How come the long winter months drag on at the slowest of paces, each short day taking seemingly snail paced hours to creep by, whereas now we have daylight and sunshine time is passing at hippo speed? Hippos being surprisingly fast. Surprisingly fast in a new pants needed way if you happen to find yourself near one. Happily, so far, our UK climate means that we tend to have warmth or mud, but not too much of both at the same time. For now, then, we’re safe from hippo attacks on the trails – though perhaps a warm wet summer might change things. Anyhow, the point being (there is one, bear with us), time is flying. Before we know it we’ll be at the longest day – yes really! Gallop, gallop, gallop, time waits for no man, and we suddenly find it’s Friday again. Again! So soon! And while that might mean you’ve not quite got to the end of your weekday to do list, it does mean that once agin, it’s time for Fresh Goods Friday…
Rose Root Miller
- Price: €4,299
- From: Rose Bikes
We’ve got a new Root Miller 29er from German direct-to-consumer brand Rose Bikes. With 140mm travel front and rear, the Root Miller is available in 27.5+ and 29er varieties – this one being a 29er. You can also customise your build, or choose from a range of pre-selected build kits. It’s an alloy frame with BOOST rear spacing that will take up to a 29×2.6in tyre, or 27.5×3.0in tyre.
Designed to give you all the set up options you might want while being fun out on the trails, ours is off to be tested in the Lake District. The Root Miller uses a four-bar suspension design with a small alloy rocker link mounted to the seat tube for activating that slippery gold Kashima Fox shock.
Everyone seems to be going 29er crazy at the moment, so we’re keen to investigate what Rose has to offer with this metallic blue beauty. Stay tuned for a full ride report soon…
Specialized Butcher Tyres
- Price: £35
- From: Specialized
Made with a nod to the popular downhill tyre, these are made to have good cut-resistance while being fast rolling on even the gnarliest of terrain. Available in 26, how about that? 27.5 and 29in options.
Julbo Bang Next OTG Goggles
- Price: £115
- From: Lyon Outdoor
Having discovered she has to wear a full face helmet for the Julbo Enduro in June, Hannah has switched her attention to goggles. These have Zebra light photochromic lenses and will fit over her glasses (OTG = Over The Glasses), so she’ll still be able to see when she takes her goggles off between stages. At least that’s the idea. She might go blind with fear.
Vee Crown Gem & Crown F Tyres
- Price: £41.49
- From: Upgrade Bikes
The elongated tread and spacing on the Crown F was designed to clear mud from the tire so that it doesn’t pack on, while the Crown Gem has taller side knobs for more cornering control and an aggressive yet fast center knob pattern. Both are available for 27.5 and 29in wheels.
Kenda Honey Badger Tyres
- Price: £40.69
- From: MooreLarge
Fast rolling for dry conditions, with HBDC = Honey Badger Don’t Care in between the tread. Available in 26, 27.5 and 29in sizes.
Kenda Nevegal X Pro
- Price: £44.99
- From: MooreLarge
The Nevegal has been around a long time, and this X Pro version is lighter and faster than the original.
Exchange Wallet
- Price: From £35
- From: Kickstarter / Studio Soyo
The ‘Exchange Wallet’ is a wallet designed to hold the basics, cash, I.D. and a couple of cards so that you’re carrying less when you’re out riding, at the cafe stop or pulling up for a post-ride pint. It’s available in either a full-grain leather or cork leather (vegan) construction and every wallet can be laser etched with initials, a name, short message or company/club logo. All the cork is sourced from the Portuguese Cork Forests, a region that has been managed sustainably for over two centuries. All the leather used is sourced from Derbyshire tanneries and is a by-product of the food industry. Every wallet is made in Sheffield under one roof, working across two studios within one building. The Kickstarter campaign runs until the 29th of May – don’t worry, they don’t all say ‘Chipps’ on them! In fact, there’s a collaboration with Ratboy and the 50/01 crew so you can show your allegiance to those loveable scruffy haired oiks.
Calderfornia T-shirts
- Price: £15 + £3 postage
- From: Calderfornication
A limited run of only 50 T-shirts (although it might be possible to persuade Matt to print more), with all profits going to Calderdale Mountain Rescue. Matt had some decals made for his Orange 5, and then decided maybe it would make a good T-shirt. If you agree, mail him and bag one.
Cane Creek Helm Launch Fork
- Price: £950
- From: Extra UK
We spotted this when it first launched, and now we have a real life Helm to try out. Positioned at 160mm from the factory and optimized for 140-170mm of travel, this blue version is the ‘Launch’ option – there’s also a black ‘Factory’ version, if blue is going to clash with your eyes, say.
Mudhugger SL
- Price: £12.99
- From: Mudhugger
Designed to fit all wheel sizes, even 29+, by simply overlapping the fork legs tabs to suite your needs. The more overlap the tighter the curve for smaller wheels. They’re available with stripes in a whole range of colours – mudguards need not spoil the aesthetics of your bike.
USWE Liquidator Thermo Flask
- Price: £24.99
- From: Madison
Double layer stainless steel bottle keeps the water cold twice as long during a warm day. The marketing blurb also claims ‘makes you look super-professional everywhere you go’. Some of us might need a little more help than that, we fear.
Specialized Levo Turbo FSR Comp 6Fattie
- Price: £4,500
- From: Specialized
140mm travel front and rear e-MTB with 27.5+ wheels. We’ll be bringing you a ‘Day Out With Specialized’ feature soon, when we spent the day playing out on these.
With the battery hidden in the down tube and no display screen on the bars, Specialized has aimed to make this look as much like a standard mountain bike as possible.
There’s a ‘Mission Control’ app that goes with the bike and can do all sorts of useful things, such as giving you directions, and monitoring your battery life so you don’t run out of juice before you get home.
That’s your lot folks. Now for the next time/space/quantum wormhole: Friday afternoon. The time when either you have a million things to do and there is nowhere near enough time and you’re still in the office at 8pm – or the time when you have nothing to do but watch the clock until the weekend. Surely that second hand just went backwards?
Turn back time to 1994 now, with a blast from the past. RIP Chris Cornell.
Oh go on then, this version is pretty good too.
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Comments (7)
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Good work on those T-shirts. I saw his five on a facebook page so im glad hes finally got round to making them.
Blue forks? Whatever next?
“It’s an alloy frame with BOOST rear spacing that will take up to a 29×2.6in tyre, or 27.5×3.0in tyre”
Vice versa on the width?
That specialized is the first tempting ebike I’ve seen. Looking forward to your report on it.
CHRIS CORNELL the voice !!
Your know my name fella
So we moved away from down tube shifters and now you have to reach down to change the mode on an EBike . What could possibly go wrong ?
Just a quick update re the t-shirts. I can do the postage etc for £2 now (I’ve offered refunds to those who’ve already purchased t-shirts and all have been hugely generous and said the £1 can go to CVSRT). So it’s £15 + £2p&p.
They’re selling well. I’ve set up a Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/calderforniaclothing/
I’m going to put up the sizes and colours I have left tonight. Once they’re sold I’ll get the profits to CVSRT.