Ah, bank holidays – don’t you just love’em? Especially as I’m looking out of the window and I’m seeing quite enormous amounts of snow hurtling from the sky. Three whole days of possible riding, reduced to the potential for grinding through sludge.
They do say, though, that such experiences ‘build character’. Nuts to that, I say. If I wanted my character built, I’d take it somewhere warm and sunny, where I might enable its growth by rueing the previous day’s sangria consumption.
I might also give it a stern talking to about its behaviour whilst swimming in an azure sea, and I think I’d finish off it’s training with a long, swoopy, fast and occasionally technical singletrack descent from the top of a very hot place to the bottom of the same very hot place. But in the mean time, let’s look at some sweet, sweet gear, shall we?
Orange Segment RS
Price: £3,700
From: Orange
Ah yes, the Segment has had something of a redesign – not that it’s hugely obvious. Firstly, it’s worth mentioning that that colour is totally gorgeous. We like, a lot.
So what’s changed for Segment 2.0? Well, it’s got more CNCed stuff on it, it uses thinner sheet to shed an impressive 400g from the frame weight, the pivot is 6mm wider…
…and it’s boosted.
You still get 110mm of travel from a Monarch RT3 shock
Some very impressive bending of metal going on there, there really is.
The RS has SRAM’s 1x GX drivetrain…
…and Guide brakes.
120mm Pike up front, natch.
And some Renthal finishing kit. Love the Strange top cap.
The Bicycle Book
Price: TBC
From: Bookshops everywhere
Lots of pictures of bikes – with a name like Definitive Visual History, what did you expect? Some of them are even mountainous…
Blazing Bikes coffee
Price: £3.95
From: Blazing Bikes and the Shropshire Hills Mountain Bike and Outdoor Pursuit Centre
Barney was sampling the delights of the Long Mynd earlier this week, and it turns out that Ben from Blazings is amazingly good at making coffee. Apparently he came up with this blend after ages and ages trying different bean varieties. Heaven knows how his system took all that caffeine…
Dr Zak’s High Protein Bagels
Price: £3.49 for 4
From: Dr Zaks
Just what we’ve always wanted – hi-protein bagels! 24g of ‘top quality protein isolates’ per 100g of traditional Jewish foodstuff, 30% fewer carbs, cinammon and raisin flavoured. As long as they still taste good slathered in butter, peanut butter and jam, then I’m in.
Green Oil Eco Grease
Price: £5.99
From: Eco-Grease
Kind to your hands, kind to the environment, in a new ‘toothpaste’ tube, and it’s got a Rosie the Rivetter-type on the front. What more do you need? Yes, it apparently successfully greases things too.
Sigma ROX 10.0 GPS Bike Computer
Price: £139.20
From: Sigmasport.com
GPS, ANT+, route navigation and a whole pile of other wizzy computery things in a small box that sits on your handlebars and gives you ALL TEH DATA! Apparently it’s the ‘perfect companion for any professional athlete in training.’
Or anyone looking to burn off the calories consumed when eating too many of those bagels up there ^^.
e*thirteen trsr (front) and trs+ (rear) tyres
Price: trsr £67.95; trs+ £56.95
From: Silverfish
Posh rubber from wheel-meisters (and capital-letter allergic) e*thirteen, who have Fresh Goods’ (statement of the bleeding obvious, this) branched out into tyres. They look good and grippy. Chipps will be riding the Dyfi Enduro with them at the weekend. The trsr is a triple-compound race tyre designed for ALL THE TRACTION.
RaceFace Indy Jersey S/S
Price: £49.95
From: Silverfish
Good looking, breatheable SS top from RaceFace. Might give it a few days until the snow goes before riding this one…
RaceFace Trigger Shorts
Price: £64.95
From: Silverfish
4-way stretch, lightweight, lots of adjustment and ting. Shorts for the weather we *should* be having, rather than the weather we *are*. Grump.
