If you’ve had a hard week of trials and tribulations then a bit of retail therapy can be just the trick. Happily, every day is like Christmas at Singletrack Towers – and we don’t mean we get hammered on sherry and have massive arguments about who did what last year while the food goes cold.
We’ve had lots of treats for us to test this week, and first up are these lovely looking DMR Vault pedals. They’re the follow up to the ubiquitous V8/V12 series of pedals, brought bang up to date with a new, lighter, lower profile design and wider platform. The extruded alloy platform has plenty of fierce looking alloy studs which can be reversed if you prefer to be able to move foot position a little more easily. They’re available in all the colours of the anodised spectrum too…
Price: £89.99
From: Upgrade
Flip-pin heck…
These Avid Code brakes were destined for Matt’s Lapierre Spicy, but it’s gone. It’s okay. We just need a moment, it’s still a touchy subject. Okay, we’re fine. Fine, okay? Leave it. Ahem. The brand new 2011 Codes would have provided enough braking to make Matt’s face go all bulgy when he hauled on the anchors and would have reduced the lifespan of sticky tyres drastically. They’re much lighter than the original Code, which was a monster brake that laughed in the face of long Alpine descents but slightly on the lardy side if we’re being brutally honest. The lever retains the heavy duty bearings for smooth action but now uses TaperBore technology for more controllable power delivery. The four piston caliper is slimmed down and now has top loading pads like the Elixir for easy replacement. Happily the lovely people at Hotlines are sending Matt a new Spicy, so these brakes will have their day after all. If only all bad stories ended so well.
Price: £234.99
From: Fisher Outdoor
How much helmet? A Bontrager Quantum of helmet, that’s how much. There’s plenty of ventilation and a Micro Manager system that can be adjusted with one hand. It’s made for mountain or road biking so the peak is removeable and four different sizes are available to get the perfect fit for your noggin..
Price:
From: Bontrager
This is the new Bontrager Evoke RL saddle. Part of their new ‘Science of Comfort” range, the saddle is a well padded design for long days out but remains slim enough for technical riding. There are three different sizes available, widths varying from 128mm to 148mm. Ladies versions are available too…
Price:
From: Bontrager
This is the Liteoption Ray 3a. This is the latest version of the ‘designed by an F1 engineer’ LED light unit, pumping out 1,000 lumens of lovely lovely light. The light unit itself weighs only 79g and that only goes up to 328g with a 2.6aH Li-ion battery, which will give 4 hours runtime on the maximum setting. This one is destined for next issue’s helmet light test…
Price: £225
From: LiteOption
Not in the face! This is the Genetic Syngenic seatpost, 400mm of lightweight 7075 alloy saddle holding joy. There’s a micro adjust twin bolt head and this one is destined for Chipps’ dis-lightweight Orange Blood…
Price: £29.99
From: Ison Distribution
This is the Respro High Viz Hump Light, a waterproof cover for your rucksack. It’s in a slightly schizophrenic camouflage-with-high-viz-stripes finish – not so clever for a war zone but perfectly sensible anywhere else. The elasticated edge has pop-fasteners to secure it to your pack and it fits over surprisingly large rucksacks to keep your valuables dry in the endless torrential rain of winter.
Price: £29.99
From: Respro
Nothing makes Jon happier than wooly socks, so these Polaris Merino Sox have brought a smile to his otherwise miserable face. The wool is mixed with Elastane to keep them tight in the right places, have flat toe seams to prevent blisters and should keep his delicate toes warm even when they’re wet.
Price: £8.99
From: Polaris Apparel
Eh? What’s that just outside of the shot? Is it an epic view or the other side of the office wall?
No, it’s just Jon being a catalogue tart, in the new Polaris Fission jersey. Made from Thermalite fabric with a soft crushed inner for fast wicking. It feels nice too, should be just the trick for winter riding.
Price: £39.99
From: Polaris Apparel
They’re finally doing some proper baggies too – these are the Descent shorts. As well as a decently long cut and loose fit, the shorts have some tidy features such as the zipped and backwards facing leg pocket so you can open it while riding along and get change/keys/pocket fluff coating Haribo from it without everything falling out.
Price: TBC
From: Polaris Apparel
These are Bontrager Race InForm Thermal bibtights. Made from Italian MitiTech fabric with wicking mesh straps they have reflective stripes to keep you seen in the dark months. Happily there was noone in the office to model them so you’ve been saved that horror…
There’s nothing like a virgin shorts-naan is there? This InForm one uses multi density foam to keep your botty-bot in tip-top condition. Bontrager are so sure it’ll be lovely and comfortable that they offer a full money back guarantee if you don’t like the fit…
Price: £?
