Orange Stage 5

Fresh Goods Friday 338

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Oh by golly gosh we’ve got a lot of product this week. Anyone would it was the turning of the seasons, the launch time for new spring/summer clothing, the start of racing, the end of the country as we know it, and a time for people to emerge from hibernation and starting seeking out new kit. So without ado or preamble, let us crack on and check out those products.

Orange Stage 5 RS

  • Price: £4,300
  • From: Orange
Orange Stage 5
If you lick it, it tastes of Hubba Bubba.
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Launched in January, we’ve now got our hands on our own test bike. Made from Aluminium (not Smurfs), this is the new 29er from Orange with 140mm travel up front and 135mm at the back. We’ll be bringing you a closer look next week. But OK, we’ll let you have just one more peek just now.

Orange Stage 5
Robo-Smurf arm

Secret Something

Secret. Shh.
Secret. Shh.

We do have a second new bike in the office this week, but this is the only picture we’re allowed to show you of it. And all we can tell you is that it’s a secret something new from Cannondale. Of course, you should feel free to speculate at wildly as you like in the comments section below as to what it is, but no matter what you say or how many beers you buy us, we ain’t telling you any more. Tune in on Wednesday next week and all will be revealed. 3pm. Be there.

Evoc Hip Pack Race 3L

Evoc Hip Pack
Available in a choice of 3 colours.

Our James has tested a few hip packs now, and this is his latest test sack. He’s a big fan of the carry less, feel the freedom, bum bag. This bag carries a total of 3L of kit, including a 1.5L bladder. It has an Air Flow Contact system in the back, so that the bit of you back that is covered with the pack can vent more easily.

Dakine Faye Jersey

Dakine jersey Hannah
Hannah, this is how you do a high-five.

Part of the Spring/Summer collection from Dakine, this is the Faye short sleeve jersey, which is available in three different colours – there’s a rather smart looking triangle graphic version called ‘Stella’ in a dark purple and petrol combo if you’re looking for something a bit different. This jersey is made with a pinhole mesh for ventilation and four way stretch mesh in the underarm and back for even more ventilation where you need it.

Dakine Dropout Jersey

Dakine jersey Wil
Dropout Jersey

Pictured here in a more staid blue, this long sleeved technical jersey is also available in a range of bold prints. Think Chipps’ shirt collection and you’re there. With a glasses wipe and odour control fabric, you can ride the trails and then hit the pub without being too antisocial.

Dakine Women’s Cross-X Gloves

Dakine Gloves
Who will win?

3mm of foam padding on the palm and knuckle protection to keep your hands comfortable and protected on both sides. There are touch screen compatible fingers, plus silicone tips to help keep your grip in the wet. Also available in men’s sizes.

Dakine Exodus Gloves

Dakine gloves
Wil plays scissor paper stone by himself.

2mm foam padding on the palm and 4-way stretch mesh on the uppers to keep your hands ventilated. Should be great for when the summer nettles stop us venturing out gloveless.

Dakine Thrillium Jersey

Dakine Thrillium
Hulk or hunk?

Wil is very taken with the name of this jersey. Designed to be not too baggy and not too snug, it features Polygiene, so if we can’t persuade Wil to take it off, it should take him a while to start smelling.

HebTroCo C60 Trousers

  • Price: £110 (Needlecords), £125 (Superheavyweights)
  • From: HebTroCo
hebtroco-cords
Collect them all?

Bike Designer Brant Richards and Ed Oxley of “Vain Vagrant” fame started HebTroCo just over a year ago, selling trousers online from their base in Hebden Bridge. They quit their jobs in the bike industry and are now riding bikes for fun. Despite having no background in fashion, in the last year they have sold over 3000 pairs of trousers made in Britain, and they’ve brought some of their new models up for us to see. Their new C60 trouser is available in a lightweight 8.5oz needlecord cloth or a super-heavy 16oz corduroy. The needlecords come in a brand new Deep Blue, Black, Chestnut and Sand and are £110. The superheavyweights come in Olive green and are £125. Cut is a tapered jeans style cut. Sizing is “real” not “vanity sized” – so if you take a 34in regular trouser, you’ll probably in a 36in HebTroCo.

They’re both made in Britain, and made to last with a lifetime guarantee.

Are they going to make cycling shorts? No. Well not yet. Maybe.

Light My Fire TinderSticks

  • Price: £4
  • From: Lyon
img_1818
Come on baby…

Special high resin content sticks that are easy to light and burn hot. A couple of these are claimed to be all that’s needed to get a fire or BBQ going. Also available are Tinder Dust (which sounds like it could be a drug), and Tinder On A Rope (which sounds much more dangerous than soap on a rope).

