SNOWMAGEDDON! BEAST FROM THE EAST! COLD WINTER CONDITIONS!
Have you survived it? Are you currently huddled in your living room with your loved ones, circling around a fire on the floor with the front door jammed shut behind a huge snowdrift? Considering which family member to eat next?
It got a little hectic there for a while up our way, but then there were moments of peace like this:
To say it’s been quiet here in the office the past few days would be a gross understatement – old Todmorden has turned into (more of) a ghost town! We had one brave courier risk his life to visit our office yesterday, but sadly he only had printing supplies, and not one of the two super fresh exciting bikes that are due to arrive at Singletrack Towers any day now. Given the current motorway sitcho, our guess is deliveries are going to be delayed for a little while longer. But once all this Siberian winter business has passed, expect there to be a *flurry* of new bikes and products turning up.
In the meantime, here’s a swag of new goods to warm you up on this Extra Fresh Friday!
Renthal Fatbars & Fatbar Lite Alloy Handlebars
- Price: £69.95
- From: Renthal
Announced to the world yesterday (see our news story here) Renthal has updated its iconic Fatbar and Fatbar Lite handlebars by going a little wider and a little lighter. The Fatbar opens up to a full 800mm width (up from 780mm), while the Fatbar Lite wides to 760mm (from 740mm). Both will be available in 31.8mm and 35mm diameters, and now in Ninja-Black anodised finish to join the existing Renthal gold finish.
RockShox Rear Shock Bottomless Tokens
- Price: £10
- From: ZyroFisher
If you’ve bought a 2018 model year full suspension mountain bike that has a RockShox rear shock on it, chances are this little kit will be of interest to you. With RockShox’ new Deluxe and Super Deluxe rear shocks, it’s moved away from the old Bottomless Ring rubber band system for altering volume inside the main air spring. In its place is a new plastic poker-chip system, much like the Bottomless Tokens you’ll find inside a RockShox fork.
According to RockShox, you can fit up to three Bottomless Tokens (those are the thinner plastic spacers on the left of the above image), though if you really need to ramp things up, you need…wait for it…a ‘Gnar Dog’. Yes, Gnar Dog. Not a zombie canine sent from a future post-apocalyptic wasteland, but rather a slightly bigger version of a Bottomless Token. 1 x Gnar Dog = 2.5 tokens. For those who like to faff & fettle, you can use a combination of Gnar Dogs and Bottomless Tokens (maximum 1 x Gnar Dog & 2 x Bottomless Tokens) to play around with shock progression.
Topeak Pocketshock DXG Shock Pump
- Price: £39.99
- From: Extra UK
If you’re going to be faffing with your rear shock, then how about a new shock pump? Topeak has got this compact Pocketshock DXG pump that’s rated up to 360psi and is designed to work with both air-sprung forks and shocks.
Topeak Alt-Position Cage Mounts
- Price: £9.99
- From: Extra UK
If you’ve ever tried to run two bottles inside your frame, but have found the bottles actually jam up against each other, then this little doohicky is designed to appease your pain. It’s an offset bottle cage bracket that is designed to push your bottle cage up or down the frame, and it comes in a pack of two.
Topeak Versamount
- Price: £7.99
- From: Extra UK
More bottle cage problems? As in, don’t have anywhere to fit one? This Topeak Versamount doesn’t need traditional bottle cage bosses, instead using flexible rubberised plastic straps that wrap around a seatpost or downtube. For riders with full suspension bikes that don’t allocate any space inside the mainframe to fit a water bottle, this could be the droi…solution you’re looking for.
Shimano Workshop Spares
- Price: £assorted
- From: Madison
When you’re working your way through a pile of test bikes and kit, you tend to need spares like brake pads and cleats. Not every test bike we receive is brand spanking new, and certainly by the time we’ve put a few miles on them in our Pennine sludge, they’re in need of a little love. Here we’ve got fresh brake pads (finned and non-finned), new SPD cleats, Mineral Oil and inner cable end caps. You’d be surprised how quickly we run through this sort of stuff!
Shimano Workshop Aprons
- Price: £TBC
- From: Madison
We might not wear suits to the office, but that doesn’t mean we want to go home covered in oil. Shimano sent us a couple of these workshop aprons to shield us from the dastardly oil-soakings.
Nikka Whisky From The Barrel
- Price: £nfs
- From: Team Shimano
Will this birthday ever end? Hannah would just like to point out that she is happy to accept gifts at any age, she doesn’t have to wait until a year that ends in zero. Wil is likewise happy to accept gifts, although please note his body is an actual temple and he doesn’t eat sugary snacks or cake.
Kona Beanie
- Price: £18
- From: Konaworld
This came with the following information: Built to last, medium weight knit beanies. Perfect for hanging out post-ride on chilly days. Instructions for use: put it on your head and stay warm! Unfortunately these instructions were not Sarah proof.
