Two Bikes, Many Clothes and A Pair of Juicy Nipples – Fresh Goods Friday 426

The Fresh Goods Friday you’re about to see,

Was written by journos, numbering three.

They’re OK at bikes, and photography

But their poetry sucks.

You can blame Barney

For setting the challenge to introduce

This week’s crop of goods, the golden goose,

Of Singletrackworld. This weekly loose

Collection of things that signals

That the weekend is on its way

Yes, shout hurrah, hip hip hooray

For it is time for Fresh Goods Friday!

(Number 426).

Sorry about that. There’s no poetry in Wil’s Fresh Goods Live, which you can see every Thursday at 9.30pm UK Time on YouTube – because by then it’s already Friday with Wil.

Rad8 506 Glasses

• Price: TBA
• From: Rad8

Rad8 is no stranger to Singletrack Towers, the UK based glasses brand has specialised in producing MTB specific glasses for some time now, even polling ST Readers to help design some of their most popular models. The 506 represents a bit of a departure for Rad8 and is their first half frame design. Like other models in the Rad8 range, the 506 gets photochromic lenses that react quickly to changing light conditions while the frames are made of a tough plastic named TR90. The lenses are replaceable, and a clever sweat strip on the frame ensures sweat is redirected away from your eyes. If you fancy a pair head over to the Rad8 website where Singletrack Premier Subscribers receive a special discount.

GT Sensor Carbon Expert

• Price: £3,299
• From: GT Bicycles

Back in July of this year, GT kicked off its own full suspension party with the relaunch of the 2019 Sensor and Force. The Sensor – the bike we’ve got in our little hands here – is the shorter travel trail bike of the two, and it has 130mm of travel front and rear along with 29in diameter wheels.

The model on test is the Sensor Carbon Expert, which features a full carbon front end that’s paired to a welded alloy sub-frame. Suspension is handled by RockShox, and it comes with a SRAM 1×12 Eagle drivetrain.

The big news with the new Sensor and Force is the return of the LTS suspension design, which replaces the AOS platform and the swinging bottom bracket used on the previous bikes. LTS is a four-bar suspension platform that sees a welded alloy rocker link driving the big volume, metric-sized, trunnion mounted air shock. It’s a proven system that is less complicated than the AOS design, and GT has also incorporated a geometry adjuster via a reversible chip in the lower shock mount.

As to how it works on the trail? You can read Chipps’ first impressions from the launch here, and make sure you stay tuned for the forthcoming in-depth review.

Magura MT7 Pro Brakes

• Price: €219.90
• From: Magura

High powered stoppers from Germany. These have four pistons designed to be operated with one finger and are aimed at the ‘gravity pilot’, or E-MTB market – where power and stability are important, even on long descents where other brakes might get hot. There’s tool-less bite adjustment and they have ‘EBT’ Easy Bleed Technology.

Granite Juicy Nipple Presta Valve Core Remover Cap

• Price: £7.99
• From: Granite Design

These little alloy widgets replace the plastic valve caps that keep the stupidly fragile ends of your Presta valves from being snapped off by passing rocks. As well as coming in a range of seven anodised colours to bling your bike, they can also be used to tighten or remove your valve core. Handy for when your pump removes it accidentally.

Endura Women’s SingleTrack Jacket II

• Price: £114.99
• From: Endura

This rain stopper jacket from Endura is a relaxed fit, without just becoming a baggy sack. Great for fitting a couple of thermal layers under, and it has a bunch of small details that collectively make this jacket seem like quite a bargain. The hood fits over your helmet, there’s a generous amount of pockets, adjustable cuffs and hem, under arm ventilation and much more. Women’s specific items tend to be pink, turquoise or purple… this is all three!

Endura Women’s SingleTrack Hoodie

• Price: £49.99
• From: Endura

Made from a soft touch, high wicking fabric with an antibacterial treatment to prevent odour build up, this casual hoodie is secretly a technical performance piece of kit. Features include two front pockets, a flattering cut and a hood.

Endura Women’s MT500 Spray Trouser

• Price: £109.99
• From: Endura

Is that rain you see beading on these trousers? Well of course, we’re in Todmorden. The Endura MT500 Spray trousers are designed for mud shedding trail protection, so they aren’t completely waterproof, making them extremely lightweight and comfortable. The knees are reenforced with a hint of padding, there are mesh lined air vents on the thighs, an adjustable waist band and plenty of reflective trim to keep you safe and seen throughout winter.

Osprey Rolling Transporter 90

• Price: £220.00
• From: Osprey

Made from a durable and highly water resistant fabric, this rolling transporter is designed with winter sports in mind. The barrel design claims to make the best use of space, there’s an external pocket on top to keep your travel documents in (or whatever you choose), and internally there are some compression straps and mesh zipper pockets. Amanda will be taking this on a snowboarding trip in January to see just how durable and waterproof it is!

