Welcome to this week’s Fresh Goods, where we invite you to take a look at what’s arrived to prod, poke and puzzle over in the office….
Osprey Zealot 16
We saw the Osprey Zealot in the blur of trade shows at the end of last year and were instantly interested. We’ve liked Osprey’s riding packs a lot but there was a bit of a gap at the burly end of the market. The Zealot fills it, with plenty of space for body armour and a full face helmet, plus super neat roll-out toolkit that lives at the bottom of the pack. It’s got all the other features we’ve come to like – the Airscape back, loads of neat storage pocket on the waist and shoulder harnesses and their neat magnetic attachment for the reservoir hose.
Price: £79.99
From: Osprey
ABUS Hill Bill helmet
German brand ABUS are well known for their locks but they’ve gradually been moving into the world of helmets too. This is the Hill Bill, their high end mountain bike offering. There are a total of nineteen vents to keep the wind rushing through your hair and it’s made using a two part outer shell ‘double in-moulded’ to the EPS foam protection. There’s a new retention system with a quick to adjust dial but we really like the new colours – designed to match the Altura range of mountain bike clothing.
Price: £89.99
From: Zyro
Bryton Rider 20
We had a quick look at the Rider 20 GPS unit from Bryton at distributor Zyro’s open house show earlier last month. While being about the same size as a standard cycle computer, it provides all the same features without the wires thanks to GPS. As well as the normal functions such as speed, time, distance and laps, it’ll also calculate calories burnt and record tracks. With optional extra sensors you can also measure heart rate and cadence.
You can analyse all the information to your heart’s content later on a PC or Mac with the browser based software and it comes with training programs that’ll help you to help yourself hurt…
Price: £99.99 or £139.99 with heart rate monitor
From: Zyro
Xpedo M-Force.Eight pedals
Xpedo might not be name that springs to mind when you think pedals but they’re actually the high end brand of Wellgo, the massive Taiwanese pedal manufacturer. They’re taken what they’ve learnt from making everyone else’s pedals and put it into their own range. These are the mid level clipless versions, with a forged aluminium body and CroMoly steel axle. Weight is claimed at 285g per pair although an investment cast titanium model is available too if you need to lose more mass. They roll on a pair of DU bushings and a cartridge bearing per pedal and they’re SPD compatible, though they do come supplied with a set of 6° float cleats.
Price: £69.99
From: Nemesis Active
SQ Labs 610 Active saddle
SQ Labs are a German brand created by an ex-motocross rider that suffered a horrific injury, leaving him in pain when he was using standard cycling components. With the help of a doctor, he started redesigning the contact points of a bike to make them fit different body sizes and shapes to help eliminate pressure points and pain. This cromoly railed high end saddle is available three different widths (14, 14 and 16cm) and has a dropped centre to relieve pressure on your bits. You’re fitted at the bike shop by sitting on a simple bit of corrugated card which reveals how wide your sit bones are. It turns out Matt’s body is so warped it appears to have but a single hip, which explains why he walks in circles so often.
Price: £109.99
From: Zyro
Hope Headset
While pick’n’mix used to be favourite petty theft item for kids, it’s now back thanks to the multitude of headset shamdards out there. Hope now offer four ‘off the shelf’ fitments for your bike and serve almost every other demand with 18 pick and mix options. They’re all made in Barnoldswick using high quality stainless steel bearings and metalworking machines the size of your house. This particular one is destined for Jenn’s Long Termer Cotic Solaris build…
Price: From £60
From: Hope Technology
Hope Seatclamp
Machined from a single lump of billet, the classic Hope seatclamp has been tweaked over the years to this, a neat design that can be bought as either a bolt up and QR version and converted between the two painlessly. The QR version has a solid and durable brass bushing and long lever to make it easy to grind through the inevitable coating of wet mud. They’re available in 28.6, 30.0, 31.8, 34.9, 36.4 and 38.5mm diameters and all the colours of the anodised rainbow.
Price: £20
From: Hope Technology
Point One Racing Podium Rebuild kit
Jon tested the Point One Racing Podium flat pedals around a year and half ago and they’ve basically been welded into the cranks of every bike he’s ridden since then. While the pedals themselves aren’t cheap at £149.99, they’re built to last and this kit allows you to replace the four cartridge bearings that sit in each pedal, plus new seals and mounting hardware. To save you bashing bearings out with a screwdriver and sweet abandon, there’s a neat two piece tool to drift them out.
Price: £24.99 for bearing removal tool and £16.99 for rebuild kit
From: Hotlines UK
Xpedo Traverse.Seven pedals
Xpedo do a load of flat pedals as well as the clipless options and these use a cromoly steel axle with CNC machined aluminium body and replacable studs. They run on three cartridge bearings per pedal
Price: £69.99
From: Nemesis Active
Motorola MotoACTV 8GB
It’s part MP3 player, part watch and part personal fitness trainer, using GPS and ‘Accusense’ sensors to monitor distance, speed, pace and heart rate. You can analyse your data with your Motorola Android smartphone or online at motoactv.com. It’s also got a build in FM radio receiver and the touch screen display is made from scratch resistant ‘Gorilla Glass’. The MP3 music player learns what tracks motivate you most by measuring your performance against your music and then uses those songs to create a personal high-performance playlist. That’ll be three hours of gabba techno followed by a heart attack then…
Price: £250
From: Nemesis Active
Niner RDO forks with 15mm Maxle
Chipps has got these forks in for next issue’s ‘Dream Bikes’ test. You’ll have to wait and see what they’re going onto, but these are the brand spanking new 15mm Maxle compatible versions of the full carbon fibre monocoque tapered steerer fork. They’re extremely stiff, have no rider weight limit and at 630g they’re really rather light. Axle to crown length is 470mm with a 45mm offset and they use a post mount brake. Best of all, you can get them in the lovely tangerine colour…
Price: £489
From: Jungle Products
Maxle axle will keep you stiff as you like…
What? You shouldn’t use a screwdriver on the crown of your very expensive forks? Ehhhh?
