Fresh Goods Friday 333

Quick, while Storm Doris is looking the other way, we’ve managed to sneak out and shoot some of the Goods of Freshness that have been landing in the office this week. It’s been a busy old time, what with the London Bike Show and iceBike* drawing us away from the never-ending deluge of fine products that have been knocking at the door. So, sit down and savour what’s new this week before trying to sneak out for a ride before the tail end of the storm returns.

Norco Fluid 7.3

• Price: £1099
• From: Evans Cycles

Norco makes a huge range of full suspension bikes to suit all types of riding, but did you know it has a full bounce machine to meet most pockets too?

The Norco Fluid 7.3 is the most affordable full suspension bike in the Norco range (not Range) and at only £1099 it looks like stonking good value. For the price of a top end hardtail frame, the Fluid 7.3 boasts 120mm of front and rear travel via Rockshox suspension, a 1 x 10 drivetrain and Tektro brakes.

 

At that price, the Fluid 7.3 costs less than a high-end set of carbon wheels. In fact, you could get three of Norco Fluid 7.3 complete bikes for the same price as an Alchemy Arktos frameset. No that’s a lie. You’d have £100 left over to spend on beer and pies. Seriously.

Norco does look like it’s made a great job of this one, it looks pretty impressive in the flesh. We can’t wait to get her out and muddy.

Bontrager Lithos 30 Short

• Price: £69.99
• From: Trek

New from Bontrager this year is this snazzy Lithos 30 baggy short. With a light weight, but chunky construction, it features practical things like a proper, metal belt buckle to save those embarrassing trouser-drop moments and side pockets that let your phone or wallet hang behind your thigh, out of the way, rather than right on top.

BONTRAGER Troslo Inform Liner BIB Short

• Price: £59.99
• From: Trek

The Troslo bib shorts from Bontrager features three back pockets on the bib and two pockets on the legs, handy for energy bars and loose change. Profila inserts keep everything cool and straps offer “ultimate non-restrictive comfort”. Plus, there’s camo!

Lazer Revolution DIY Pack

• Price: £49 for all you see here.
• From: Madison

Remember back in the early years of mobile phones when you could switch the face plate of your Nokia to match your Dayglo T-shirt? Well, you can relive that hedonistic time of self-expression and clip on colours with the Lazer Revolution DIY Pack.

The pack contains three lots of side covers, ear covers, visors and SMS mounts (for attaching a sports camera, light, disco ball etc) in three luminous colours including green, orange and blue. Never again will you struggle to match your bike and riding kit.

MRP Ramp Control Upgrade Cartridge

• Price: £139.99
• From: Ison Distribution

We’ve seen the MRP Ramp Control Upgrade Cartridge at various shows over the past few months and now we finally have one of our own to play with. The idea of the upgrade is to take the place of the volume control Tokens in Rockshox forks and give you on the fly volume control, i.e the ability to control the progressive quality of your fork without needing tools. It also claims to add a degree of speed-sensitive damping by way of controlling air movement through the cartridge. Time for testing we think…

Knog Frankie Cable Lock

• Price: £21.95
• From: Silverfish

Frankie is the latest cable lock to join Knog’s range of bicycle security products. The 700mm long cable lock weighs in at 360g with a tough 13mm diameter cable to keep your pride and joy safe at all times. Knog supplies two keys with the Frankie along with a coil wrist strap so you don’t have to worry about losing them down the drain or in your sandwich.  You will have likely noticed the funky Turquoise outer on the Frankie, well this is actually a soft to the touch UV resistant silicone which will not scratch your ride. Also available in Black, Fuschia, Indigo, Lime and Red. It’s out in April.

Knog Blinder Mini

• Price: £23.99 each, or £45 for the pair
• From: Silverfish

Also from Knog are these teeny tiny, itsy bitty, widdle lights. The super small Knog Blinder Mini front and rear lights are a self-contained rechargeable commuter light with 9 bright LED lights. The 22 x 32mm square Blinder has a tool-less attachment that will securely fit to handle bars, and even aero seat-posts (but who has one of those?). Output for the little light is 20 lumens for the front and 11 lumens for the rear which Knog claims is visible at up to 800m.

Knog Oi Bicycle Bell

• Price: £15.99
• From: Silverfish

Ah bells! These are what I get up for in the morning (seriously, alarm bells wake me up in the morning). Knog has taken the simple bicycle bell and give it their own unique twist resulting in the Oi. We’ve been sent the large version of the Oi which is designed for 23.8-31.8mm bars, a small variant will fit narrower 22.2mm bars. Available colours include Black, Brass, Copper and Silver, and when you ding it you will be heard.

Knog Straight Jacket

• Price: £27.99 for the Fatty, £21.99 for the Skinny
• From: Silverfish

With a hefty 7 on the Knog security rating, the Straight Jacket is a heavy duty lock for when you a feeling particularly paranoid. The 800mm long chain is made of hardened steel so strong that even James Bond baddy Jaws would have to book an appointment at the dentist if he were to snack on it. Two keys are included and a heavy-duty nylon cover should stop the chain from marking your ride.

Findra Betty

• Price: £26.00
• From: Findra

Forget Burberry, Dennis The Menace stripes are the new black. The Betty is a wool neck warm made from high-quality, Italian Merino wool. Merino is an excellent choice in material for a neck warm due to its temperature regulating properties (well duh) and soft texture.