Light My Fire Fire Knife

  • Price: £33
  • From: Lyon
img_1819
Knives! Fire! We hunt tonight!

A knife! With fire making steel hidden in the handle! It’s like all our wilderness dreams in one product. Possibly best not carried down the local high street. Apparently you can use this to make a fire even in the wet – though this may well be made easier by using in conjunction with the Tindersticks. We’re going to let Sanny loose with these, as we know that he is a responsible adult.

Optimus Titanium Spork

  • Price: £15
  • From: Lyon
Spork
May also double up as jail break tool.

It’s a fork, it’s a spoon, it’s a spork. Not the folding one – though there is such a version available. If you simply can’t live without a proper knife and fork, there is also a titanium cutlery set of knife, fork and spoon.

Optimus Crux Weekend Stove

  • Price: £85
  • From: Lyon
Stove Lyon
Burner comes packed inside this two pot set up.

Weighing in at 358g, the package includes the Crux cooking gizmo, plus the entire super light Weekend HE Cook Set with two pieces of cookware: A pot with pour spout and a frying pan (that doubles as a pot lid). A simple mesh carry bag packs it tight, and as if by magic there is space inside for a foldable spork and a 220-g gas cartridge (both sold separately).

Solo Stove

  • Price: £120
  • From: Lyon
img_1828
All packs down inside itself too. Handy.

An efficient little stove – collect up some sticks from around your camping spot, light them, and the holes allow the gases to circulate back round to make sure that as much energy as possible is converted to heat. You’ll soon have your hot chocolate or baked beans bubbling away in the jug on the top. The stove also stays cool on the bottom,so you won’t set fire to or scorch your camping spot.

Fibrax Spiral Frame Protectors

  • Price: £5.50 for 6, £89.50 for 150.
  • From: Fibrax
img_1832
Not to be confused with spirali pasta.

Enough squiggly little noodles to address all your cable/frame rub needs. These little widgets will make sure you don’t get any of those unsightly little rub marks on your bike.

Fibrax Rotors

  • Price: from £18.48
  • From: Fibrax
img_1851
UK Manufactered

Rotors to go with your pads, to add up to some British stopping power. If you want to learn more about the Fibrax company and range of products, click here to read our feature.

Fibrax Brake Pads

  • Price: £12.49
  • From: Fibrax
img_1873
Pads to fit every set up

The only brake pads made in the UK, you’ll be trying pretty hard to find a set up that they don’t manufacture compatible pads for. Go on, take the challenge – do you have a brake set Fibrax doesn’t offer a pad for?

Fibrax Gear Cable

  • Price: £163.49 for 100m
  • From: Fibrax
img_1875
Should keep us quiet for a while!

Maybe you have a fleet of bikes that need re-cabling? Maybe you’re going to do all your mates’ bikes too? If you’re sick of being out on rides that are interrupted by mechanicals, Fibrax has a ton of stuff like this for people heading into serious home mechanic territory.

Mons Royale Redwood V L/S Tee

img_1840
Look, I have oppose-able thumbs!

Newly launched, this is from the Mons Royale Spring/Summer 2017 collection. Made of very fine and lightweight Merino wool, it’s super soft and floaty light. The bike range features ‘Air-Con’ fabric panels on backs and sides of the designs to aid ventilation. We got some of this kit in for an early test – the review is coming any day now, but if we tell you there was a scramble to claim this new batch you might have some idea of what we’re going to say about it.

img_1842
‘Air-Con’ back panel

Mons Royale Redwood 3/4 Raglan Tee

img_1835
Ross, what a winner.

More of that lovely fabric, this time in a 3/4 sleeve. Practical and non-sweaty on the bike, and stylish off it. The bike wear range feature a small glasses wipe on the inside corner of the lower hem.

Mons Royale Tech Bike Socks

img_1837
Luckily Ross put them on the right way round.

With mesh panels in the toe, heel and underfoot to let your feet breath, these socks have a left a right fit for added comfort.

Mons Royale Rotorua Tee

img_1848
Ross, the new Wil?

This is a special promotional t-shirt to mark the launch of the new range at the EWS in Rotorua, however it’s very similar to the Icon T-shirt, which is £59.99.

CycleOps Sweat Guard

img_1852
Also advertised as a ‘bike thong’

This is for Wil. Where does it go? What is it for?

img_1871
It’s what you were thinking, right?

Actually, no…

img_1853
This end goes on your bars.

