We are in a state of some upside down-ness. Chipps is back from his long haul trip and might be jet lagged and befuddled, but the rest of us are too muxed ip to notice. Our desks have become little floating islands of relocated office furniture while the walls are painted. Our brains have become little floating islands of shrivelled grey matter while the paint fumes vent through our nasal passages.
Our walls are bare, with no whiteboards of organisation to refer to, in preparation for The Great Office Move Around. Our minds match the walls, clear thought stifled by drying gloss.
In the midst of all this, poor IT hamsters have been undertaking The Great Server Switch Over. The rest of us don’t really know what it all means – there was a salting of cookies at one point which sounded like some kind of dubious initiation ritual – but we’ve been trying not to do anything stupid like forget our passwords while they’ve been doing whatever it is they’re doing. Apparently everything would be a lot easier if we could just switch everything off and leave them to it for a few days, but if we did that you can guarantee there would be a reinvention of the wheel and four new standards and Melania would become a brand ambassador for a mountain bike glove manufacturer. So we’re not switching everything off, and instead trying to make sure the hamsters remember to eat and stay hydrated.
And so now it is the weekend for us, but next week The Great Office Move Around will begin. And hopefully end. If there’s no Fresh Goods Friday next week, you’ll know we broke something. Whoever said a change is as good as a rest clearly never tried moving either servers or offices around. Let alone both at once. Who planned that I wonder? Oh. Well. Um… Can I get anyone another cup of tea?
Moving swiftly on. We’re not so confused that we don’t know which day it is. And that day means it’s time for Fresh Goods Friday!
Merida One-Forty 800
- Price: £3000
- From: Merida
We got an exclusive first ride on Merida’s One-Forty last year, but we’ve been eager to get another chomp on it on home turf since. Instead of the bumblebee yellow bike that a few of us got to swing a leg over last year, this One-Forty 800 is blacker than night, with only the chain and rotors ruining the theme.
With 140mm of travel on the back and a 150mm travel fork, the One-Forty is Merida’s all-round trail bike that’s designed for…well, mountain biking. It features a tough hydroformed alloy frame that bears a striking resemblance to the long travel One-Sixty, but with tighter geometry that’s designed to keep it springy and fun for less gnarly trail riding. Wheelsize is 27.5in, and Merida has equipped the One-Forty with new-school 2.6in tyres that we call ‘British Plus’.
The 800 model sits at the head of the One-Forty table, with a RockShox suspension package, SRAM 1×12 Eagle shifting, and powerful SRAM Code disc brakes.
Specialized Motodiva Shoes
- Price: £150
- From: Specialized
Designed to be an all-round trail riding shoe, these are moderately stiff shoes with mesh toes for breathability and hard moulded toe for protection. Boa fastenings get them tightened just so, and the slip-not sole gives traction when walking.
HuntBikeWheels Shimano 6-Pawl Freehub
- Price: £tbc
- From: HuntBikeWheels
To go with those new Hunt TrailWide wheels we featured barely a week ago, this is a replacement Shimano freehub body that slots straight into the rear hub. The stock wheelset came with a SRAM XD driver (you can choose which one you want at the point of purchase), though we’ll likely be fitting those test wheels to a few different bikes, so Hunt kindly sent us out one of these to do so. Like the SRAM XD freehub, the Shimano version gets 6-pawls, though to protect the splines on the lightweight alloy freehub shell, a stainless steel Anti Bite Guard keeps individual cassette sprockets from digging in to the alloy.
Endura MT500 Danny ’18
- Price: £37.99
- From: Endura
This season’s limited edition Danny MacAskill jersey. Comes with all the usual wicking and comfort properties of the MT500 technical jersey, but also makes you look like a riding God.
Endura MT500 Print T II
- Price: £37.99
- From: Endura
Another limited edition design – with ‘graphics inspired by rider experiences’ of the MT500 jersey, also available in black and grey. Just as well it’s not our rider experiences that it’s been based on – it would just be a splatter pattern.
Endura Hummvee Lite Glove
- Price: £19.99
- From: Endura
Lightweight gloves – Danny MacAskill’s favourite in fact – with just a touch of silicone for grip. Plus a little signature from Danny.
Endura Hummvee Lite Glove
- Price: £19.99
- From: Endura
More of Danny’s favourite gloves, but in red. There are lots of different colours available, some in limited editions.
Endura SingleTrack Glove
- Price: £26.99
- From: Endura
Offering a bit more protection than the Hummvee Lite gloves, these are built for durability and have overlays on the knuckle to help fend off trailside vegetation.
Endura SingleTrack Short
- Price: £59.99
- From: Endura
Shown here in a limited edition colour, these are tough shorts with plenty of room for knee pads, designed with a stretch rear panel for added ease of movement.