The Findra Betty is made in Britain, and if Dennis The Menace stripes aren’t you not to worry, there are tons of colours to choose from. As well as so, so many ways in which to wear it…

Syncros Multi-Tool Lighter 8

• Price: £29.99
• From: Scott UK

Syncros has reinvented the multi-tool with their all new Lighter 8. Packaged inside an alloy case and behind the bright green sleeve is lives a small ratchet tool with 8 bits.

The impressively built ratchet feels rather durable and can either be used in your standard ratchet configuration or as a driver by placing the magnetised bits in the handle. Included bits are a Philips head, Torq T10, T25, T30, and 3,4,5,8mm hex/Allen keys.

Black Mamba Industrial Strength Workshop Gloves

• Price: £3.99
• From: 2Pure

Don’t you just hate it when you try on a nice piece of latex only for it to puncture? It can lead to all sorts of problems can’t it? If you’ve had this problem in the past then you will be happy to hear that the Black Mamba Industrial Strength Workshop Gloves are three times for puncture resistant to latex or gloves and the have super chemical resistance too. Available in small, medium, large, extra large and extra extra large. Don’t leave home without them kids!

Wickflow Performance Headband

• Price: $19.99
• From: Wickflow

Wickflow has sent over a few of its performance headbands. The super thin headband was designed by Steve Boyce who created a patented channel that quickly wicks sweat from your forehead and directs drips down the side of your head. The anti slip and drip channel also helps keep the band in place while riding.

Various colours are available but we only have the Orange, Red and Black options to test meaning we can’t recreate the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Fori Explorer Pack

• Price: £11.96
• From: Fori.co.uk

Made in Britain, the Fori Explorer Pack is a collection of four savoury meat snacks for providing “superior” sustenance to bikers, hikers and Bear Grylls wannabes. The high protein bars are low in sugar, Paleo Friendly (dairy, wheat and grain free) come in at under 170kcal per par and each have 20g or protein. Beards are optional…

The Explorer Pack contains Chill Beef, Moroccan Lamb, Piri Piri Chicken and Thai Turkey flavours, they are also available in single flavour packs of 12 for £32.29.

Gore Active Jacket

• Price: £220

• From: Gore

This new Gore One Active Bike Jacket features ALL the technology. It’s super light – and truly tiny when packed away. The clever bit is the way that Gore has done away with the outer face fabric, so you’re virtually only wearing the waterproof membrane. Due to this, it’s bonkers-breathable, plus this means that the jacket will shed water forever (and can even be shaken dry) as there’s no DWR coating to wear/wash off. It does mean that the jacket is more of a road piece, as it doesn’t like brushing past stone walls and brambles, but for the ultra minimalists out there, this is all you need to keep you dry.

Shimano CM-2000 Sport Camera

• Price: TBC
• From: Madison

Shimano’s CM-2000 Sports Camera has some innovative connectivity features that can hook up to your existing tech. Using Ant+, Bluetooth and WIFI the camera can be set to automatically begin video recording when a predefined set of values are met. For example you could have the camera to begin recording once your heart rate monitor a certain BPM, once you hit a certain speed or even with you select a certain Di2 gear. To ensure the best footage you can even link values together so that the camera will only begin shooting once you really start pushing it.

Just like rival action cameras, the Shimano CM-2000 is waterproof (upto 18m), has an smartphone application, and will shoot video (up to 2560 x 1440) or still photos (6 megapixels, although the sensor is actually a 20 megapixel unit). The CM2000 has a load of accessories available too including lens protectors, options mounts and spares.

Fibrax Brake Pads

• Price: Various
• From: Fibrax

Fibrax is another UK based manufacturer (a few of those in FGF this week)

These are its SRAM Level brake pads which are available in organic and sintered compounds, plus Fibrax makes other pads to suit most other disc brake systems on the market. For more info about Fibrax and their range we have a great video that we made with them at The London Bike Show here.

Adidas Zonyk Pro

• Price: £127.99
• From: RXSport

These are a 2016 pair of glasses but Adidas is still selling them and the pricing has been dropped from £160.00 to £127.99. While these bright red, mirrored glasses do look like something Bono would wear, they are in fact a mulitsport glass and so suitable for mountain biking as well as after ride posing. There’s a new version out soon, the Zonyk Aero – which features more of a half-frame design. We reckon this one is better for most mountain bikers though.

Dakine Slayer Elbow Pads

• Price: $55.00
• From: Dakine

Dakine’s Slayer Elbow pads are the top half to their kneepads we featured back in Fresh Goods 311. The pads are a low-profile design with a pre-curved ergonomic fit made from lightweight materials. An open back design means the pads keep cool while a 4-way stretch mesh back keep them in place.

CE-Certified foam impact padding keeps your funny bone safe from offs and there’s a subtle pattern design on them too which we quite like.

Right, that’s it! We’ve got stuff to do – and then hopefully we’ve got homes to go to and bikes to ride. We hope you have too. Stay tuned for more good things from us on an almost hourly basis. But now, surely it’s lunchtime, which means that there must be lunch. Lunch we well you. Now run along! Preferably by turning this little tune up in the speakers. (Might explode some laptops…)

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