Fresh Goods Friday 227

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Welcome to the latest Fresh Goods – we’ve got a ton of great kit to show you this week from Pivot, Shimano, 5:10 and loads more! So without further ado, let’s get stuck in…

Pivot Mach 4 Carbon

IMG_0141Chipps has a new tester, crammed firmly in the ‘ooooooooooh’ sector. The Pivot Mach 4 is a carbon beastie with 115mm rear travel.

IMG_0139The good Mr Weagle provides the up’n’down at the back

IMG_1339There’s a tidy X-Fusion Sweep fork up front with 130mm – 160mm travel up front…

IMG_1340And an x-Fusion HiLo SLS seatpost to hold the saddle up.

Pivot Mach 4 Frame: £2,400

X-Fusion Sweep fork: £489

X-Fusion HiLo Seatpost: £319.99

All from Upgrade.

Crucially, as well as all that carbon, the Pivot has also got lots of design features for…

XTR Di2

IMG_0105Oh yes – our new Pivot is draped with the blingiest of the bling, the new sine qua non of no-expense-spared. Our Di2 is operated by a couple of paddle shifters, as you’d expect. We’ve actually got one for the front mech and one for the rear, but you can set the software to automatically activate either shifter so you’ve got sequential shifts from one trigger. Ooooh, indeed.

IMG_0136What gear you’re in and all that informational gubbins is presented on the laser display screen. No, hang on. It’s all on this handy little readout here nestled next to the Tharsis stem. You can also control manual or sequential shifting from here, too. As well as seeing how your battery is doing, and charging it if you need to. No word yet as to how long the battery will last, but expect it to be in the vicinity of ‘yonks’.

IMG_0094Shifting at the back is snappy, and both front and rear mechs have understandably larger motors than their road equivalents.

IMG_0098The front mech in particular looks especially brutal and terminator-esque. This is the trail groupset, by the way – which differs slightly from the race one we’re currently reviewing. The chainset has a wider, more normal ‘q’ factor (the crankarms are further apart) than the race one, which is especially narrow…

IMG_0103…and the brakes are finned jobs with some rather lovely machining. The trail wheels also have slightly wider rims.

The rest of the finishing kit came from Madison too:

XTR Display – £84.99

XTR L/H Shifter – £149.99

XTR R/H Shifter – £149.99

XTR R/Mech – £399.99

XTR F/Mech – £249.99

XTR Cables – £17.99 each (we used 6)

XTR Junction B – £19.99

XTR Chainset 36/26 – £369.99

XTR Cassette – £189.99

XTR/DA Chain – £36.99

XTR F/Wheel – £349.99

XTR R/Wheel – £449.99

XTR F/Brake – £179.99

XTR R/Brake – £179.99

XTR Rotor – £49.99

Turnix saddle – £74.99

Tharsis XC UD carbon riser handlebar – £109.99

Tharsis 7075 alloy stem – £64.99

all from Madison

Rockshox Pike RCT3

IMG_0133Front bouncers to bolt onto the front of Chipps’ Segment long termer…

Price: £779

From: SRAM

5:10 Impact VXi Clipless MTB shoes

IMG_0112Clipless Impacts from the masters of the weird time signature

Price: £140

5:10 Freerider Flatties

IMG_0089Grip, style and awesome for those of a flat-pedal persuasion. In for a grouptest in the next issue!

Price: £100

5:10 Kestrel SPD shoe

IMG_0090The stiffest sole in 5:10’s lineup, hikeabike traction awesomeness and XC levels of performance, apparently. We’re looking forward to trying them (and the funky closure system)…

Price: $180 – UK prices TBC

From: 5:10

Specialized 2FO flat shoes

IMG_0120For an upcoming grouptest, here’s the flatty version of the 2FO – in a rather fantastic metallic purple.

Price: £90

From: Specialized

Wildcat Fat Lion

IMG_0121For bikepacking with more substantial handlebar luggage, the Fat Lion is optimised to hold 13 – 35l drybags. It’s got an impressive array of straps to hold things down, and it’s padded to prevent your drybag getting mauled by lions, fat or otherwise

Price: £75

From: Wildcat Gear

Pub Pedals

IMG_0125Cunning devices to turn your Crank Brothers egg beater pedals into something you can spin to the juice bar in in your flipflops.

Price: $27 – UK prices TBC

From: Pub Pedals

Torm Merino jerseys

IMG_1342
Grace isn’t enjoying the experience quite as much as Chipps is…

Chipps and Grace model Torm jerseys, in for next issue’s Merino jersey grouptest.

Grace is wearing the Ladies T1 Jersey; sportwool, anatomical fit, nice colours…

IMG_0128
Nice detailing at the back…

And Chipps is wearing the long sleeved T8 jersey. Smartwool, with a full-length zip.

Prices:

T1: £54

T8: £59

Both from Torm

And we’re done for this week – sunshine, and cold and snowy hilltops beckon. See you next time, fans!

 

 

 

 

Barney Marsh takes the word ‘career’ literally, veering wildly across the road of his life, as thoroughly in control as a goldfish on the dashboard of a motorhome. He’s been, with varying degrees of success, a scientist, teacher, shop assistant, binman and, for one memorable day, a hospital laundry worker. These days, he’s a dad, husband, guitarist, and writer, also with varying degrees of success. He sometimes takes photographs. Some of them are acceptable. Occasionally he rides bikes to cast the rest of his life into sharp relief. Or just to ride through puddles. Sometimes he writes about them. Bikes, not puddles. He is a writer of rongs, a stealer of souls and a polisher of turds. He isn’t nearly as clever or as funny as he thinks he is.

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