50% of the editorial team are on holiday. Only 50% of that 50% are enjoying themselves… Meanwhile in the office, there’s an abundance of fancy coffee and a carrot cake on the table. The office dog, Jess, is roughly the size of a shoe box yet she decided to square up to an Alaskan Malamute and is now quivering under the desk. James has built a fort out of bike boxes to hide from his children, one of which has made us a suggestion box complete with a motivational message:
2019 Liv Intrigue Advanced 1
- Price: £3999.99
- From: Liv Cycling
With 150mm front, 140mm rear travel and 2.6in tyres, the new Liv Intrigue is a very capable and high performance women’s specific trail bike. Back in August Amanda rode the US model, and promptly requested the UK model to see how it fares against and English winter. Available in XS, S and M, with two model options.
Cotic RocketMAX
- Price: From £2999.99
- From: Cotic
29in wheels and an XL frame – this bike nearly got wedged in the doorway. Here on test for Barney, the RocketMAX is an enduro bike you can run with 29in or 27.5in plus sized wheels.
PNW Components Rainier 27.2 IR Dropper Post
- Price:
£315.00Currently on offer for £215.00 - From: PNW Components
PNW Components now offer internally routed dropper posts, available at 85mm, 90mm and 110mm (pictured). Ours has come with a CX lever kit, but you can choose standard when ordering.
PNW Components Pine 27.2 IR Dropper Post
- Price:
£246.00Currently on offer for £168.00 - From: PNW Components
The externally routed dropper from PNW with fixed cable entry at the mid cap. For bikes with skinnier seat tubes, they have you covered, as this one is also available in 85mm, 90mm and 110mm drop.
Knog PWR Mountain Front Light
- Price: £179.99
- From: Silverfish UK
This high powered modular headlight not only offers 2000 lumens of anti-dark, it also works as a power bank with a USB charging port. Claiming to fully charge an iPhone twice after one hours ride at 2000 lumens, it’s a powerful little thing. You can plug it into a computer to custom program it to different light modes (Strobe? Hopefully.) and there’s no fiddley buttons – twist to operate.
Oxford Ultratorch 850
- Price: £59.99
- From: Oxford Products
This USB chargeable light from Oxford Products offers 850 lumens, four light modes including flash, and the quick release bracket can be used on 25.4mm or 31.8mm bars. It claims to have up to 20 hours run time, presumably not run on the brightest mode.
Trail Coffee Subscription
- Price:Various subscriptions available
- From: The Trail Coffee Company
This small batch coffee company offer weekly and monthly coffee subscriptions, with a choice of grind and two different blends available. You can also choose what size bag you receive, so you can build your perfect coffee subscription at a very competitive price. They also have handy 28g pouches available for a coffee on the mountain.
Speciality Coffee Subscription
- Price: Various subscriptions available
- From: Speciality Coffee Home
This online company specialise in rare and high end coffees from the world’s top roasters. Coffee subscriptions available weekly, bi-weekly or monthly, with a choice of select, premium or rare. Sounds good to us! Featured above are roasts from Gardelli, the current World Roasting Champions, Right Side in Barcelona and The Cupping Room in Hong Kong. They also stock Colonna and Round Hill. For the serious coffee drinkers, please note it is recommended you run them at a 1:2 ratio in 25 – 35 seconds (eg 18g in, 36g out in 30 seconds).
Bontrager Cambion Shoes
- Price: £199.99
- From: Trek Bikes
The 2019 Cambion Mountain Shoe from Bontrager comes in all black or black/blue options. With a super stiff carbon sole, boa IP1 dials, durable ‘GnarGuard’ outer material and perforated synthetic uppers, these claim to offer increased breathability and comfort with a precise fit and durability.
Panzer Rim Protection
- Price: £55.00
- From: Whyte Bikes
Protect your rims from dings when running low pressures (or if you get a flat) with these lightweight anti-puncture inserts. Claiming to be the lightest of their kind on the market, the Panzer rim protectors are available in 27.5in and 29in and shouldn’t affect the way the tyre behaves.
Muc-Off Indoor Training Range
- Price: Bike mat £10.99, Sweat Protect £9.99, Antibacterial Equipment Cleaner £9.99
- From: Muc-Off
Just in time for winter training, Muc-Off introduce their indoor training range. A bike mat for your turbo trainer, sweat protection for your bike and turbo trainer, and anything else you might sweat on? And for afterwards, antibacterial cleaner. So it’s basically a sweat protection range, you sweaty lot.
And that’s all of it! Here’s a random selection of music and video to see you into the weekend.
The drummiest of drummers from Huddersfield band Relics sent me this, because bikes and red hair are a winning combo:
… and having just heard there’s a sequel on the way, I suggest everyone refreshes their memories of Kung Fury. The sequel is said to include David Hasselhoff, Michael Fassbender and Arnold Schwarzenegger. I AM EXCITED.
Comments (19)
Comments Closed
That Cotic is one good looking bike (you can keep the WTB tyres though)
#420
Love Kung Fury. Can’t wait for the next installment.
OK, who copy and pasted the hyperlinks and changed the text but not the link? Or did Giant pay a backhander to have most of the links go to the liv site? 🙂
Coffee links don’t work…..
@mrlebowski @Rubber_Buccaneer I’m sorry, I’ve fixed the coffee links. I must have needed a coffee when I was writing it…
James needs to look at his spelling on the “Suggestion” box
Aww. I miss you too, Panda. It is raining again.
Looking forward to the RocketMax review very much. Could whoever is doing it make a clear comparison with the FlareMax in terms of ride characteristics?
From a purely aesthetic point of view:
I love the colour and look of the Liv. It looks a tad squashed, front to back though.
What makes it women specific?
The Cotic on the other hand looks like a bloke in a shed welded some pipes together.
Either way, there’s no way I’m likely to have 3-4 grand to spend on a bike, so I’m not in either target market.
Good to see some Richard Thompson on here! Classic song.
@uberpod The Liv has women’s specific geometry which includes a shorter reach, which might be why it looks squashed to you. I’m 5’7 and find the medium frame rather short, but they aren’t bringing the large frame to the UK. It’s the second women’s specific bike I’ve ridden and in both cases, they were noticeably shorter than anything I’d ridden before!
Love Richard Thompson. Hate that song. By anyone who recorded it.
Fresh goods felt good this week with less attempt to make puns about free stuff and everything.
@edditebaby I like puns!
JP
Thanks for the Rival Sons, hadn’t heard of them before, now on my Spotify ‘to listen’ list 🙂
Kung Fury is just bonkers!?
Cotic looks verrry long, but I would be interested to ride one. Shame I too don’t have £3k spare 🙁
Sorry!! Coffee things yes, the rest, How Much No No.
I find the Cotic a bit Fugly, but i also find that quite reassuring. Function should always be the priority over form (says the man in a good stiff pair of greige trousers). Continue.
Bring on the Cotic review !
But at tje other end… 55 quid for some foam to put inside your tyre. REALLY ?
I’LL make some and sell them to you for 40 quid a pop. Bargain
So good to see Rival Sons getting some love, I even went to a Black Sabbath gig just to see them in support!