“dudes we need more roost”
Dudes!
We are so totally stoked today – it’s been a full on hit of awesomeness, the whole issue 100 thing, and we’re looking forward to laying down some sweet roosts on the brown pow once this week is over!
But, like, living for the moment? Well, once we’ve finished dropping sick edits of us riding the golden-hour gnarl on our full-on trail weapons and laying some skidmarks on some sweet, sweet loam, we’re done. We’re done roosting the rollers. Done ripping the trail a new one. We’re going to kick back and get with the rad. How? By chillaxing with a cold brewski, dude! And by grabbing the computer and heading over to this weeks’ Fresh Goods Friday!
Dude!
Giant Reign 1
Freelance word and photo monkey Sim has just got his hands on this 2016 Giant Reign 1. Having tested the Giant Anthem SX he fancied trying the Maestro suspension platform in a longer travel guise. We tested the 160mm travel 2015 Reign 1 in issue 99 (and here) so it’ll be interesting to see what Sim makes of it. Aside from a much more subtle paint job the most noticeable change from 2015 to 2016 is the change from a Dual Position Pike to a top-of-the-line RCT3 Solo Air version. The loss of travel adjust isn’t a biggie; it’s a 160mm bike and should be ridden accordingly, and means more tunability for those that like to get their bounce settings just-so.
This is one bike where we won’t be complaining about long stems and narrow bars, the Reign comes good to go with a 800mm steering pipe (technical term) and 50mm stemnugget.
SRAM’s X1 groupset does fine shifting duties and the 125mm drop RockShox Reverb and SRAM Guide RS brakes are tried and trusted faves.
Nice underguard rubbery-thing on the downtube to prevent rock hurtitude. More technical terms.
…a DT Swiss M 1700 Spline Two wheelset.
Sim’s off to skurf it down some hills (it’s a riding style that mixes skidding and surfing, and is particular to steep and greasy trails). If you’re in the Calder Valley expect to hear plenty of whooping… and the odd eek, as Sim performs that age-old trick, the skurf-to-faceplant.
£3,999
From Giant UK
RockShox Kage
Coil shocks seem to be having something of a comeback of late, with the likes of top Enduroistas like Richie Rude and Adam Craig plumping for them over their air-sprung counterparts at some of this year’s EWS rounds. The Kage may be their entry level coil sprung shock but RockShox reckon the simplicity of it makes it a good choice for most riders. Back when the Santa Cruz Syndicate were on RockShox, Greg Minnaar ran a Kage in preference to a Vivid. We think he probably knows what he’s talking about…
£200
From Fishers
Yep Uptimizer HC
Swiss made droppy post, cable activated. Nice onmidirectional activation lever, too. This one is the HC, so it’s got internal routing. And it comes compressed in the box, like this; it’s not just particularly stumpy or anything.
€380 plus shipping.
From Yep
POC Trabec
ol’ Blue Eyes Marsh gets photobombed (mid whistle, it appears) by older Blue Eyes Ali GVM Psychobeard (which should be a musical genre). The POC Trabec is here for a future grouptest. It’s got an Aramid fibre shell, adjustable visor and fitments, a cream and orange colourscheme, and an EPS liner. Sweet.
Price: £149.99
From: 2Pure
POC Coron Helmet and Cornea Flow Goggles
James is a very special man. A Very. Special. Man. The Coron helmet we covered at Eurobike a few weeks ago, but in a nutshell it’s been totally re-worked, there’s a very cool breakaway visor, there’s a load of thought put into the pretty serious-looking venting, and it’s made from M Forge, which is a fibreglass and thermoplastic matrix which POC say is loads stronger than other helmets. There’s a quick safety release, space for the life-saving RECCO system, and loads of other cool stuff.
Price: TBC
From: 2Pure
POC Crave glasses
James gets his Blade Runner on in the POC Craves. The Crave has a crash-proof, detachable hinge, everything is nice and bendy, the frame sits flush with the lens at the bottom of the glasses, and the lens is designed to differentiate greens for riding in trees. They look pretty sweet in a safety-glasses from a sci-fi film kind of way…
Price TBC again (all of these things are brand spankers, you see)
All POC stuff is 2Pure
Giro Montaro MIPS
Jamie’s taken a shine to the Montaro (his head is surprisingly small, as it turns out) – the new top of the line lid from Giro. It’s built around swivelly noggin-saving tech MIPS, and does the usual increased rearward protection things.
This is Jamie before the Montaro came into his life. He had some strange ideas about head-protection; hopefully the orangey goodness will help what’s left of his brane as well as looking chic and stylish.