This wider end goes on your bars, the, er, trunk, goes along your top tube, and voila, all that sweat that is dripping off you while turbo training is not collecting on your frame. Anyone who has ever stuck an old steel bike on a turbo trainer will know just how much salt there is in your sweat. Nice.

Endura Danny MacAskill Wee Day Out Kit

  • Price: £34.99 (Jersey), £67.99 (shorts)
  • From: Endura
img_1869
Amazing!

Proving that these threads are guaranteed to give you as much talent as Danny MacAskill*, here is Ross modelling the kit from Endura as worn by Danny MacAskill in A Wee Day Out.

img_1870
Such skillz!

It’s a limited edition design which is available to buy, but if you miss the Danny Mac kit then you can always buy the MT 500 Jersey and SingleTrack Lite Short II in another colour and claim it’s Danny’s away kit.

Endura Danny Mac
Ross discovering the ‘Euro’ brakes on the RAG+

*Please note awesome skills may not actually be included. Additional purchases may be necessary. Life insurance being on of them.

Ibis 738 Aluminium Wheelset

  • Price: £625
  • From: 2Pure

ibis cycles 738 wheels 27.5in wide tubeless

This is a 27.5in wheelset that uses a tubeless alloy rim that’s designed to suit tyres anywhere from 2.35in wide up to 2.8in wide. To learn all about them and see many more images, click here.

And so the weekend draws a step nearer. Time to start checking the forecast and planning that ride. Or maybe don’t worry about the forecast, just do it anyway.

In a change from the usual, we’re going to end today’s Fresh Goods Friday, not with a tune, but with some performance poetry. If you can’t see the video, click here to view it. It’s worth taking a moment to listen, really listen.

Author Profile Picture
Hannah Dobson

Managing Editor

I came to Singletrack having decided there must be more to life than meetings. I like all bikes, but especially unusual ones. More than bikes, I like what bikes do. I think that they link people and places; that cycling creates a connection between us and our environment; bikes create communities; deliver freedom; bring joy; and improve fitness. They're environmentally friendly and create friendly environments. I try to write about all these things in the hope that others might discover the joy of bikes too.

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Comments (11)

    I’d be interested if the Fibrax Spiral Frame Protectors actually work. I saw them on Chain Reaction. My first thought was that they could collect crud and make any rubbing worse, with the collected crud then rubbing against the frame?

    Dmorts
    Yes they work, had some fitted (from ebay and cheaper not Fibrax but they are identical) for about a year now on one bike and a couple months on the other and no rubbing marks on frame or fork crown
    They do tend to bunch up and move a little bit along the cable though, although not enough to really be an issue, but I guess this stops any mud build up

    Surely the hush hush Cannondale story is that they are re-releasing the famous Killer-V?

    please tell me that is so 🙂

    Gosh – I hate to be critical but with today’s terrible news about Mike Hall I wonder whether fresh goods might have been better put on ice. the last thing I’m thinking about is new kit. just a thought.

    As Kate said, Wake up!

    Hi nxgater. FGF is usually pre-written and scheduled with the introduction being the last thing to get written and you will notice it’s not the usual length or tone.

    I’ve just come off FGF Live on Facebook where I explained that despite the date tomorrow we won’t be running our traditional April 1st stories. In lieu of that we will be publishing a tribute story to Mike that Hannah, Rob and I have been working on today. None of us here in the office are feeling particularly upbeat enough to try and fool anyone tomorrow. Instead we are going to get out and ride bikes – it seems the best way to pay tribute to Mike and the inspiring life he showed us.

    Good one Mark, have a blast. No other words

    Hi Mark – thanks for the patient and courteous reply. I’m sure you all know what is best to do. I was simply expressing a personal opinion in what I’m sure we all agree are pretty exceptional and desperately sad circumstances. Ride well.

    Is that the new Fox Righty fork on that Cannondale? I’m glad to see they figured out how to attach the brake.

    I had a close look at that Solo Stove the other day.

    I was hopeful because what I’d really like is a kelly kettle that packs down small, and this is close to that idea.

    However, the part that holds the burny bits doesn’t disassemble so there’s the potential for embers to remain in it, trapped by the lip.

    That makes it a bit of a faff to pack because you can’t guarantee you’ve got all the embers out, and even if you do, you’ve got charcoal floating about so it will have to be bagged.

    For lazy sods like me, that means I probably wouldn’t fire it up in the morning because packing it would be a hassle. I like to be up and away quickly.

    I’d want to see one in action before buying it.

    But if you test it, I’ll be happy to be proved wrong.

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