We’ve rescued the cupboard of dreams from the flood-prepared cellar (there was a quip about things being back to normal in here but we thought that might be tempting fate…) and had a good rummage through all the technical trickery, engineering élan and manufactured magic that’s been brought to us by the men and women of the delivery services this week.
In other words, come look at the shiny shiny. It’s Friday.
Singular Grrrrrrryphon or PowaKite or ZeeGull or whatever it’s actually called.
(Codenamed Buzzard at the moment)
The lovely Sam from Singular has sent us this orange coloured beauty; his idiosyncratic take on the hardcore hardtail. As you’d kind of expect from him, it’s rolling on 29in wheels and is made from the realest of all framebuilding materials, namely steel. It’s also beautifully welded despite being a prototype runabout, with nicely cowled dropouts at the rear and an eccentric bottom bracket for running it singlespeed – or just messing with your rear centre, if you like that sort of thing.
Price: £some
From: Singular Cycles
Nicely made chainstay yoke along with the kinked seattube means that the back end can be kept short and lively.
Proper 1.5in headtube means the world is your oyster (or clam?) as far as fork choice goes – you can even whack in an Angleset if you decide that you know best when it comes to angles.
As ever, the detailing extends to a beautiful looking headtube badge.
Panaracer CG Downhill 26×2.5in tyres
If you’d started to worry that the world was all about the big and the even bigger then worry not, Cedric Gracia still has love for 26in, this has apparently been his pet project for two years. What the CG DH lacks in diameter it makes up in girth, with a chunky 2.5in wide four-ply carcass with reinforced ASB sidewall for rock beating amusement. It’s coated in rather sticky 40a ‘ZSG Active EVO’ rubber, which Panaracer say is more durable than your average soft compound.
We’re looking forward to getting out on them, but not as much as we’re looking forward to seeing Cedric out of a hospital bed – which he’s due to do today – and back on a bike…
Price: £59.99 each
From: Zyro
Magura TS8 29 forks
This is the new big wheeler fork from Magura, using a new lower casting and offering 80-100 or 120mm of travel. The rebound damping is adjustable via a knob hidden in the lower leg and the 15mm through axle closes with a Torx key that wedges neatly inside it. As ever, the Double Arch Design offers loads of mud clearance and the magnesium lowers have small rubber bumpers on the bottom to prevent damage should you prop the bike up without the front wheel in.
It’s air sprung and the fork runs on tight tolerance un-slotted bushings, which are lubricated with grease rather than oil. This fork uses the DLO damper, which enables you to lock the fork out completely but still keep it at the sagged level. Steerers are either 1.125in, as seen here, or tapered.
Price: £TBC
From: Magura
Giro Remedy Carbon helmet
While Chipps’ usual racing poison is of the cyclocross variety, this year he’s gone and entered himself in the No Fuss Endurance Downhill and will be smashing his wrists to pieces on the Fort William World Cup downhill course for six hours come the 28th July. If you fancy that then take a look here, but if you just fancy keeping your head safe and your neck muscles untired then the 900g light Giro Remedy Carbon is a safer bet.
It’s covered in 14 vents to whisk away the sweats of exertion – or terror – and if exposed carbon and matte black isn’t your thing then there are a load of other designs to choose from. It should be plenty safe too, being certified to the ATSM F1952 standard for downhill helmets – coincidently much more use on the bike than the ATSM E1952 standard, which has nothing to do with keeping your teeth in your head.
Price: £224.99
From: Madison
Crank Brothers Cobalt 11 bars
Made from high modulus unidirectional carbon, this is the top end XC/race bar from Crank Brothers. You can get it in a flat version at a 600 or 680mm width or a 15mm rise at 680, 700, 740 or a mighty 780mm width. The narrowest bar weighs a scant 130g and they’re all guaranteed for two years, so light weight shouldn’t come at the cost of durability.
Price: £99.99
From: 2Pure
odPod bike stand
The odPod is the brainchild of Steve Marsden, the name coming from the “‘old this for me” Yorkshireism crossed with “tripod”. It’s designed as a portable bike stand rather than a full-on workstand, the design is compatible with pretty much all BB designs out there and should let you spin the cranks for light workshop duties. It’s Yorkshire designed and manufactured, custom colours and replacement parts are available, and it’s easily stripped down with a multi tool.
Steve will be launching it at the Shimano Singletrack Classic Weekender on the 14-15th July at Lee Quarry, should you need further encouragement to come along…
Price: £29.95
From: odDesigns.co.uk or 0113 250 7793, Steve Marsden
On-one Smorgasbord Trail Extreme 29×2.25″ tyre
If you’ve been thinking that the current crop of 29er tyres were, well, a bit wimpy with their low profiles and obsession with fast rolling, then prepare to gorge yourself silly on this one. A nicely chunky tread with a decent shoulder and spacing, this ‘Extreme’ version comes with a folding bead, a 60tpi ‘Eckso’ reinforced casing and, joy of joys, a 60a centre compound with sticky 42a edges. Better than brown cheese any day.
Price: £29.99
From: On-One
SRAM X9 Type 2 rear mech
A mysterious package from SRAM appeared on Sim’s desk this week. Nobody knows who put it there or how much it’s going to cost him, but in the meantime he’s looking forward to making his Orange into a silent stealth machine.
Price: TBA
From: SRAM
Camelbak 2013 Spark 10
The Camelbak Spark 10 is the liquid carrying company’s women’s version of its lumbar pack. This one takes a 2L bladder, designed to carry the weight low on the hips. There are a couple of zippered side stash pockets and the main compartment is tall (and padded) enough to take a long pump, a jacket and other spares. Being a 2013 version it also has the new helmet strap capture tabs for attaching a helmet when you’re sipping espresso. It won’t be available until January we’re sorry to say, but by then we should have a comprehensive test review ready for you. Oh yes, and the colour is (apparently) Capri Breeze…
Price: £TBA
From: Zyro
Care In The Community
Last of all Jenn and Sim would like to say a very big thank you to all the lovely folk who’ve helped them out after last week’s flooding. There’s nothing like minor disaster to remind you how nice a place the bike trade is to live and work, so big happy hugs to the folk who have helped them replace lost gear:
Oli @ Madison, Debbie @ Minx-girl.com, Dickon @ Jungle, Cy @ Cotic, Dan @ Rab, Oli @ Morvelo, Chris @ Trek, Col @ Alpkit, Ade @ Howies.
And everyone in the valley who has helped to clean up the mess, fed them hot dinners and done their stinky, post-Mayhem laundry for them while they recover:
Amy, Ali, Emma, Beate, James and Sarah, Tim and Lisa, Kelvin and Liz, Mats and Ruth, and probably a few folk we’ve forgotten in the chaos as well as everyone in the office who has had to put up with us being a bit grumpy…
THANK YOU 🙂
Comments (2)
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Buzzard in the fresh goods? Only been knocking about for about a year! 😉
Still like it though.
I’d love a go on that Buzzard, looks great.