£129.99
From: Zyro
Vaude Taron Sympatex Mid AM
A sort of mid-height trail/gnar shoe from Vaude. Vibram sole, clips, velcro and laces, it’s designed to go on and stay on no matter what you’re riding on. Or probably through.
Price: £180
From Vaude
Shimano MW7
New winter boots from the other Big S! GoreTex liner, fleecy insole for tootsie snugness (she was a ‘thirties singer), rubber studs, the Torbal midsole off the M200, and more room for extra thick sock accommodation. It’s. All. Good.
Price £159.99
From Madison
Yeti Women’s Enduro Jersey
It’s a top. For Enduro Women (and not Yeti Women – there aren’t enough of them).
Price: £49.95
From Silverfish
RaceFace Khyber Women’s 3/4 Jersey
It’s a 3/4 top. For women. (Not for Khyber Women – there aren’t e – oh, you get the idea).
Price: £54.95
From Silverfish
Flare Stage Enduro Jersey Black/Teal
And here’s the Stage, from Flare. Same deal. Sweet pattern.
£50.00
From Flare
USE Vybe Shokpost
Not running a dropper? On a hardtail? Are you (to be brutally honest) spanking your tush a little more often than your GP would probably recommend? Perhaps you need a suspension post? The USE Vybe comes in a variety of diameters, and offers 50mm of plush posterior padding.
Price: £119.99
From Ultimate Sports Engineering
Syntace tuning pack
A veritable smorgasbord of tuning and maintenance parts for our Jamie’s long-term Liteville 301 MK 12 works-machine test bike. Just like his well managed head wig, he likes to keep things neat and tidy down below.
So in clockwise formation, we’ll start with the jiffy bag-like scouring pads (they are for buffing up the uncoated ‘works’, aluminium frame finish), VarioSpin top and bottom headset cups for angle of dangle management, Syntace Turbine lube and a Grease Gun for pain-free administration of same, and finally a neat ‘Post Shim Lite’ 31.6 seatpost shim for maximising dropper post fitting options, for that 34.9 Liteville specc’d seat tube. Note it’s also ribbed for Jamie’s pleasure.
VarioSpin top and bottom headset cups €49.90
Grease Gun/Syntace Turbine lube €52.00
‘Post Shim Lite’ 31.6 seatpost shim €24.50
All from: Syntace
DISCO rotors and brake pads
Floating rotors and brake pads from the budget-pad and rotor people at Disco. Get down!
Price: Pads from £5.25, rotors £16.46
From: Disco Brakes
BBB Sniper LED Headlight
1200 lumens in a teeny package, at a smidge over 200g. Nights are drawing in, but you can dispel it with this pocket dark-o-melter!
Price: TBC
From: Windwave
USE Exposure Maxx-D Mk 7
Huge amounts of brightness in a small and long lasting package. Like a pocket Einstein. 2400 lumens for 2 hours, or less brightyness for more longererer. You know the drill. But it’s all bar mounted, has an LED ticker-tape sort of display thing. It’s very impressive.
Price: £345.00
Exposure Diabolo Mk 7
Less weight, a (still impressive) 1300 lumens you can perch on your helmet. Smart port, lots of clever things and loads of other cool stuff.
£199.95
All from Ultimate Sports Engineering
One Industries Atom Icon Jersey
Blue and Orange. So Hot Right Now… Drop back, long sleeves, flappy and fashionable. It’s all good.
Price: £29.99
Atom Lite Propaganda Jersey
…And the same thing with a different pattern.
Price: £29.99
From Hotlines
POC Flow Jersey
Wicking, sleeve cuff, printed logo. And POC – so very, very hip.
Price: £70
From: 2Pure
RaceFace Indy Jersey
Yep – wicking, loose, kind of 3/4 sleeve for maximal going fastness, with RaceFace logos everywhere. Sweet!
Price: £46.95
From: Silverfish
Woah. That’s a sweet cluster of gear. We’re off to schralp it (or skurf. Or crash horribly). Sweet! Dude. Have a great weekend!
ST out.
Comments (3)
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I still don’t get why USE don’t do droppers. I mean they’ve been building slidey seatposts for years. Surely increasing the overlap & fitting even a basic lockout lever wouldn’t be beyond them?
nice to Brains from Thunderbirds making a couple of appearances this week
My Reign 2 made it from Sadgill up to the first gate on Gstesgarth pass quicker than any other bike before it with no dabs, so it can climb. Just trying to adjust to the length of both the toptube and the wheelbase in steep tight downhills like Nan Bield.