rocky mountain instinct bc edition 29er

Fresh Goods Friday 374

Fresh Goods

by and 3

After a quiet couple of weeks of Fresh Goods product, suddenly we can’t move for boxes! It’s like Christmas has come early (though thankfully it hasn’t) at Singletrack Towers. There are literally heaps of bike goodies everywhere. Let’s hope there’s not a fire drill. Maybe the real candles on the Christmas tree aren’t such a great idea.

Anyway, are you ready? Have you battened down the hatches, weighed down your trampolines, and put a cheap plastic garden chair out in the garden ready to do maximum damage? Because we have WIND. And SNOW! COMING TO A GARDEN NEAR YOU! And if we’re lucky, Wil gets to learn first hand about THUNDERSNOW! Well, apparently, maybe, possibly anyway. It might just be a bit of a tinkling of the windchimes and slight frost on the car. But you can’t be too careful. Fail to prepare and you make an ass of you and me both.

Maybe the storm has already hit? Maybe you’re already cowering as garden furniture flies past the window? Well, quick, before the power goes out, let’s proceed to the fresh but not breezy Fresh Goods Friday…

Rocky Mountain Instinct BC Edition

rocky mountain instinct bc edition 29er
Mustard wall not included.

This beauty here is the raucous BC Edition of Rocky Mountain’s 2018 Instinct. Completely new from the ground up, the latest Instinct chassis is built upon 29in hoops with clearance for up to 2.6in wide tyres, or 27.5+ tyres if you feel inclined to go chubby. There’s normally 140mm of travel front and rear for the Instinct, but being the BC Edition, this one is juiced up with a big Fox 36 Float fork on the front with 160mm of travel, and a longer stroke Fox Float DPX2 shock that squeezes out 155mm of rear travel. That puts it squarely in the modern-29er-enduro-race-sled-mountain-gobbling bracket, alongside other contemporaries such as the Intense Carbine and Yeti SB5.5C.

rocky mountain instinct bc edition 29er
Like some great armoured arthropod.
rocky mountain instinct bc edition 29er
The new Instinct 29er is one raked-out beast of a bicycle!

If you’d like to fill your grey matter with more lovely photos and information about this carbon fibre bicycle, then check out the detailed First Look article on the 2018 Rocky Mountain Instinct BC Edition.

Mavic XA Pro H20 GTX shoe

  • Price: £176.00
  • From: Mavic
So many knobs you could go fell running?
Sticky rubber grippy sole.

With Gore Tex to keep your tootsies dry, and a wide fit so you can get your thickest winter socks in them, these are designed to keep you rolling in the worst of weather. The huge grips on the bottom should provide plenty of grip in winter slop, and the ankle is designed to give you a good range of motion while you slog your way up to the top of the that hike a bike section.

Camelbak Chase

Inspired by running vests, the Chase is Camelbak’s minimalist pack for people who don’t like wearing bulky backpacks.

Is it a running vest? Is it a hydration pack? Has James been working out? The answer to all of these is: sure thing, whatevs.

Enough about James though, and more about the Camelbak Chase vest. Which is technically based on a running vest, but has been tweaked and redesigned for off-road cycling usage. It’s designed to appeal to the minimalists out there like Ross, who hates wearing big bulky backpacks or bum bags/fanny packs, but needs to carry things like a phone, wallet, several pork pies, and a multi-tool for fixing his inevitably broken bike. The Chase vest provides you with 1.5 litres of hydration via the Camelbak Crux reservoir, along with a zippered main pocket and some stretchy mesh overflow sleeves on the back, and a couple of neat zippered pockets on the front.

The mesh padding is designed to keep you wick away sweat on warm days. Ha.

With a wide and thin harness that’s made with lots of mesh, it aims to distribute the pack weight nice and evenly over both the front and rear of the pack. There are two sternum straps to secure it in place, so there’s no waist strap to dig in to your tummy. The Camelbak Chase will be going into our Minimalist Pack group test that you’ll be able to read about in an upcoming issue of the magazine, so stay tuned for more.

Camelbak Impact Protector

No, there isn’t a serial killer hiding in James’ chest.

If you use a GoPro or similar sports action camera with a chest mount, this is something you may be very interested in. It’s a sternum protector from Camelbak, which is made with the same impact-absorbing technology used for the back protectors in the KUDU and TORO packs, along with a mount for your camera. The idea being that if you end up crashing your bike, your chest and ribs are protected from the camera that hopefully won’t burst through your torso like a reverse-Alien baby. It’s got fully adjustable straps, and it’s designed to play well with backpacks too, which actually helps to improve the stability of the camera for smoother footage.

Camelbak Repack

Bag will carry gloves, should you wish.

The successor to the Palos 4 LR bum bag, the Repack is Camelbaks’ brand new fanny pack. Wil tested and reviewed the Palos a few months ago and liked it quite a lot, but found the harness could loosen off a touch while riding, which meant you needed to retighten it fairly regularly. The Palos also had quite a lot of storage space, and when filled up, meant there was a lot to bounce around on the trail.

