it look ‘right’ to me. Think it’s the long seat tube and the Giant style tube profiles.
Just about to buy on of those Rode mikes for my DSLR….
What’s pinned to matts nipple?
Please tell if the new Protection tyres have a brown sidewall, like what the old style had.
(Besides lining up valves / logos, they helped OCD my brown pitch even more…)
That Ragley is a Giant Trance without the paint.
It doesn’t look revolutionary enough after all the hoo and indeed Har
I’ll test the conti MK2’s for you, no i will i really don’t mind.
What’s pinned to matts nipple?
my phone number
Someone’s stolen half of Matts hair
Giro shoes £249!! jeez thats expensive
Scottchegg – you judge a bike’s ride from its appearance? Ragley has some similar looking bits but if you’ve ridden a few full sus bikes you’ll know that “similar” is not the same as “same”. Significantly different geometry and rocker/linkage.
no chance of fitting a coil shock to that ragley either, clearance is very tight on the air can.
Lovin’ Brant’s hardtail work through the years but I reckon the back end o’ that might be a bit of a mud trap.
This business of running different travel front and rear is nothing new..
most of us have run a bike that at some point has an innappropriate fork yet feels brilliant…
As for the trance comment, if it rides half as well as the first gen trance it should be brilliant with a long fork on they’re like a mini downhill bike.
Re: the Ragley. Ride it THEN judge it. I’ve ridden it and it’s freakin ACE. Really not the same as a Giant.
Gies a go 🙂
So we’re prohibited from using expletives on the forum, but offensive hand gestures from the staff are ok then?
Hmmm.
£27 for grips! – they’re havin a laugh
It does look Gianty. Lets hope it rides like a slacker, more leggy TranceX.
Also, can someone explain what the “removable metal toe spikes” on MTB SPD shoes are for/not for?
liking those Morevelo t-shirts but if you look at them on the website they look like a different and better cut than the ones blokey up there has on
I’d order one, but only if the cut was more like the t-shirt on the website…
brakes – Matt’s wearing a large when he’s a medium and Jon is in a medium when he should be in a small, should explain that…
Gasman Jim,
Yes.
how you getting on with the wtb wheels?
Not to sure about it looking like a Giant. It looks like its straight out of a taiwanese catalogue to me.
Sorry here is the direct link
http://i52.tinypic.com/4vk2l3.jpg
la2011 <– Well spotted! (That's hoofin' priceless 😀 ) Virtually identical…
Good work la2011. Quite a few changes to come for production as we’ve been quite clear about from day one with this.
…I hate to point at the elephant in the room, but with whom have you been ‘quite clear’ about this?
The 3wrencho’s are a very nice tool. Sold quite a few, sold more of these than the classic Surly Jethro Tule. Maybe 3wrencho is a folk prog rock band I have never heard of?
As in – “As a test mule it’s basically got the correct angles and suspension geometry but the detail is likely to change for final models having more mud clearance and possibly a 12mm bolt-thru back end.”
and also covered here –
http://www.shedfire.com/2011/03/29/brain-dump-going-public-on-the-fs-project/
No point in being anything other than transparent when you can go to http://www.biketaiwan.com and see lots of colourful things.
Yup-a-roo… soz Brant, fair ’nuff! Shoulda done my research before jumping for the jugular. Damn di internetz 😉
Looks pretty sweet anyways, in a sort of rufty-tufty Anthem kinda way.. 😀
Well i’ve been riding it ( The Ragley) and I’ve also in the last few weeks been riding a Reign – Which uses the same suspension system as the Trance (with more travel of course) which seems to be the bike everyone is comparing the Ragley to – They do not feel at all similar, and while this probably won’t help anyone make any choice about the suspension design they ride – Contact points – head angles and where the wheels are in relationship to the rider I suspect actually make a lot more difference to how bikes ride or feels to the rider than how a designer has decided to drive the rear shock up and down, Brant has clearly been thinking carefully about all of those points.
Mini test on the Ragley coming soon.