Fresh Goods Friday 352

Stand down everybody. The Singletrack Road Trip team has returned and Chipps has been placed on light duties following his Fake News Bottle Opener scandal. Obviously all the road trippers are delighted to be back at their desks. Out on the road is no fun at all. No fun was had. No laughing took place. No sweet trails were found. No beer was consumed. No salty meats were eaten. But being such professionals we sucked it up and dealt with it, helped along by some road trip tunes. Here’s one favourite discovery (wait for the bass to drop at 1:20 and imagine yourself cruising down alpine switchbacks. Sigh):

Back to reality today. With a bump. Oof. Some of the team have softened the blow by celebrating with a shower and a fresh pair of underpants (note to boys: just because they don’t smell doesn’t mean they’re clean, even if they are merino).

One of us is extending the party vibe by taking time off for a 30th birthday celebration. All hail the King.

And for those of us for whom clean pants is an everyday occurrence, or 30th birthdays a distant memory, let’s ease re-entry by looking at some sweet, fresh new products in this week’s (back to normal levels of accuracy) Fresh Goods Friday!

Kona Honzo CR Trail DL

• Price: £4,399
• From: Kona Bikes

What Wil (very carefully) calls a Punk-Country bike, this is a carbon hardtail with 29in wheels and 120mm Rockshoxx Pike forks. While it comes equipped with a built-for-speed-not-grip Maxxis Ardent on the rear, this Medium comes with trail ready numbers: 415mm chain stays, 450mm reach, 68° head angle, and 760m wide bars on a 45mm stem.

We’ll be bringing you a First Look web feature soon, then this will be being reviewed in Issue 114.

Bionol Hydraulic Fluid

• Price: €8,90
• From: Trickstuff

Used by Trickstuff Piccola brakes, this oil is based on Sunflower Oil – it doesn’t taste too good, but you could eat it if you wanted to! With a boiling point of 300°C you should be able to keep braking for those big long descents, but it’s also stable and less viscous at lower temperatures too – so fat bike arctic epic friendly. It’s the only biologically degradable brake oil in the market, and you can use it on a whole range of braking systems.

Alpinestars Paragon Bib Shorts

• Price: £199
• From: ZyroFisher

Technically slightly less fresh than they were before Wil wore them at Presscamp, these are bib shorts with protective padding for hips, a slot for a spine protector and bladder, plus rear pockets for stealth storage. So, if you really wanted to, you could head out in just your bibs and helmet and still have all your essentials with you. But please don’t. For more information on these bibs and other new Alpinestars kit head here.

Kali Interceptor Helmet

• Price: £149
• From: Kali Protectives

With plenty of coverage at the rear, vents for cooling, and an adjustable visor, this helmet adjusts to your head with a BOA dial, so you can really fine tune that fit to your head. Little ArmourGel suckers inside the helmet give the helmet a bit more squish next to your head, and allow your head to rotate a bit inside the helmet to absorb side impacts. For more information on that technology, check out Wil’s report from Presscamp.

Five Ten District Flats

• Price: $90
• From: Five Ten

With a gum sole – not as sticky as the MI6 stealth rubber, but still with practical features such as a non slip neoprene tongue and rear reflector patch – these are urban styled kicks from Five Ten. Once again, Wil wore them at Presscamp, hence their dusty appearance – such a rare commodity that we can’t quite bring ourselves to clean them up.

Time for another road trip tune injection! Curiously listed as being of the ‘Intelligent Dance Music’ genre, it’s certainly good for keeping you awake after 12 hours on the road, so should keep your going through Fresh Goods Friday.

Madison Zenith Jersey

• Price: £32.99
• From: Madison

Wil showing us how to look cool in this technical jersey with dropped tail, mesh underarm vents, and glasses wipe. Outfits you’ve seen him in from Madison in previous weeks have been in a size small, but this one is a medium, hence the looser fit. It’s not that he didn’t eat on the road trip.

Madison Zenith Shorts

• Price: £54.99
• From: Madison

These are a medium weight short with double and triple stitching in the places you punish your shorts most. Stretch fabric in the crotch and lumbar keep you moving freely, and silicone print in the back of the waist helps keep them secure.

Time 4 Nutrition Supplements

• Price: £14.99 for this sample pack
• From: Time4Nutrition

Time 4 Whey Protein in many flavours (Chocolate Peanut Butter, Double Chocolate Mousse, Raspberry Ripple Ice Cream, Creamy Toffee Pudding & Vanilla Coconut Milk With Real Coconut Pieces), plus Time 4 Pre-Workout in yet more (Bubblegum, Tangy Blackcurrant & Tropical Pineapple). The Whey Protein promises to give you ‘a drip feed of muscle building amino acids in to the blood stream for up to 8 hours ensuring optimum growth and recovery.’ The Pre-Workout promises ‘a blend of ingredients that act synergistically to improve mental and physical energy and maximise your performance. You will experience explosive pumps, increased energy and intensity, and extreme focus’. We’re a bit worried by the explosive pumps.

Nukeproof Scout 290 Race

• Price: £1,300
• From: Nukeproof

An alloy 29in hardtail from Nukeproof, this is heading to our hardtails test in Issue 114. Wil’s already published a First Look at this bike, so for all the details hop on over here.

For those of you averse to clicking links, this has 130mm travel forks and a 66° head angle. You can also get this in a 27.5in model.

And we’re done! Time for one last tune from the party bus. This time it’s an absolute classic, older than anyone in the Singletrack Road Trip team (even Hannah!), but it didn’t sound out of place or dated among all the other electronic shenanigans and techno beats we were subjecting our ears to.

What a tune. What a week. Get on out there and have fun people.

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