Fresh Goods Friday 226

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Here at Singletrack Towers, we’re nestled under about eleven feet of snowy slushy stuff*, wearing Company Issue bobble hats and grumbling about the slush. But up on the hills, it’s another story. Pristine sheets of white joy, here and there beaten down into rideable awesomeness, waiting for some unsuspecting idiot to round a corner and stare, slack jawed, at great duvets of ace. And when we’re not riding? We’re here, hats on heads, preparing the bumper crop of wondrousness you see here before you. It’s Fresh Goods Friday!

Enjoy.

*may be slight exaggeration

Saracen Mantra Trail

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The last bike in our £1500 Carbon bike shootout for issue 96, the Saracen Mantra Trail ticks all the right boxes. Long? Check. Low? Double check (this is an XL, folks). This 27.5in machine is built for trails.

IMG_0031Shimano drivetrain, 142×12 (natch) and some funky looking stays.

IMG_0032Suntour Expion fork with a clever proprietary 15mm thru-axle.

IMG_0035Stop’n’go all handled by Shimano. Vroom!

Price: £1,499

From: Saracen

Sideburn Magazine

IMG_0028Like sideburns? Like motorbikes? This could well be the magazine for you! Magnificent pics (really – that uppermost covershot I could stare at all day), a quirky worldview and lots of sideways motorbike action. Completely awesome. And for those of you who think of sideburns and motor bikes and instantly associate them with one person: yes, Guy Martin is in at least one issue, at least once.

Price: £5

From: Sideburn Magazine

Pro-Lite Antero XC Wheelset

IMG_0039Light and XCesque 29er racer wheels. Two sets of 3 double-toothed pawls ensures silky smooth pickup and a headache if you try to work out how many regular pawls that’s actually equivalent to. Lots, probably.

IMG_0041Each wheel is handbuilt in Taiwan. Nice freehub anodising; it’s almost a shame you won’t be seeing it very often unless you’re a serial cassette changer.

IMG_0044Front hub comes with a carbon crust. Or a carbon hybrid front shell, if you’re not hungry right now like me*. The wheels also come with all the macguffins you need to convert them to thru-axles.

*mmmmm. Pie.

Price: £499.99

From: NRG4

MRP 1x Chain Guide

IMG_0048Pretty much does what it says on the tin: it’s a chainguide for those folks running 1x who want the extra chainnotfallingoff security that thickthinwidenarrow can’t provide. Black polycarbonate awesomeness with a E-mount can be yours for £54.99.

From: Ison Distribution

Ion E_Lite Elbow Guards

IMG_0049The latest iteration in Ion’s pad range, the K_Lite and E_Lite pads have swanky SAS-TEC protection, and a slim outline so your knees or elbows don’t look too knobbly.

Price: £66.95

ION K-Lite Knee Pads

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Price: £58.95

From: Ion

Galibier Grip VTT gloves

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From the back

6 different materials, lots of swanky detailing and 11 separate panels, with a calf skin palm. Nice.

IMG_0053
…aaand the palm. Nice detailing. Let me hear you say mooooooo!

Price: £18

From: Galibier

35 Bikes Brake Rotors

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35 bikes is a new, Sheffield-based bike bits brand offering rotors and pads. This here is the 160mm rotor; they offer 3 different rotor sizes starting from £8.99 through to £12.99 for the 203mm one. They’ve also got floating rotors coming soon, apparently!

From: Hook it products

35 Bikes Brake Pads

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They’re brake pads – what more do you need? Available in loads of exciting bike-related flavours.

Price: £5.99

From: Hook it products

Joystick

Joystick Digital Feather Saddle

IMG_0066Joystick saddles are available in a range of different padding/rail/weight/riding types. This here digital feather is an All Mountain/Enduro/everything saddle, with cro-mo rails and a leather cover.

Price: £44.99

Joystick Analog Bar

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Sweet carbon 800mm wideness with a 31.8mm clamp and a 20mm rise. They also do a 35mm clamp with a 30mm rise.

Price: £129.99

Joystick 8-bit alu bar

IMG_0072Available in black or gunmetal, the 8-bit is a wiiide 800mm in a variety of rises and stem compatibilities (OS or 35mm, basically).

Price: £69.99

Joystick Builder Stem

IMG_0074 Nicely designed clip on clamp with some neat touches like orientation arrows. Only in 50mm lengths for now; others coming soon.

Price: £79.99

All from: Hook it products

Sensus Swayze grips

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Packed with the raw power of the Man Himself. A facsimile of His muscular physique even adorns the packaging. Macho enough to make even grown men go weak at the knees – Chipps has been silently staring at the pic and weeping for over an hour now. Strangely reminiscent of wavey ODI Mushrooms, these look very comfy indeed.

Price: £21.99

From: Hook it products

Vulpine Merino

More jerseys for our merino grouptest coming up in March’s issue 96.

vulpinemensalpChipps models the Men’s Long Sleeve Alpine Jersey in Squadron Blue, £99.00…

vulpinemensbutt…the Men’s Short Sleeve Merino Button Jersey in Lanes Green, £79.00…

vulpinewomens

…and the Women’s Short Sleeve Alpine Jersey in Black (black! BLACK! etc.), £85.00.
All from Vulpine, and heading to a trail near you this weekend.

Hope Crankset

IMG_0084New Hope crank awesomeness from.. er.. Hope! 175mm of slinky machined droolableness, with a unique spline locking system to keep ’em firmly placed onto your frame and creak-free. They’ve got a retainer ring system so you can run whatever spider and/or single ring setup you like. We’re really looking forward to giving them some beans.

Price: Crankset – £245, Bottom Bracket – £80

Hope 30t retainer ring

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More black machined awesomeness from the Barnoldswick metalmasters.

Price: £45

All from: Hope

Tortec Universal Storage Hook

IMG_0088Hefty steel wall mounted hookage for convenient bike storage in limited spaces – especially handy for when the other half has a go at you for leaving muddy bikes all over the place.

Price: £14.99

From: Zyro

Singletrack 95

IMG_4625The latest issue of our esteemed journal has dropped! Packed with awesome pics and exquisite wurds. Ahem.

Price: £5.95

From: Quality retailers everywhere, or you can subscribe here!

Aaaaaand we’re done! We’re wrapping up warm now and getting out in the slush – there’s no better practice than embracing the slither! Have a great weekend, y’all…

 

Jenn Hill was the deputy editor here at Singletrack up until her untimely death from Lung Cancer in October 2015. She was and remains an inspiration to us all here at Singletrack. Jenn Hill - 1977-2015

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