Fresh Goods Friday 344

Fresh Goods Friday Three Four Four. Red Lorry Yellow Lorry. She Sells Sea Shells On The Sea Shore.

It’s a new sobriety test. If you can’t read this first line out loud either a) you’ve started #drinkbeeratyourdeskFriday quite early or b) you need to get your dentures re-fitted.

We’re not going to tell you how we got on in the office with that test, instead we’re going to crack straight on with all the fresh goods we’ve got in the office this week. Get your chops around this lot.

Vitus Escarpe 29 VRX

• Price: £2699.99
• From: Vitus

Our tester Tom Nash has got this alloy 29er to play out on.

With RockShox Pike RTC3 Boost 150mm fork and Monarch RT3 DebonAir 135mm shock and Shimano XT groupset, it’s intended for trail and enduro use.

We’ll be bringing you a closer look in a First Look feature soon.

OWN FR-01 Boots

• Price: €220
• From: Only What’s Necessary

As reviewed by Andi in the black and white version, and now here in black and red. These are a ‘modular’ shoe, with a main, tough outer shoe, and separate soft inners, of which there are two. One inner is a breathable quick drying air mesh for warmer weather, while the other is a weather resistant, fleece lined softshell for not so warm weather. Both liners have D30 Decell B impact protection foam in the bottom.

Mavic Deemax Pro Shoe

• Price: £140
• From: Mavic

Designed for All Mountain endurance racing, these are clipless shoes with heel and toe protection. They’re designed to fit a wider foot, and have a breathable mesh construction to keep your feet cool.

Syncros Matchbox Tailor Cage Mini HV1.5

• Price: £59.99
• From: Scott Sports

On bike tool portage seems to be a big trend this year. This is a pump/multitool/bottle cage all in one option from Scott. There’s a separate multitool and chain tool (with spoke tool built in), plus a dinky little pump. These all fit into a side piece which fits onto the bottle cage.

There are both left and right access options. Once you’ve got all the bits locked into the slide on segment, it fits in behind the bottle cage like so:

With all this stowed on your bike, you can opt for a teeny little bum bag for the rest of your kit, or keep your backpack and carry extra sandwiches. You read it here first: next year is going to be all about the bike specific sandwich box.

Scott Fuga Plus Helmet

• Price: £100.00
• From: Scott Sports

This lightweight helmet is designed for both road and XC racers, and has MIPS to protect your head, a Halo 3D fit system so you can be sure it’ll stay on, and plenty of ventilation. The visor is removable – so you can adopt that roadie look.

Michelin Wild Rock’R2 Advanced Reinforced Tyres

• Price: £45.99
• From: Hotlines

Look at the size of those side blocks, all joined on to this 27.5×2.35in tyre made with Gum-X Compound. The many snipes in the tread pattern are designed to give you tons of grip, and the tyres are designed to offer a good compromise between weight and strength to make them ideal for Enduro riding, and are available in 26, 27.5 and 29in options.

No Flats Joe’s Super Sealant

• Price: £17.99 (1litre)
• From: Hotlines

A humungous bottle of sealant, so you can be sure to be topped up and ready to roll. We’re not sure if Joe is a bear, or whether it’s just that it’s very important not to get a flat when you’re trying to ride away from a bear.

WTB Vigilante TCS Tough High Grip Tyres

• Price: £45.99
• From: Hotlines

More big knobs, this time on 27.5×2.3in tyres, designed for Enduro riding. The square-lugged open-tread pattern is designed to offer stability in loose or wet terrain, while the stiff outside knobs give grip when cornering.

Sixth Element SE34 29er Wheelset

• Price: £979
• From: Sixth Element

Carbon (of course – sixth element of the periodic table, fact fans) wheels with a 28mm internal width and claimed rim weight of 420g.

This particular set has an asymmetrical drilled spoke pattern, which allow both drive and non-drive sides to be tensioned equally. Apparently traditional drillings require the front disc side and rear drive side spokes to be set at a greater tension, but this asymmetrical set up avoids this and consequent over tensioning risks.

All this adds up to a wheel which is supposed to be as strong as possible. Our chief thrasher Ross will be putting this to the test as only he can do. Will he be needing the crash replacement service? Time will tell. He’s got three years – Sixth Element offers a crash replacement service of £275 per wheel, including re-build, within the first three years of purchase.

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Specialized S-Works Epic Hardtail World Cup

• Price: £6900
• From: Specialized

Wil’s mate Down Under has one of these for racing and Wil was so excited by it that he’s got one in to test. Though it’s so eye catching that it’s caught the attention of some others in the office so there might be a bit of a fight. Whoever gets to swing a leg over it first is going to be hard to catch because the frame is not just the lightest mountain bike frame made by Specialized, it’s the lightest frame full stop.

 

It’s fitted with a 90/100mm travel RockShox SID world Cup with Brain technology and Brain Fade for maximum power output. Check back in soon for our First Look feature if you want to know more about how all this works, plus all the rest of the spec for this bike.

If you can’t wait that long, Georgia from Specialized chatted through the bike with Chipps when she came to visit us earlier this week.

Boom shang-al-lang, that’s you’re lot for this week. Time to mosey on through the afternoon towards the weekend. Take it slow, take it easy, nonchalantly shuffle along through whatever the afternoon holds for you. Here’s a tune to help you get in that kind of mood.

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