From: Bontrager
Ahh, good old fashioned bribery-with-sweets! Haribos are obviously a good choice, as is booze. Keep it up everyone…
Mr White has sent us this rather tidy looking looking Cube Elite HPC Race. It uses their rather light (950g) full carbon frame, with a tapered integrated headset up front, seriously chunky down tube to a press fit BB, with ‘Double Flex Stays’ that act like a little carbon wishbone to reduce the harshness race hardtails can sometime suffer from. It’s got a Fox 32 FIT with remote lockout and full 10spd X.0 with a triple carbon chainset up front. We popped it on the scales and it’s a rather stunning 21lbs out of the box, impressive with ‘just’ X.0 kit. Although we’ve got a bevy of superlight and super expensive hardtails in the next issue, this one will be our Issue 63 Grinder bike and Benji is going to make himself horribly sick by pedalling very hard.
Price: £2,899
From: Cube
Welcome to catalogue corner! Here’s Emily in a toasty warm Marmot Women’s Venus down jacket. Filled with toasty 800 fill goose down it should be beautifully warm as well as tough, thanks to a waterproof ripstop outer. Hat is model’s own, made from the emptied out face of a polar bear.
Price: £160
From: Marmot
Matt is a tiger! This is the Montane Dyno, a ripstoppy softshell (Pertex Equilibrium ECO, material fact-fans) made for climbing but ideal for riding and bivvy trips, and is highly wicking to stop Matt’s usual sweaty antics. The hood will frame your face beautifully as well as keeping the rain off and it’s made from recycled materials that are also recyclable.
Price: £90
From: Montane
A more contemplative Matt is wearing the Montane Prism jacket, the 40g Primaloft filling meaning it’ll cope with cold, soggy conditions in it’s stride. The outer fabric is rip-stop windproof Pertex Microlight and it’ll be perfect for cold, damp bivvy trips and keeping in the bottom of the bag for emergencies or rest stops.
Price: £100
From: Montane
After our recent break in, we’ve been sent a load of Kryptonite security gear, as everyone knows that retrospective security is the best kind of security. Here are two Evolution Series 4 Disc Locks, (£49.99) but we’ve also had a load of Stronghold Ground Anchors (£59.99), Krypto Flex looped cables (£34.99) and KryptoLok Series 2 Std U-lock with 4 foot Kryptoflex cable (£34.99). No pictures of them because they’re in Matt’s fortress-like house right now. Thanks Madison – all we need now is a big stick, just in case.
From: Madison
Squirt, the makers of dry chain lube, have entered the bike wash market with their Squirt Devil Bike Cleaner. The 1 litre bottle can be used at full strength or diluted to make 11 litres of cleaning jizz. It’s non solvent based and 100% biodegradable. They’ve also sent us some Squirt Devil Degreaser, also a solvent free and biodegradable product. Apparently Squirt were getting requests for a degreaser to remove the grease that comes on new chains. Chains need to be degreased before using Squirt chain lube for the first time.
Price: Twin pack for £15
From: In2Dust
Comments (20)
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Big Stick? don’t you mean a set of Bombers?!
“Benji is going to make himself horribly sick by pedalling very hard.”
I really like the look of that Cube. Which is most unlike me. I must go and have a lie down.
That Cube is gorgeous
“we’ve got a bevy of superlight and super expensive hardtails in the next issue” Can’t wait!
I’ll just have the bevy!!
Matt your looking butcher than normal ..whats wrong not fit into the bib shorts,,,,,,,,,,,,thank the lord for small mercy,s
Benji + bar endz? ho ho ho how you’ve changed.
The bar ends and tyres will be coming off after the first ride probably 😉
some kit every friday…..does it all have to go back generally ????
“as everyone knows that retrospective security is the best kind of security”
love the quote,
but sad for your loss
“active brake cooling” WTF??
do they mean the brace on the frame is ‘aerodynamically sculpted’ direct some air onto the disc?
Yeah okay maybe on a sports car but a push bike, really is getting desperate to come up with a USP now isnt it?
when will the liteoption lights actually be available or are they lurking inan online store somewhere
Whats the betting the cube gets massive tyres, a wide bar and a longer fork before long 😉
I also hate myself for liking that Cube. The rear stay / seat tube interface makes me feel tingly it is so lovely.
Yeah cube does look, well, wicked fast. Ride it as is, rather than trying to change it into another bike.
wait, an XO 10 speed triple? i thought the whole point of 10 speed, for SRAM, was that it was run with a double chainset?
Don’t worry, I always give bikes a few rides in their off-the-peg guise before doing any changes (if I change anything at all) 🙂
That Squirt Devil Degreaser and Bike Wash is great… very convenient that you can dilute the degreaser to make the bikewash, no need to buy two seperate products and it works brilliantly. Cheap, too…
In general I like cube bike’s aesthetics (except the AMS) but that is hideous. It might pass in monochrome but eughhhhh in its pictured guise.
That Cube makes me want to take up XC racing just so I can justify owning it. One of the best looking carbon bikes I’ve seen. Floats my boat anyway.