Fresh Goods 234

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It’s another busy week here in the land of the Fresh Goods. Here’s a glimpse at a few of the things that have been weighing down the postman this week. Enjoy this little peek as you start ramping up for the weekend.

Canfield Nimble

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Fancy a bit of Pacific North West action? How about this Canfield Nimble? Short, slack and 29in. There’s even room for (sshh!) 27-Chubby wheels if you want to try 27.5 x 2.8in. For the moment, though, we’re just going to do some hooning.

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Death to skulls! Or something.
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It seems that bottle bosses are back in vogue. There are two pairs for ya.
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Can’t go far without seeing Hope components on trail bikes
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Over an inch of wheelbase adjustment (or singlespeed chain de-slackerating)
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No prizes for guessing whose pedals we’ve got
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Short stem for more funz
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Of course, a one-by setup
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Nimble by name…

Price: Nimble 9 frame is £790. Bike as built is £2695.

From: www.cranknuts.com

 

Swarf Spline 29 frame

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Barney’s taken receipt of this magnificent looking frame from Dorset-based builders Swarf cycles. It’s their Spline 29 hardtail, with a custom extra-long top tube and seat tube (Barney’s a big fella), and a quite startlingly spiffy two-colour paint job (well, kinda – that orange is all kinds of sparkly) from the folks at Fatcreations.

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Lovely Guilloche head badge is lovely. It’s also extra. But it is lovely. Apparently the pattern is coated, but the ‘S’ and the outline isn’t. So over time you should get a lovely patina over some bits and the rest will remain shiny. Very swish/arty.

DSC_0050Lovingly crafted from Reynolds 853 main tubes and Columbus stays.

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Adrian Swarf shipped the frames to Ali at Fat Creations for the epically spangly paint job. It’s really hard to get decent pictures of, but it’s really shimmery, and quite spectacular.

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In computer graphics, a spline is a a curve that joins two or more specific points – so this might fit the bill. Ady from Swarf brazed the brace in to compensate for the our requested longer seat-tube, so it’s still got bags of standover.

Swarf Spline rolling chassis
As James said: “that has stance, does that”

And here’s a rolling chassis pic if you’re interested in how it looks a bit more built-up. I should stress that in this pic has a 140mm fork instead of the 120mm for which it’s been designed, but still… braaaaap!

Price: from £850 with powder-coated finish; fancy paint jobs start at £120 extra.

From:

Spline 29 Frame: Swarf Cycles

Paint: Fat Creations

 

KMC X11SL DLC chain.

Comes in many colours for perfect finishing off of that dream machine
That’s real pretend-velvet lining that box, that is!

KMC has found a day of adding a ‘diamond-like coating’ or DLC to its chains and it reckons that this black and blue beauty will remain that way for months to come, resisting wear (and conveniently, staying black and blue). As if you needed a reason to keep your chain clean, eh? Comes in black/black too for the shy.

Price: £82.99

From: Today’s Cyclist

 

Vee Tire Co. Trax Fatty Tyres

This previously behind the scenes tyre company is stepping things up dramatically this year. It aims to fill many of the gaps that other companies are slow to fill and so it was no surprise to see that Vee Tire has already got a 27.5+ tyre for a standard that no one even knows about yet. WTB is no longer the only player in this game. There’s even a bottle of Vee Tires’ secret new tubeless liquid. The formulation is so secret, it’s usually kept under lock and key but we hear it’s made from Unicorn toenail clippings.

Price: TBC

From: http://www.veetireco.co.uk

 

Bontrager Gloves

3D Padding!


We have a couple of Bontrager gloves in for a future test. The Foray and the Evo. The Foray is minimal with no palm padding, but lots of ventilation and sticky silicon. The Evo is still pretty stripped down, but with some very 3D padding on the palm, as you’ll see in the pic.

Price: £24.99 (Foray) and £29.99 (Evo)

From: Trek UK. bontrager.com

 

SDG Bel Air 2.0

Coming in at 225g with its Ti-Alloy rails, this is the mid-range in the new BelAir range. It starts at £49.95 for the cromo rail version. A new flexible nylon base promises more comfort for this very popular marque.

Price: £69.95

From: Silverfish

Bontrager TLR Tyre Sealant

Looking very much like a Tesco Value tyre sealant, the Bontrager sealant comes in a US Quart (nearly a litre) and seals tyres – from the company that was into tubeless before tubeless was cool. (We assume there’s no model railway diorama ingredients in this formulation. Keith’s (creditable) early prototoypes did…)

 

Evoc Photo Scout

This 17L pack from Evoc is aimed at the few of us that choose to ride with camera gear that costs as much as our bikes. It offers a side and lumbar access to an SLR, with room for a 70-200, as well as a flash and spare lens or two. And there’s STILL room for a jacket and sandwiches…

Price: £179.95

From: Silverfish

Duck Smart Bike Ezee and Earth Mover

Duck Smart introduces two handy, squirty products. There’s Earth Mover, which is a fruity-smelling, bio-friendly bike cleaner. Just spray onto a wet bike, scrub if needed and hose off. Bike Ezee, meanwhile is a ‘dry wash and detailer’ and is a different thing entirely. For a start, it smells like Hubba Bubba banana gum and it’s intended to be either a spruce-up spray on an already clean bike, or as a sort of dry shower for a grimy bike. Just spray on and wipe off with a clean rag and you end up with a surprisingly clean and shiny machine. There’s no PTFE, so it can be safely used on and around brakes too.

Price: Bike Ezee £9.99 a litre bottle. Earth Mover: £6.99

From: Today’s Cyclist

 

LifeCycles Nano First Aid Kit


Designed to be small enough to carry all the time, the new Lifesystems Nano first aid kit has been developed with help from those outdoor adventurers at OMM. It contains things like bandages, low-stick dressings, plasters, blister plasters, wipes, zinc oxide tape, 50SPF cream and safety pins. All in a dry bag rated to 10m. For a tenner, it’s well worth a look.

Price: £9.99

From: www.lifesystems.co.uk

Alis Marsh

Alis

The latest addition to the Singletrack Extended Family, Alis is Barney’s new daughter. This pic was taken when she was less than a day old, in an uncharacteristically tranquil period. Awwww.

That’s it for Fresh Goods this week. To those of you at Battle on the Beach, this weekend, we’ll see you there. To everyone else, make sure you add one more hill to your ride this weekend. That’s what they’re there for, you hear?

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Barney Marsh takes the word ‘career’ literally, veering wildly across the road of his life, as thoroughly in control as a goldfish on the dashboard of a motorhome. He’s been, with varying degrees of success, a scientist, teacher, shop assistant, binman and, for one memorable day, a hospital laundry worker. These days, he’s a dad, husband, guitarist, and writer, also with varying degrees of success. He sometimes takes photographs. Some of them are acceptable. Occasionally he rides bikes to cast the rest of his life into sharp relief. Or just to ride through puddles. Sometimes he writes about them. Bikes, not puddles. He is a writer of rongs, a stealer of souls and a polisher of turds. He isn’t nearly as clever or as funny as he thinks he is.

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