Fresh Goods Friday 306

Well, hello there Summer! How nice of you to drop by!

We’re so glad you could make it! Not as if you were late or anything. And honestly, it’s not like we’ve been hanging out for you for the past two and half months. Waiting. Longing. Pining.
Spending the last few weeks on our own, riding the trails in the mud and drizzly rain, casually gazing into overcast skies, wistfully wishing for your company by our side. Nope, that hasn’t been the case at all Summer, and that would just be kinda weird and stalker-ish anyway. And we’re not like that. Honest.

But really, it has been nice to see you this week. Every one of us here at Singletrack Towers has enjoyed some quality time with you over the past few days. What with Mark catching up with you during a hike up in the Lake District, and Hannah enjoying her morning off-road commute under your gentle watch. Oh and the helping hand you lent to Chipps and David earlier this week while they were doing some local trail maintenance? So kind of you! And even though Wil left the country to visit Cube in Germany, you decided to pay him a visit too. You sweetheart you!

But oh what’s that? You’ve only been here for a couple of days and already you want to leave? Really?? But WHY?!

*sob*

Ok well, if that’s how it’s going to be, then perhaps we can’t stop you. But at least just stick around for a little while longer. Just give us one last chance to hang out and stay with us for… FRESH GOODS FRIDAY!!

Intense Recluse Elite

• Price: £6600
• From: Saddleback

Leading the charge this week is the new Intense Recluse. It only launched this week, but Intense has ‘done an Apple’ and is already shipping the bikes to shops. The bike we have here is the Elite model that features a pretty top shelf spec, including Fox 36 forks and Fox Float X2 rear shock. In a first for the brand, it features Intense’s own-brand carbon wheels too. The range starts around the mid-£4000s, but if you’re getting the credit card out, you might as well go all-in, right?

Magura VYRON eLECT Dropper Post

• Price: £
• From: Magura

One of the most intriguing dropper posts to find its way to Singletrack Towers in recent times is the new electronic dropper post from Magura. The Veyron eLECT isn’t just electronic, it’s wireless too. A rechargeable battery pack sits just rearward from the saddle clamp, and that battery controls the post’s internal locking mechanism.

This is the other part of the Magura Veyron eLECT dropper post – the remote. It mounts to your bars, and you use it to trigger the dropper. Fundamentally, the Veyron eLECT works the same as most other droppers in that you hit the button, then weight the saddle to push it down. Stand off the seat and hit the same button, and the saddle returns to full extension. The difference being that there are no cables or wires to concern yourself, making this perhaps the easiest dropper post in the world to mount.

Dynaplug Tyre Repair Plugs

• Price: US$15 a set
• From: Dynaplug

Back in Fresh Goods Friday 303, we introduced you to a clever product by the crew at Dynaplug. So it turns out they’ve got some additional items in their range, including different shaped plugs to seal up those bigger and nastier holes in your tubeless tyre. The ones we’ve got here have rounded brass tips, which sit inside the tyre casing after you’ve pushed them through the hole. The reason they’re round? Imagine that two weeks after your mid-race repair you need to put a tube inside the tyre for a different puncture. The tube ain’t going to pop against a rounded tip is it? Clever!

Dr Zak’s High Protein Peanut Spread

• Price: £4.50
• From: Dr Zak’s

As if we needed another reason to like peanut butter, Dr Zak’s has gone and packed his peanut spread full of extra whey protein and lovely flavours like Salted Caramel and Fresh Raspberry. For the recovery meal you actually want to ingest after a long mountain bike ride (or during even).

Shimano Deore XT M8000 11-46t Cassette

• Price: £99.99
• From: Madison

Joining the existing 11-40t and 11-42t cassette ratios from Shimano, the new 11-46t option offers even more low-range gearing for those wanting to cement the divorce from their front derailleurs. It’s still 11-speed, and as you can tell from the photo, the first 9 sprockets are spaced fairly closely together, with the last two sprockets jumping up considerably to give you the climbing range when you need it most. An essential for those big climbs. We spotted one on Tracy Moseley’s race bike earlier this month.

Gloworm X2 Adventure Light Set

• Price: £174.99
• From: Ison Distribution

Kiwi lighting company Gloworm continue to refine their range of compact LED lightsets, with the new X2 stepping up to 1500 Lumens of power while retaining the 80-gram weight for its alloy head unit. This is the ‘Adventure’ model, so it comes with a slightly smaller and lighter battery that Gloworm claim is ideal for helmet mounting.

Gloworm CX Trail Light Set

• Price: £134.99
• From: Ison Distribution

A new addition to the Gloworm range is the battery-and-light-in-one CX Trail. Pumping out some 1300 Lumens (how many gloworms would it take to reach 1300 Lumens?), the CX Trail uses the same mount as a Garmin GPS computer, so it’ll work with existing aftermarket brackets, or Gloworm’s own handlebar mount.

Altura Tech 5 Bib Short

• Price: £89.99
• From: Zyro

Hannah has got all inspired by the Olympics and is doing her impersonation of a rhythmic gymnast. Or maybe she’s doing a really enthusiastic weight lifter? (They are men’s shorts after all…)
OK, so we’re not entirely sure, but it does look like she’s quite happy in the Altura Tech 5 Bib Shorts, which are designed to integrate with Altura baggy outer shorts. Lightweight, breathable and with button clasps that mate up to Altura baggy shorts so they stick together long after the Olympics have finished.

Camelbak Mule LR

• Price: £129.99
• From: Zyro, zyrofisher.co.uk

And then Hannah got sad because the Olympics will be over this weekend. But at least she’ll be able to stay hydrated with the new Camelbak Mule LR backpack and its redesigned Crux reservoir. A full overhaul of Camelbak’s classic Mule, the new version promises a lower centre of gravity and more stability around the hips. Cheer up Hannah, have some water.

SKS Chromoplastics Longboard

• Price: £34.99
• From: Zyro

Aha – that’s what Hannah’s moping about! Over on Grit.cx, Hannah is undertaking a group test on three gravel bikes under a grand. And the next step in her testing procedure is to see just how much clearance those bikes have for full-length mudguards, so she’s going to spend an entire weekend fitting, setting up, riding, and removing mudguards from each bike. Who needs the Olympics when you’ve got entertainment like that!

Spitting In The Soup

• Price: £19.99
• From: Cordee

Coincidental timing perhaps? Either way, this certainly looks to be an interesting read. Brought to you by Mark Johnson, this is a book that delves into the murky world of doping and performance-enhancing drugs. If you’ve followed stories like that of the rise and fall of Lance Armstrong, then this is likely right up your alley.

Backcountry Research Assorted

• Price: £15.99 – £18.99
• From: Cyclorise

For riders who aren’t so keen on strapping things to their bikes with electrical tape, you’ll find these neat solutions from Backcountry Research. Specialist strap systems designed to hold a myriad of different essentials to your frame, saddle or seatpost.

And thanks to Backcountry Research, that about…(wait for it)…wraps it up for this week’s Fresh Goods Friday! (C’mon, you had to be expecting that one right?) Anywho, so we’re going to get our of here, but not before we send a message to summer via a very hot track from Ms Donna Summer herself. Because lord knows we all want some more of that hot stuff we’ve been enjoying this week.

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