Gnarly Limited Edition Jersey (Women’s)
- Price: £75
- From: Stolen Goat
Hannah is ready for summer now, with a nice new set of Lycra for XC riding and gravel fun. Stolen Goat does a whole range of bright and not so bright designs that are more usually targeted at the road market, however this design is called ‘Gnarly’ and has riding tips like ‘hop the twig’ and ‘drop like a fly’ on it which all adds up to something a little less tarmac orientated we think. Three rear pockets plus a water resistant stash pocket, a full length zip, and an ‘athletic fit’ (so Hannah is wearing the large).
Bodyline ONE Women’s Bib Shorts
- Price: £98
- From: Stolen Goat
Bib shorts with purple detail to match the purple arm on the jersey, innit. The pad is anti-bacterial (best not think too hard about why this is definitely a good thing) and has ‘Dimple Technology’ to improve airflow.
Unisex Gnarly Cycling Gloves
- Price: £19.99
- From: Stolen Goat
Padded palms for comfort and simple pull on design, Hannah is hoping for a day warm enough to wear these soon.
Coolmax Socks – Subtle
- Price: £9.99
- From: Stolen Goat
Hmm… maybe they don’t really go with this outfit? Which is quite an achievement given the array of sock designs available. Let us move on to Wil, the master of the matchy-matchy.
Wil is in Power Ranger mode and poised for take off. Let’s check out what he’s wearing.
Giro Chamber II Shoes
- Price: £129.99
- From: ZyroFisher
Revised to allow a greater setback of cleats – so you can your foot more centred on the pedal. Ideal for the growing batch of trail pedals with platforms. The internal shank has also been updated, giving different areas of stiffness and flexibility for pedal efficiency and off the bike walking.
Leatt DBX 3.0 Enduro Helmet
- Price: £189
- From: Hotlines
The DBX Enduro helmet has ‘360 ̊ Turbine Tecnhology’ in side, where Turbines are set in the helmet and stiffen upon impact. Leat says ‘this technology reduces up to 30% of head impact at concussion level as well as up to 40% of rotational acceleration to the head and brain’. For less wild riding you can remove the chin bar, leaving you with a trail helmet.
Although maybe it’s better with the chin bar on, covering more face?
Also available in quieter colours.
Leatt Airflex Pro Knee Guard
- Price: £77.99
- From: Hotlines
These are Leatt’s slimmest and lightest knee guards, now with additional side and upper knee padding. There’s no fit adjustment – you just pull them on – and the relatively lightweight sleeve perhaps lends them to less rough and tumble than the 3DF option below.
Leatt Knee Guard 3DF 5.0
- Price: £82
- From: Hotlines
These are a soft knee guard made with a soft impact foam. They offer more adjustability on the fit thanks to the upper Velcro straps and the materials are designed to be hard wearing, but the foam protection is less technically advanced than the soft-to-hard impact reactive gel in the Airflex pros.
Leatt DBX Shorts 4.0
- Price: £79.99
- From: Hotlines
These shorts have a water and dirt repellant coating, and are cut in a pre-curved shape to avoid snagging on knee pads – for which there is plenty of room. A three-layer laminated and seamless seat helps with strength and comfort, while laser cut ventilation lets out any noxious gases after your pre ride beans on toast.
Leatt DBX Glove 2.0
- Price: £31.99
- From: Hotlines
Pull-on stretch gloves with no wrist adjustment, for a snug, neat and super lightweight fit. Ideal for those of us who don’t like to risk riding gloveless even in warm weather. A small knuckle protector keeps your pinkie-knuckle (to use the correct anatomical term) protected from stickus-outus (to use the correct botanical term).
Yaak M-Series Belt
- Price: £59.95
- From: Lindarets
It’s a belt, with magnets! Like something Batman might have. Made with a carbon fibre clasp which clips together like magic with magnets (which are actual magic, yes?) and catches, the wrappy-round bit of the belt (what is the technical term for that?) is made from a woven band which allows a (very precise this) 10% of stretch, to make them both comfortable and secure. Ours have been etched with our logo – nice!
Crankalicious Cleaning Products
- Price: £3.99 (100ml bottles), £15.99 (box of sachets)
- From: i-Ride
Half a bottle of the Aqua Merino will wash a machine full of merino kit (does anyone have that much merino?!), while the Soapy Kit wash is Lycra friendly. Each Epic Hide sachet is enough to clean a pair of shoes, saddle and bar tape – handy on a multi day ride perhaps.
Ah… a multi day ride. Wouldn’t it be nice. The slight sting of just a touch too much sun the day before, the stiffness in the knees that eases as you start pedalling, the late morning second breakfast, the evening arrival at your destination for guilt free consumption of all the calories… mmm….
Off we go then, into the weekend. A multi day rest. Hopefully.
Selected for no particular reason other than it’s on Hannah’s playlist at the moment, here’s a tune.
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OOOO lots of fresh stuff that looks awesome, bike companies are putting out some great looking out recently.
I would love one of those Endura shirts, but I have no beard and would be unable to hold the required facial expression.
@fatoldman you only live once. If you don’t already have a cupboard full of jerseys you love, one not treat yourself to just one that makes you want to wear it? It’ll be worth half a dozen that you look at and think ‘meh’.