RaceFace Stage Glove
Price: £24.95
From: Silverfish
Mesh-backed, Amara palmed (she’s a character on Twin Peaks). And is that a touchscreen compatible middle finger? I do believe it is! Swipe right.
RaceFace CRU Pullover
Price: £49.99
From: Silverfish
Post-ride relaxation. Rob aims for his Race Face, lands on ‘baffled’. Or possibly ‘Low F’ in the barbershop quartet.
Surly Dirty Windows Trucker Hat
Price: £17.99
From: Ison Distribution
Hey Mistah! Just had to say, you look lovely when you’re asleep…
Surly Cycling Cap
Price: TBC
From: Ison Distribution
There’s a stiff breeze in the office today. Either that or office dog/Fraggle Rock mutt impersonator Clover just farted.
Surly Shroom Socks
Price: TBC
From: Ison Distribution
Genuinely wondrous socks from Surly. We wonder if there’s some sort of serious ‘seventies thing going on here. They’re certaibnly the sort of thing my mad Auntie Evelyn would wear – possibly when chatting to randoms on her CB radio. She was essentially into the Social Meejas even before they were a thing. Rrrrespec’.
Pickle Juice
Price: uuuuh
From: America
Chipps brought this back from America. Apparently it’s an electrolyte-rich formula, with 10x the electrolytes of other sports drinks, supposed to help to stop muscle cramping. It just reminds me of that fateful day I thought a jar of cockles would be a good idea as a trail side snack.
I was wrong.
Singletrack Issue 105
Price: £5.95 on the newstand
From: well, US. Duh.
It’s the latest slice of magazine-tastic awesomesauce what we have wroted just for you! Seriously, there’s some great stuff in it – take a look and see. You can also subscribe here…
SRAM Level ULT brakes
Price: £249 per end
From: Fisher Outdoor
SRAM’s ultimate XC and trail brake. Carbon lever blade, two piston caliper, and BLEEDING EDGE™ apparently makes bleeding easier, as well as sounding – y’know – modern.
EVOC FR Lite Team Hydration Backpack
Price: £109.95
From: Silverfish
Small volume protective backpack from EVOC. 10 litre capacity, and it’s apparently designed for bike parks, rides around the neighbourhood, or competitions. You can also take the protector out if you have no need for such nonsense, and an adamantium spine.
SRAM NX Groupset
Price: Crankset £92; Mech £59; Shifter £22; Cassette £68
From: Fisher Outdoor
Check out this bad boy. An answer, perhaps, to Shimano’s encroachment into SRAM’s 11 speed realm, the NX gear is their budget gruppo. The cassette runs 11-42, and fits a normal ‘shimano’ type freehub (so you can use your existing wheels) too.
SRAM X-SYNC steel chainrings
Price: £15.99
From: Fisher Outdoor
All the thick thin goodness, in a cheap package which will last PRACTICALLY FOR EVER*
*quite a while, anyhow, them being steel an’ all.
RockShox Reverb 170mm
Price: £374.99
From: Fisher Outdoor
Enormolong shaft-tacular Reverb with a whole 170mm of silky smooth dropper action! New Reverbs have all new internals – we’re looking forward to seeing how it fares in some good old fashioned Yorkshire snow (*weeps*) .
SRAM NX Chain
Price: £11
From: Fisher Outdoor
It’s a chain for the groupset up there. 11 speed, and the same number of your finest pounds…
And that’s it! Time to don your finest waterproof apparel and head out into the wilderness. Or back to work. Which is arguably the same thing.
As you file out, congregation-style, take a listen to the Fresh Goods organist, as he (a hundred and for this year! You can tell his age by counting the drips from his nose) plays something appropriately bloopy from the masters of electronica, Plaid. Ah, Warp! How I love thee.
ST out.
Comments (4)
Comments Closed
i want a segment
I have a segment 😛
has it got the gopping bent top tube?
I want that new Reverb to go with my lanky legedness.