In contrast, the Repack is a little slimmer, a little smaller on volume, and features a redesigned waist harness that flips around the adjustment straps for a more secure and comfortable fit.

Handy wide opening flap.

There’s integrated storage inside the Repack to help you organise all your tools and fiddly bits, and now it all opens out sideways like a door. You still get those handy pockets around the side/front of the waist, and inside is the same 1.5L hydration bladder that attaches via a magnetic buckle. Full test and review coming soon!

Camelbak T.O.R.O 8

Is that a bag or a battle droid?

If you liked what James said about the 2018 Camelbak KUDU pack, but you’re after something a little more streamlined and a little lighter on price, there’s the brand new TORO bag from Camelbak. Available in 14L and 8L versions, we’ve got the smaller one on test, which is equipped with an Impact Protector sleeve that tucks into the bag to keep your spine shielded in a tumble.

Syncros Goodie Bag

What’s in Syncros Santa’s sack?

A handy dry bag, stuffed with stuff! What’s inside?

You can fit plenty of goodies inside the bag.

There’s a cap, a mudguard (or fender, if you’re not British), some glueless patch kits, and…

Syncros XR Garmin Mount

A little Garmin mount that fits on your stem…

Syncros WP 250 Waterproof Saddle Bag

Complete with waterproof zip.

A neat little saddle bag with 0.25l carry capacity. There’s a 0.55l version too if you want to carry a bit more stuff.

Syncros Micro Floor Pump

Pump and go.

A travel floor pump with a stowable foot pad – handy when you just what to get pumped up and on your way out on the trail. It’s 30cm long, and will give you up to 120psi on either Presta or Schrader valves.

Syncros XR Saddle

Black. As saddles should be.

This is the 1.5 Wide version – other sizes are available. XR is the mountain bike range – you’ll also find ranges for other types of riding, in which you may or may not wish to partake.

DMR Death Grip Race Edition

Race day grips!

Available in black only, these are super soft grips with an extra tacky formula rubber. The Race Edition super soft compound was requested by Brendan and DMR says they thought it was going to be a race day only grip that would not last too long.
However they say they have found it to last much longer than expected which they think this is because the material actually moves with the hand instead of getting “scrubbed” off under grip like the regular soft compound. While they only come in black, they do come in a thin and thick option.

Choose your girth.

DMR Flangeless Death Grips

I can sing a Deathgrip rainbow…

With all the features of a flanged Deathgrip, but no flange, these grips come in a whole plethora of colours. Not only will you need to choose the colour you want, but you’ll also need to choose between thick or thin, and hard or soft. You may even want to opt for thicker grips in winter when you’re wearing bulkier gloves, but thinner ones in warmer weather. With all those options there’s no need to worry about not getting the perfect fit for your handy pandies.

So many choices!

DMR Pedal Spanner

Has a pleasing heft to it too.

Ever got your pedal spanner out to discover that what you need is an Allen Key? Or vice versa? With this spanner you’ll never have that problem again, for it has an 8mm and 6mm allen wrench, plus a 15mm spanner on it. And a bottle opener too! So much win! Available in three different colours.

Why doesn’t every pedal spanner have this?

Revelate Tangle Frame Bag

How many mince pies fit inside?

Arguably THE original frame bag. Available in three sizes, this is a waterproof frame bag with an exit port so you can use it with a bladder should you wish. There’s a smaller zippered pocket to keep small items handy, and internal straps along the top tube to hold a pump, and it’s specially constructed so as not to strain your zip when you’ve got it really stuffed full.

Blackburn Outpost Frame Bag

  • Price: £49.99 (Medium)
  • From: ZyroFisher
Packing light?

Available in three sizes to fit different lengths of top tube, this is designed to fit snugly inside your frame. The expanding section gives you a bit more room for carrying cake should you need it, and you can tuck it up out the way for those bare essential rides.

… Or in Full Pie mode?

Muc-Off Grease Gun and Bio Grease Kit

If John Travolta rode a bike…

This grease gun fits on to the end of Muc-Off Bio Grease tubes, making it easier to neatly apply the grease to where you need it. And not where you don’t. Not to be confused with the chamois cream sample, which should be applied as liberally as you like.

Phew! So many things, it’s taken a joint effort to get it all into Fresh Goods this week, so you’re getting a choice of tunes to play you out.

Choice A – Hannah’s – pick up your air guitar and imagine that you’re Rockin’ in the Free World when Neil Young walks on stage. Go and rock, while there’s still a free world.

And choice B – Wil’s beats all the way from Down Under, and all the way from 2001. This one’s from a producer called Groove Terminator, and the track is called ‘You Can’t See’, which is incidentally what happened to Wil this week during some night light testing.

Comments (3)

Comments Closed