I’m waiting.

In the meantime I’m going to do some star jumps.

Another hour, at least, I reckon.

I’ll come back in an hour or so and see how you’re getting on.

the fist clench to open hands is a good thing, I think helps really open up your body at the height of the jump.

Before noon, your thread? You’ll give yourself an ulcer, all this stress.

Anyway, it’s up. Fill yer boots.

So soon Barney? It’s not even 1pm.

One of these days I’ll put one out at 5pm – see how many kittens some of you have 😉

Mmm… Kittens.

Thought you’d be hairier Harry?

Walls looks a bit bare.

Thought you’d be hairier Harry?

Walls looks a bit bare.

😯

Oh wait. Sorry.

lolz at Stans sealant and valves being “fresh” new gear. Disappointing lack of Konas too

Do like a BTR. Did the dudes enduro at kinlochleven a while back, on the orrible climb I ran out of stuff to talk about with the guys I was riding with, and had a wee complain that I’d had to fit a new tyre in a hurry and never really ridden on it, so didn’t know what it’d be like. Chap says “I finished welding this frame together night before last, I’ve never ridden it before”. You win this round!

. Disappointing lack of Konas too

All the dealers have them.

olz at Stans sealant and valves being “fresh” new gear.

Its the way all journalism goes in the end, pretend everything is new/fresh so you can say the same things about it each time. Its annoying for those have been on the ‘scene’ (of whatever it is the article is about) for a while, it feels like everything is being dumbed down and your being cast aside/ignored in preference of the new reader. Its like making any reference to the ‘past’ is taboo.

pretend everything is new/fresh so you can say the same things about it each time

Wow. You referred to Fresh Goods as ‘journalism’. Are you feeling alright?

in case you hadn’t noticed, the deal with Fresh Goods Friday is that it’s stuff that’s just come in to the office. Hence ‘Fresh’.

I’m glad, STATO, that you’ve been on the ‘scene’ long enough to have clapped your eyes on Stan’s sealant before, and I’m sorry that you feel jaded enough that you’re being ‘cast aside’ like some spent once-mighty force, mewling at your inability to suckle at the teat of novelty.

We mere upstarts can only look upon the magnificence of your great Methuselah-like wisdom, and ask that you might bestow upon us the teensiest morsel of you awe inspiring thought processes…

Oh, you already did. As you were.

Do like a BTR. Did the dudes enduro at kinlochleven a while back, on the orrible climb I ran out of stuff to talk about with the guys I was riding with, and had a wee complain that I’d had to fit a new tyre in a hurry and never really ridden on it, so didn’t know what it’d be like. Chap says “I finished welding this frame together night before last, I’ve never ridden it before”. You win this round!

Was that Tam? His old man lives up here.

Think it was Burf, not sure though.

My Dr advised me to get some fresh air. I was amazed at this as I’ve been on the planet for 42 years, air has been on the scene a long time.

Hey Barney, ignore them.

I love you and your work.

Have a hug.

Don’t read so much into it. Fresh goods Friday is harmless way of stw levering their huge website teach to get free stuff

The up side is we the customers get to see stuff we have already seen at places like eurobike, manufacturers get to showcase stuff that they have already shown at places like eurobike and all the only thing lost is singletrack’s credibility.

Everyone’s a winner.

Oh hang on 😉

Credibility lost?

Get a grip.

Yet another OP I incorrectly assumed was male. At least wwaswas will have someone to chat with over a cup of camomile…

Barney, I think your a bit harsh on STATO. He is right, just pick up a copy of MBR as evidence (assuming you read another copy at least 6 months ago).

He’s not though.

Fresh Goods Friday is goods that have arrived at ST Towers to test. Others may have had them before, some after but they’re fresh at ST Towers. Which is the entire point.

At least wwaswas will have someone to chat with over a cup of camomile…

I’ve decided to identify as male now.

And I drink pints of yorkshire tea, not campmile.

More than happy to chat with Harry.

Wasnt aimed at Fresh goods or STW, more a lament in response legends post, at my feeling old and discarded by society. (no doubt it will be claimed im back-tracking now).

When was the last time you read a review (in any mag, cycle or not) that referenced the history of the product, its lineage, or even the previous reviews of it (other than the previous model year). No, almost every review pretends they have never seen the product before nor reviewed it in the past. Probably a sign of ‘now’ culture or something philosophic like that.

[edit, and i was trying to use ‘ ‘ for ‘scene’ to be ironic, difficult to get across as we know]

When was the last time you read a review (in any mag, cycle or not)that made any sense and you believed in it?

Take that Mondraker review on the front page which is for a bike retailing at £4,699 NOT £1,000.

The Special Edition is race ready on paper – but naturally I took the opportunity to change, tweak and bin some stuff, to make it my ideal bike

That included the wheels, brakes, cassette and mods to the mech. Review the damn things as you’d buy it and not throw another £600+ at it of your fave parts and then surprise, surprise you now like it. Most people in the real world buy a bike and just ride it out of the box (possibly tyres excepted), so review it as is.

Dragon – most of our reviews we DO review the bike as it is. This one is a long termer. Most people in my experience actually do change things as time goes on, and Long Termers are designed to reflect that. Although as it happens (long termers get several writeups both with and without the changes you lament) Rich has written a very comprehensive review of the bike as you’d buy it which we put up a few months ago, and we linked that to the long term update. It’s here:
http://singletrackworld.com/reviews/long-termers-richard-mondraker-foxy-carbon-xr-special-edition/

STATO – The philosophical issue I suppose with reviews nothing to do with ‘now’ culture. The thing is that you’re buying a physical product. You’re not buying a piece of history per se, you’re not buying something with ties or links to anything that actually make a blind bit of difference to how it rides, you’re buying a *thing* which is either better or worse than other things (current things, previous things, historical things) at whatever it’s supposed to do. But such comparisons don’t really help. In an ideal world, we’d all test these things totally blind, with no idea as to what it is or how its marketed, and then judge it accordingly. But we can’t, as we’re human, and it’s pretty hard to disguise stuff!
Perhaps we will mention a previous iteration of a thing in passing, but I can’t see how me telling you the relationship between (for example) a 2015 Bike X and one from 1995 is going to make any difference to how the review comes across. The important thing surely is how it rides, and older iterations make no difference at all to that. That’s marketing. If the previous one was a pup, it doesn’t mean this one is going to be any better or worse; it just serves to skew your perception of it one way or the other. We are talking reviews after all…

And with that I’m off home. Have a good weekend all!

Islabikes

23 October at 06:31 ·
.

As the weekend draws near Singletracks Fresh Goods Friday is always worth a read. Even more so when a pink Cnoc 16 is featured!
http://singletrackworld.com/2015/10/fresh-goods-friday-265/

https://www.facebook.com/Islabikes

Rich has written a very comprehensive review of the bike as you’d buy it which we put up a few months ago

Fair enough I missed that.

Maybe I’m weird but I hardly every change kit from stock, until it wears out. Mind I tend to not be fussy about kit as long as it does it’s job. Ultimately fitness is always the limiting factor not bling.