LowePro Apex 30AW and Rezo 60 camera packs
Sim reckons the Apex 30 AW (left, £24.99) is perfect for mounting his Ricoh GRD to the straps of his Camelbak (other hydration packs are available). Has a little pull out water resistant cover too. The Rezo 60 (right, £29.99)is made to fit Canon G series cameras and others of about that size. Can also squeeze in a spare card and battery.
From: Lowepro
X-Fusion Hilo Dropper 27.2mm
Behold! Rejoice! It’s a 27.2mm dropper post! Stop trying to weld a bit of scaffold tubing into your old frame ‘cos this will fit in the seatpost size that became redundant so quickly. There’s 100mm of travel and it comes with both a seat and remote mounted adjustment lever. The head is a an infinitely adjustable type too…
Price: £199.99
From: Upgrade Bikes
Oregon Scientific ATCMini
The ATC Mini records 720p HD video and 1.3MP stills straight to a micro SD card, expandable up to 32GB. It’s powered by a rechargeable lithium polymer battery which has a claimed life of over 1.5 hours. The unit includes both a TV-Out jack and Mini USB allowing you to watch video on your TV plus Edit, Save and Share via your PC / Mac. It’s also waterproof to a depth of 20 meters making it suitable, so it should survive British weather happily. You can buy a range of bar and helmet mounts too..
Price: £119.99
From: Oregon Scientific
Osprey Talon 22
With a volume of 22 litres, the Talon is made for longer trips and adventures – or just for serial over-packers – whether that’s on the bike or off. There are woven stretch side and front pockets for jamming in waterproofs or similar.
Price: £69.99
From: Osprey
Charge Spoon saddle
Apparently Charge Bikes boss Nick Larsen was so disgusted with the brown saddle on Chipp’s otherwise beautifully colour co-ordinated Kinesis Crosslight Pro6 that he put this gleaming white Spoon saddle in the post. Despite being the bargain-tastic cromoly steel railed model it weighs a claimed 240g, which isn’t bad at all.
Price: £24.99
From: Cycling Sports Group
Comments (21)
Comments Closed
ooh some good pr0n there! £500 for some rigid forks though!
Nice bedspread
You lot have had a busy week!
“it weighs a claimed 240g”
and an actual?
Orange helmet! Want.
Xpedo is NOT a good brand name….
I know, what were they thinking? *shakes head*
another one for the xpedo brand name. Jeez bad choice. Lost in translation?
Been using a charge spoon saddle for over 12 months now. Apart from it not being as White as when I bought it, it’s still virtually like new. Proper comfy too. Why spend more?
Been using the Osprey Zealot pack for the last 3months and can’t fault it, carries a full face helmet and pads with ease and the hidden tool roll in the bottom pocket is genius
I’d love one of those Niner 15mm bolt through forks, but my frame won’t take a tapered steerer and my wheel won’t convert to 15mm. Bloody shamdards indeed!
Brand names straight out of a Chris Morris short.
“Behold! Rejoice! It’s a 27.2mm dropper post! Stop trying to weld a bit of scaffold tubing into your old frame ‘cos this will fit in the seatpost size that became redundant so quickly. ”
Are you people insane? Gravity Droppers do all that and came out 9 YEARS AGO. Did you not notice?
Next week clear a space for my new invention, the Specialized Rockhopper.
I have had a LowePro Apex 30AW hanging off the starps of my camelback now for a couple of years – its a damn fine fit for my Panasonic TZ7 and the cover keeps things loverly and dry.
The white charge spoon doesnt stay white for long, mine didnt stay white beyond the first outing.
£24.99!!! that Lowe Pro bag is only £14.99 on Amazon and the like, quite a markup.
Whatever happened to the X-lite bolt through fork?
Andy
Northwind: Indeed, I’ve owned a Gravity Dropper for the past four and it’s still going strong. Nothing wrong with a bit more choice for anyone with a 27.2 frame though…
Dibbs: I think that may be more to do with Amazon being willing to make next to no money on a single item rather than high steel retailers getting amazing margins…
I’ve been running a 27.2 KS post for over a year now too….
“a year and half .. aren’t cheap at £149.99, they’re built to last”
A year and a half, built to last?
I have an Osprey Talon which I use on longer rides and when I take the camera out. Very comfortable on the bike!
James: A year and half from a set of bearings is decent considering they’ve done a couple of thousand miles in all conditions. The pedal body and axles are still utterly solid and they’ve been beaten over plenty of rocks…