Fresh Goods Friday 143

It’s a slightly delayed Fresh Goods today due to Fresh Goods Dave being away and most of the office stuffed on cake (and waiting for beer) for Sim’s last day at Singletrack.

So, let’s start with some quality goods that’ll appearing freshly squeezed at Orange Bikes next week. It’s our Sim. Sim’s been here for eight years, and he’s had the unenviable job of making the rest of us here look good. He’s also designed 62 issues of Singletrack and is responsible for some stunning features and some great photos of his own too. He’s off to Orange Bikes, just down the valley and his first public engagement will be at Fort William next week, so pop along and ask technical questions. Our loss is certainly their gain and we wish him well. And now, if you’ll excuse us, we’d better get on with this so that we can get the booze open.

Easton Polyurethane Grips

From: Zyro. zyro.co.uk
Price: TBA

Easton is moving into the world of grips, with these smart looking things that’ll come in two diameters: 30mm and 33mm. Easton is using ‘elastomeric polyurethane’ for the material, which seems a lot harder wearing than regular krayton. The Easton logos are flat under your palm, but jut out under your fingers for wet-weather grip. Great news for riders who like to have their hands right on the ends of the bars, the grip material mostly covers the metal clamps, making it more comfy to do so. Unlike many locking grips, the metal clamps don’t touch the bar themselves, but they tighten on to a plastic sleeve that keeps it all in place and stops excessive squeezing damage to handlebar ends. They’re due to be released in June and come in many funky colours. And black.

 

Lazer Oasiz

Price: £99.99
From: Madison.co.uk
Coming soon to Lazersport.co.uk
Lazer helmets has a new distributor in the form of Madison and a new push into the UK. Tune in shortly for a little behind-the-scenes look at Lazer on these pages. In the meantime, here’s the Oasiz, with bold graphics and integrated GoPro mount.

 

Lazer Xenon X1 glasses

Price: £29.99
From: Madison.co.uk
Lazer doesn’t just make helmets. Here’s its Xenon X1 shades.

And here is the Electron EC1. £54.99. Also soon to be available from Lazersport.co.uk

Lazer Magneto glasses
Price: £99.99
From: Madison.co.uk

Grace isn’t saluting. She’s holding up the Lazer Magneto glasses. They use rare-earth magnets to attach to tabs that you thread on to your helmet straps. This means you don’t need ears to hold your glasses on. The glasses are held on by magnets and when removed are a lot smaller than regular shades, so you can slide them into your pocket for those dark woods/Tour tunnels.

Festina Tour de France Chrono Bike Watch

Price: £285
From: Nice watch shops.
Festina has had a long, up and down, but mostly up, affair with cycling and with the Tour de France in particular. It’s the official timekeeper of the event and to celebrate the 100th Tour de France, it has produced a range of chronometer watches, complete with little sprocket engravings and chain-link straps. There are a selection of face and strap colours, but we’ve got the gaudiest one here in traditional Tour de France yellow. It weighs as much as a decent carbon frame, so probably best left for the podium presentations and chilling out in Monaco after the event.

 

Shewee Peebol
From: Shewee.com and online shops.
Price: £10 for eight bags.

And now for a complete change of pace. Here’s the latest product from masters of wee; Shewee. The Peebol is a small, card-topped plastic bag with filled with some magic granules. Aimed at anyone who doesn’t want to trek across a dark campsite in the rain, you wee into it and the granules turn to a spill-proof gel. It holds a litre(!). You can then seal the bag and chuck it away in a bin when you’re up and about next. £10 for eight bags.

Madison Clothing
Madison has quietly been making clothing for years, but recently it has really stepped up the looks, breadth and quality of its range. Here’s Richard modelling the Zenith jersey. £26.99 from Madison. madison.co.uk

And here’s the Zenith shorts. £49.99

That’s a whole new range of women’s wear just arrived too. Here are just a couple of pieces: the Flo Vest for those summer days, complete with shelf bra and rear pocket (£24.99) and the Flo Jersey (£29.99) for equally decent weather.

Catlike Leaf Helmet
Price: £69.99
From: i-ride.co.uk
The Spanish helmet company, Catlike is mostly known for its light road helmets, but here’s its mountain bike lid. With extended rear protection, a peak and a rubbery finish so dark that it sucks in daylight, it looks like a winner.

Birzman Zyklop Tool Pouch
Price: £49.99
From: i-ride.co.uk
The designers at Birzman obviously live in the real world, as proven by this clever toolbag. It fits in your hydration pack and unzips neatly to reveal a micro-pump, chain tool, multi tool, tyre lever and a pouch full of self-adhesive patches. The clever bit, though, is the included single-speed gizmo chain tensioner that’ll attach to your rear QR and keep your chain in check when you smash your derailleur off a rock and break it, or the hanger. Clever.

Shimano Big Wuss Cassette

From: Madison. madison.co.uk

Seems that Shimano realises that not every rider wants a straight-through racing block – and more than just racers need a super-wide range cassette, whether they’re going 1×10, 2×10 or even 3×10. This SLX cassette runs at £54.99 and has a huge 11-36 range to let you go fast, or less fast.

XTR. Designed for the way you ride. And again, not everyone is all about putting it in the big ring. We’ve seen a lot of riders keen to keep a 2×10 setup for trail riding and for 2014 Shimano expanded the range of gears that it covered in its XTR double chainsets. They weren’t just for XC racing, as this 38/26T double shows.

---