It’s been a busy week at Singletrack Towers, working on issue 68, which obviously is the freshest of the fresh. Here’s a sneak preview of what it’s going to look like.
Next up are some offset bushings from Burgtec which are destined for Sim’s Orange 5. They offer a degree of slackenage of your head angle and, while they cost £49, they’re cheaper than buying one of those fancy new headsets…
Want to carry a little more on the bike? Try this Tangle Bag from Alaskan seamsters Revelate:
They’re $70 plus shipping and come in three sizes to fit under nearly all top tubes (that don’t have suspension gubbins on them) from the head tube to the seat tube. With zips both sides, there’s room for extra layers, a skinny tent or bivvy or a whole LOAD of Haribo…
And now for something slightly different. This is a Revelate Designs Mountain Feed Bag. It’s the kind of thing that 24 hour racers use to keep snacks in and closely resembles a climber’s chalk bag, only with a low tension strap that goes round the fork crown and stops the bag coming up along with your snacks. It’s $39, also from www.revelatedesigns.com
And now a few things from Elite for the upcoming ‘cross season, the winter race season, or just to keep you riding once the balmy summer days ease off…
Coming from www.madison.co.uk the Ozone range comes from those Elite folks, who know a thing or two about riding bikes a long way…
The Endurance Protect (chamois) cream is £17.99, the Waterproof Warm Up Emulsion is £16.99 and the Refresh Oil is £13.99. We’ve heard some good things about this lot, so we’re going to slather Chipps in it and prod him off towards the nearest leg-ripper ‘cross race soon.
Grippp Tour FF (Full Finger) gloves come from Hirzl, whose slogan is ‘We believe in glove’ (Hmm, some work needed there we think…)
What doesn’t need more work is their gloves, which come in short or full finger and are made mostly of grippiness. They boast grippy in the dry, and grippier in the wet, treated kangeroo leather (and we’re surprised to find that it’s not Pittards, but some other wonder-leather) which promises to work whatever the weather. Initial tests are good. Prices are:Long Finger £44.99, short finger £34.99 www.nemesisgb.com
And for an upcoming test we have a smart pair of Hayes Prime brakes… In development for two years and with tools-free reach adjust, free stroke adjust and an optional two piece floating rotor, we’re going to be very interested in getting these out on a bike for test…
Rockshox Domain Forks – they’re not light, they’re made from chunky stuff, wrapped in sturdy, but that’s the reason they’re used on so many dirt-jump bikes, beefy budget downhillers and Chipps’ Cannondale tandem. Now he’s going to be looking for willing volunteers to hang off the back of it…
Can you tell this has been a quiet week for product? It’s time to start glueing tyres on to wheels for the upcoming ‘cross season. We reckon that there must be a good couple of dozen Singletrack readers doing the Three Peaks CX this year anyway…
Bike Stand.
Price: To you, free!
Where: Outside the Singletrack offices.
Thanks to a several-months-long renovation of the general canal area near the Singletrack offices, there are now flowerbeds and benches and… a couple of bike racks sponsored by us! Hopefully they’ll let people lock bikes up while visiting Todmorden’s famous market, or perhaps seeing Lucky the Dog – which, though probably entirely fabricated, did help Chipps find his lost iPod…
Gore Ultra Light Sealed Cable Systems
Price: TBA
From: www.madison.co.uk
Just when you thought there wasn’t a way to save any more weight on your bike… Traditional cable systems, even flash sealed systems like Gore’s great Ride On System, use steel wrapped outer casings to stop the outers compressing when the gears are shifted. Gore has now come out with a new outer casing which utilises a sort of fibreglass instead of steel cores. The result is that the overall weight is reduced by 40%, the outer is more flexible than steel core systems and the full length liner that comes with it is fully lubricated, which further reduces friction by 20%. There’s a much-reduced Grub Seal to keep the muck out (which won’t now get chewed by rear mechs). It’s compatible with all current mountain bike shifting systems and should be out by the end of the summer. For an absolute top-notch build, it’s going to be a a must-have.
DBAYD Friday
It’s become a bit of a tradition here and, especially at deadline, Drink Beer At Your Desk Friday is now company policy. Perhaps your boss will go for it too…
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“while they cost £49, they’re cheaper than buying one of those fancy new headsets…”
Workscomponents headsets are not much more expensive and you can get 2.0 degree options without screwing up your suspension by forcing it to sit into its stroke which may upset leverage ratios etc…… no thanks.
Gotta love the graph on the wipe board behind Chips.
Is that the price for one shock bushing or two? Steamer do a similiar product for 20 euros per end. Sure, they’re not titanium, but then, why would they be?
i can’t help thinking those bushes will ever so slowly over time rotate and constantly mess the geo up. slacker isn’t neccesarily better in my experience, just magazines like to make you think its a cure all!
True a slacker bike isn’t always better. But could you put them in the other way and have it steeper?
First person to get the chammy cream and warm up emulsifier applied in the wrong places… please post your explaination of how you won the race by such a large margin….
Goodness gracious, great balls of fire…
I shall be VERY CAREFUL on that front Rick 🙂
Domains used on “so many” dirt jump bikes? You sure you’re not getting the confused with Argyles?
£49 for both ends with bush and made of ti is a decent price theres other people out there who are charging almost the same for alloy.and £49 to customize your bike a little to how you might want it is a bargin. as to them moving they dont
Domains don’t come on dirt jump bikes – budget downhill bikes only. Or off the shelf.
I’ve just placed an order for some offset bushes , will be nice to see how they effect the handling of my Orange 5, I like slack and lower.
i love the way that “continental” reads on the tyre in focus, way to circumnavigate the swear filter guys!
ive been using the elite chamois cream (or Cham-wais cream as it was called by a portly chap in ill fitting rapha kit) and can confirm it is great! dare i say it even better than Assos!!
its pretty thick and lasts ages though, so a little goes a long way…great stuff
Love the wallpaper- great for losing tools in!
Liking the Gear Cables, any sign of a price for them yet? Hopefully they’ll be affordable…
“They offer a degree of slackenage of your head angle”
firstly, HOW MUCH for some bushings?
and secondly, unless ive missunderstood what im looking at, they dont. what is effectivly more sag does not equate to a slacker head angle. not that im complaining, im sure they will make your fives more boat like, more fun on the DHs, less fun on the climbs, but lets not throw wild accusations around…
Offset shock bushings really do work for SOME bikes – my 2005 Giant Reign is soooo much better with just 3mm difference in shock eye2eye. For an already slack bike it would be silly – gotta look closely at frame clearances too.
DBAYD Friday! Love it !
Olly, more sag does mean a slacker head angle and lower bb, but these bushings form a shorter eye to eye length of the shock, which also means a slacker head angle and lower bb. Different things all together.