Canyon Ergon BA2 Backpack
- Price: £TBC
- From: Canyon
Amanda has been suffering terribly in the south of France, riding bikes and finding out about that new women’s bike from Canyon. Such a hard life. Luckily for her, she was given this bag to help carry around all her journo kit. With a total capacity of 10 litres, there’s plenty of room for her dictaphone and crayons, and the adjustable straps mean you can get it to fit to a range of body sizes.
The pack is the new Ergon BA2 ‘All Mountain’ model, so it uses a nice and big waist strap to keep it secure, and features an integrated POV camera mount on the back so you can ensure you capture your friend’s crash before plastering it all over the internet. And if your friend decides to crash into the back of you instead, there’s a dedicated sleeve inside the BA2 for slipping in a back protector.
Canyon Jersey
- Price: £nfs
- From: Canyon
Yes Amanda, we know, you’ve been on a plane. And you got this jersey too. Are you sure that was work?
Smith Optics Hudson Tactical Camo Glasses
- Price: £45 + £18 duty
- From: eBay
Sadly (or is that gladly?) for Chipps, his favourite Smith Optics glasses have been discontinued. However, the Hudson glasses still lurk around in certain corners of the internet, though for our Fearless Leader, he could only find them in these creepy camouflaged ‘Tactical’ version. For the extra creepiness that Chipps didn’t need.
Just in case you needed a closer look. This is the shot that will be on the movie poster. The pattern on these new gregories is a photograph of dry grass. So very little chance of them ever being too camouflaged to find round here then.
Backcountry Research Race & Mutherload Straps
- Price: £17.95 – £18.95ea
- From: Silverfish
Silverfish sent us in a gaggle of Backcountry Research straps, all of which are designed to strap useful things like tools and spare tubes onto your saddle rails, or perhaps onto a vacant position somewhere inside your bike’s front triangle.
Yes, useful things…
Hannah has her snack holsters sorted. The Beast From The East is no match for this level of preparedness.
Fox 180 Duffel Bag
- Price: £58
- From: Fox Racing
More baggy goodness in this week’s haul, this time from Fox Head, and more in the duffel variety. 38L volume and featuring a dedicated TPU-lined shoe tunnel for keeping your filthy kicks away from the rest of your gear. There’s even a roll-out mat for standing on while you’re getting naked in the carpark.
Note: Singletrack Magazine does not endorse getting naked in public carparks.
Gore Optiline Bib Shorts & Trail Liner Bib Shorts
- Price: £89.99 & £79.99
- From: Gore Bike Wear
Wil & Hannah are *ahem* modelling some fresh bib shorts from Gore Bike Wear. Hannah is wearing the Trail Liner bib shorts that use mesh side panels for riding in warm conditions (remember what that was like??), though the mesh isn’t so see-through that you can wear these on their own without baggies over the top.
Wil has got the new Optiline Bib Shorts+ that use a lightweight mesh all-round, along with an ‘Advanced Road’ multi-density chamois that promises all-day riding comfort. A hidden feature in both bib shorts that we decided not to photograph out of respect for all of you, is a panel of Windstopper fabric that sits on the front of the crotch to keep cold winds off your unmentionables. We’ll leave the rest up to you…
Gore C5 Women All Mountain Shorts+
- Price: £99.99
- From: Gore Bike Wear
A tough mountain bike baggy short from Gore, these are available in three different colours and five different sizes, and feature a large profile adjustable Velcro waistband. There are big mesh ventilation panels on the front of the thighs, along with two regular hand pockets and a little zippered pocket for carrying your lift pass (or bus ticket for those of us in the real world).
The back of the shorts uses a wide stretch panel for pedalling comfort, and each leg has a side zipper for flaring out the shorts when you’re using bulkier knee pads. These clever Gore folk think of everything!
Gore Trail Light Shorts+
- Price: £90
- From: Gore Bike Wear
Super-dooper lightweight baggy shorts, for that ‘barely there’ feel *shudder*. The overall construction on these Gore Trail Light baggies is mega thin for easy-breezy breathability, and the side panels are made from a 4-way stretch fabric. Additional open mesh eyelet panels are used on the front of the thighs and at the top of the arse-crack for, err, venting.
Nukeproof Short Sleeve Jersey
- Price: £40
- From: Nukeproof
While Chipps was on his Italian adventure at Bike Connection, he caught up with the Nukeproof team, who are launching a brand new line of riding apparel for 2018. Ross is modelling a stylish trail jersey in the short sleeve version, though long sleeves are available too for those wishing to preserve their moon-tan. More info on the wider range can be found in our news story here.
Right, that’s your lot folks! Wherever you’re reading this from, we hope you have a terrific weekend lined up full of all sorts of shenanigans. And for those of you who are sick of all this snow, well, err, sorry? We might not have a whole lot of riding planned for the weekend given the deep snowdrifts covering out local trails, but consider that the perfect excuse to drink a little more dark ale and eat a little more stodge. After all, our bodies need it right?
ST Out.