Etnies Jameson Mid Crank

• Price: £79.99
• From: Etnies

Developed with Brandon Semenuk, these are designed to provide a balance of stiffness and pedal feel, giving you the kind of flexible stability you want for jumps and tricks. There’s an asymmetric collar that gives a little more protection to the inner ankle for when those no footers don’t go quite to plan, and a Geo-Hex sole for pedal engagement. Hannah will be testing these out and hoping to soar like Semenuk. Possibly.

Sahmurai Sword Mk2

• Price: £24.99
• From: Cyclorise

This is a revised and robustified model of this bar end insert with tyre noodle fixing combo. A pokey reamer tool for poking and tidying if you need it, and a fork for getting that noodle plug into place. You can store the whole lot in your handlebars, even pre-loading the fork, so you’re ready to plug that rip and get rolling again asap.

RevGrips

• Price: £99.99
• From: Cyclorise

No, that’s not a typo on the price. These are not normal grips: they’re last-a-lifetime grips, thanks to all parts being available and stocked separately so you can replace any worn parts. But that’s not all. They have a teeny tiny amount of twist built into them which you can set at one of five adjustable settings from soft to firm to minimise trail buzz. And that’s still not all. The grips themselves have an inner sleeve which is not in contact with your bars, which means that only the clamps – with their ‘suspension’ built in – are touching the bars. It’s all in aid of providing a super comfortable ride, and if you don’t agree there’s a 30 day satisfaction guarantee.

Canyon Neuron CF 9.0 SL

• Price: $5,399 AUD / £3,349
• From: Canyon

‘Twas barely a fortnight ago that Canyon publicly announced the new Neuron CF, but as they say in Australia, “we’re not here to fu.. make love to spiders“.

And so with that cleared up, we can let you know that we’ve just received 2019 Neuron CF 9.0 SL test bike for a proper shakedown. This one’s been sent to the Singletrack Southern Office, where Wil is going to be putting it through its paces. Check out the first look gallery feature here, and stay tuned for an in-depth, longterm review.

Giant Rail SX MIPS Helmet

• Price: $184.95 AUD / £119
• From: Giant Bicycles

Most folks know Giant for its bikes, but the Taiwanese brand also offers a …giant… range of components, apparel and accessories too. The Rail SX MIPS helmet is the brand’s flagship mountain bike helmet, and it’s been designed with input from the Giant Off-Road Factory team.

The thick EPS shell has been designed for enduro-ing, and compared to the previous Rail helmet, the whole shell has been lowered 3-5mm around the front and sides, and up to 10mm at the rear to provide more coverage.

The Rail SX has no fewer than 18 vents, and inside you’ll find the Cinch One Pro™ fit system for adjusting the harness. There’s also an integrated MIPS liner, a goggle strap, adjustable visor, and a curved recess on top of the helmet that’s ready for a GoPro stick-on mount. Black and Red colours are also available in Small, Medium and Large sizes.

Specialized Fast Trak GRID Tyre

• Price: $75 AUD / £42
• From: Specialized

Also just in at the Singletrack Southern Office is a collection of fresh rubbers from Specialized.  These are clearly not tyres for winter, because everything’s all topsy-turvy down there, where it’s currently summer.

The first tyre is the Fast Trak tread pattern, which Wil has on test in a 29×2.3in size with the reinforced GRID casing and Specialized’s own Gripton rubber compound. Claimed weight is 720g per tyre.

Specialized Ground Control GRID Tyre

• Price: $75 AUD / £42
• From: Specialized

In the same size we’ve got a GRID-reinforced Ground Control tyre, which Specialized refers to as its versatile trail tyre. This one gets a more robust tread pattern with wider edges to improve braking traction, while siping through the tread blocks is supposed to allow for plenty of flexibility for added grip. Claimed weight is 810g per tyre putting this in right in between your 600g XC race tyres, and 1kg enduro tyres.

Specialized Purgatory GRID Tyre

• Price: $75 AUD / £48
• From: Specialized

Last but not least, we’ve got a pair of Purgatory tyres that both feature the Gripton rubber compound and GRID reinforced sidewalls. The one on the left is a 29×2.3in size (800g claimed), while the one on the right is a new-school 29×2.6in size (930g claimed), but both have the same aggressive tread design that should offer more traction in loose conditions, compared to the Ground Control and Fast Trak.

According to Specialized, the 2.6in tyre can be run on rims measuring 25-35mm wide internally, though the rim width will affect the overall tyre width. On a 25mm rim, Specialised claims the tyre will measure up at 2.45in wide. On a 35mm rim the tyre will measure around 2.55in wide. We’ll be testing these on a variety of hoops very soon, so stay tuned for the full review.

New Singletrack Shop Stock!

• Price: From token gestures to declarations of love.
• From: Singletrack

You’ll be glad to hear that Barney didn’t lay down any poetic challenges for the outro, so there will be no poetry here. Well, none penned by us anyway. How about a little proper poetry? Watch out though, the words are not safe for work or children.

And because we have to acknowledge it’s coming (If you’re not ready, may we recommend our shop full of new Singletrack clothing and accessories)… You know what we’re talking about, but we’re not going to say it. But here, to get you in the mood, sort of.

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