Fresh Goods Friday 372

It is important to do things in the right order. Put your pants on before your trousers. Wash your hands after you’ve been to the toilet. Lube your chain after you’ve washed your bike. Take the tea bag out before you put the milk in.

The consequences of doing things in the wrong order may vary. Sometimes you will look silly, sometimes there will be wasted effort, and sometimes there will be disaster. Like if you do #DrinkBeerAtYourDeskFriday before you take pictures for Fresh Goods Friday.

Behold:

There is a natural order of things. Beer comes before whisky but after driving. Dinner comes after breakfast but before tea (there can be no discussion of this indisputable fact. OK?) Saturday comes before Sunday, but after Friday. And Friday cannot truly begin until we have brought you Fresh Goods Friday. So let us bring balance to your day, sequence to your week, and move on to all that is fresh and good in the world.

Pinnacle Ramin 3 Plus Bike

• Price: £800.00
• From: Evans

Sliding into view for February’s fully rigid magazine bike test, this Pinnacle Ramin 3 Plus cuts a suave figure for a decent price. While the colour is hard to photograph, the bike itself is easier to take in. There’s a 1×10 gear range (using the unholy alliance of a SRAM Fire-X chainset with Shimano shifters and derailleur. Seems to work so far without catching fire). The double butted alloy frame comes complete with a cro mo fork

Wheels are Plus jobs, with rims and tyres from WTB: a Bridger 3.0 up front and a Trailblazer 2.8 out back. The tyres and rims are tubeless compatible and, with a tubeless valve and a couple of laps of tape, we got the tyres to go up tubeless first time.

The frame has its roots in Pinnacle’s 29er frame and if you want, you can fit some 29er hoops in if you don’t like the clown tyres. Cleverly, the frame features an eccentric bottom bracket, which allows you to adjust the BB height to match the tyres you’re running. (Top half of the BB shell for Plus tyres, bottom deck for 29ers). It also, of course, lets you convert the bike to a single speed.

Formula Selva Fork

• Price: £1060
• From: Formula

This is Formula’s ‘Enduro Fork’, in a BOOST version with 120-160mm travel. Should you wish to customise it, there are stealth black or purple decals available, and even a purple or white fork body option. A Remote Control Cartridge (RCC) means you can adjust overall compression control from your bars and on the move – 13 different positions from open to locked out.

It’s designed to be super smooth and highly customisable, and comes with a selection of seven different valve heads as part of the Compression Tuning System (CTS) designed to get you the perfect high speed compression to suit your needs.

Specialized Command Post WU

• Price: £400
• From: Specialized

150mm of travel for your bottom, with the power of Wu. Specialized promises that you’ll actually get the benefit of that drop thanks to the ‘Wu’, so the post doesn’t actually move 150mm, but instead the saddle tilts to give you that 150mm drop. Confused? Read all about it here.

Specialized Hillbilly GRID Tyres

• Price: £40
• From: Specialized

Also available in 2.3in width for 27.5in and 29in tyres, what we have here is the oh-so-on-trend 27.5×2.6in version. Is that plus-minus? Or just trail-beefy? Certainly they should be just what people looking for a little more clearance than 2.8in tyres can offer. The GRID sidewalls give extra stability and protection, while the tread is designed to dig into soft ground – but they’re still good for rough sections too, so they’re not a full on mud tyre.

Endura MT500 Waterproof Pullover

• Price: £189
• From: Endura, endurasport.com

Smouldering Wil is here modelling Endura’s new ‘waterproof pullover’ – a smock-style waterproof from the Dons of Dreich. It features all of the regular MT500 highlights, like the grippy, tough, shoulder reinforcement for wearing with a pack, but in doing away with the full length zip, it means that you have room for a couple of big handwarmer pockets. And talking of big, how about those armpit vents? They go from elbow to waist! Huge ventilation. Which did make Wil wonder when on earth anyone in the UK might ever get that hot.

Maxxis Minion DHF EXO 3C Maxx Terra 27.5×2.6in Tyre

• Price: £64.99
• From: Maxxis

An old favourite made super on trend, this Minion is also in 2.6in width. Rubber has never been so fashionable. All the tread everyone knows so well, but more width.

Maxxis Forekaster 27.5×2.6in Tyre

• Price: £65.03
• From: Maxxis

As if all that trendy rubber wasn’t enough, we also have the Forekaster, an aggressive XC tyre also now available in a 2.60in width – but this time it’s available as a 29in or 27.5in option.

Mountain Bike Maintenance

• Price: £16.99
• From: All good bookshops

This book looks briefly at the history of the mountain bike and basic cycling techniques before taking a detailed and in-depth look into how to service, maintain and repair the modern mountain bike, with step-by-step tutorials throughout. Hannah is going to see if she can follow instructions within to service her forks without having to resort to strong alcohol, or ask New Designer Amanda to do it. For the record, Amanda is showing all the signs of being very handy at fixing things. Not just good at colouring in. So while Rob Crayons may now be playing in the snow, we’re not missing him too much, for he has been replaced by Handy Mandy. Sorry Rob. Hello Amanda.

And yes, Handy Mandy has yesterday sent her first copy of Singletrack off to the printer, so don’t forget to pop over here and check out what’s in the issue, and subscribe to get your copy.

So, whoop, it’s Friday! The end of Fresh Goods Friday follows the beginning, and it is right that we finish with a tune. Wil has chosen this, so let’s party into the weekend. See you on the other side!

Don’t forget to check out our shop for extra Christmas gift ideas! Bobble hats now in stock!

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