Fresh Goods Friday 450: ‘I Thought We’d Be Enjoying Summer By Now’

Fresh Goods

by and 1

Remember those school summer holidays where you looked out the window at the rain hammering down and wished it would stop so that you could go out and play on your bike? Well, that’s a bit like how we feel today. Despite the promise of better weather in the pipeline, we still don’t believe it.

Jess definitely doesn’t believe it. In her world, it’s been raining for the last two months, even though it hasn’t. It’s got so bad that Amanda’s had to make her a SAD lamp out of crayons and cardboard.

However, now that we’re big and grown up and have credit cards, it seems that rainy days (and Mondays?) were made for a bit of idle shopping for those days when the sun returns and we can hop onto our bikes, doing wheelies and skids in the woods – dressed in our new cool clothes and riding our shiny bikes with shiny tyres and brand new grips. Unless you’re particularly strong willed (calling Jason Miles!) not everyone likes heading out into the the rain, so for the moment, take a moment from staring out and the window or refreshing the rain radar map and join us for a few minutes of escapism while we show you a few of the bits and pieces that have dropped through the Singletrack letterbox this week.

Juice Lubes Fork Lube

So lubey we had to clamp it to get a photo.

One of the first Juice Lubes we ever came across, this is an all purpose fork lover-upper. It refreshes dry seals and helps clean forks. As Juice Lubes say ‘It’s like having your very own suspension expert, without all the hassle of having to kidnap one and lock him in your garage.’ Which obviously we wouldn’t recommend to everyone. After all – not everyone has a garage…

Juice Lubes Dirt Juice Bike Cleaner

Snake or hosepipe?

A pre-wash dirt loosener and a light degreaser too. And you see that nozzle? (The one on the bottle, not the hose/snake) well that’s the new ‘Super Foamy Trigger’ that makes… super foamy foam! Oh yes. We bring you all of the treats.

Juice Lubes Tubeless Tyre Sealant

Fully recyclable bottle, to make up for all the latex inside it.

Tyre Juice – now even better apparently, with the ability to seal holes up to 7mm and to not ball up or turn to ooze, with 6-9 months between refills. Comes in 500ml bottles here and soon much bigger and much smaller versions too.

WTB Verdict 2.5 & Verdict Wet 2.5 29in Tyres

The Verdict on the Wet 2.5 is: Definitely waterproof.

Launched recently at the Sea Otter, the WTB Verdict is the tyre that you’ve probably been wishing they made for years. Knobblier than the Vigilante, it’s a proper aggressive mud tyre – and it comes in Regular or ‘Wet’, which is even knobblier. Both versions also come in Tough or Light TCS casing. And because they’re gravity tyres, even the ‘Light’ casing isn’t actually that light because they know where you’ll be riding. For front wheels only, unless you really need some extra resistance training…

Madison Men’s Flux Range

Someone needs to have a word with him about posture.

Our Chipps is gamely modelling the new range of Madison Flux clothing. The black and green stripey jersey matches his eyes – and who knows what he’s got in that chest pocket…

The Flux shorts are the latest version (they come in bright red, blue and black too) and they are long enough to wear over pads, with zipped pockets for phones/keys and valuables. The fabric is a light four way stretch and it dries pretty quickly too. (Ask us how we know…)

Endura MT500 Lite Kneepads

Doing a ski-sit to increase his endurance.

The lightweight pad option from the MT500 range are these Lite kneepads, featuring abrasion resistant impact panels, a D3O insert and additional side padding for further impact protection. Hello trypophobia my old friend…

Endura MT500 Hard Shell Kneepads

Fully padded up for a fight.

Aimed at tough trails or downhill, these hard shell pads from Endura offer lightweight, breathable, shock absorbing protection with the aid of a D30 insert and extended side PU foam padding.

Hard shell pads are good for wrestling, gardening and bike riding.

Product testing has begun early with these ones.

Evoc FR Trail E-Ride Ltd Edition

  • Price: £194.99, or FREE with a 2020 Merida eOne-Sixty
  • From: ZyroFisher
Brushing up on his Good Handling Technique. ‘Feet flat, elbows out, stay loose…’

We’ve featured one of these in Fresh Goods Friday before here, however this is a special one. It’s travelled all the way from Spain where Mark has been for a Merida e-bike launch.

Jess also reading about handling oneself. ‘If you see a goose, say hello both loudly and furiously.’

Here is the sandwich pocket, which conveniently also fits an e-bike battery in.

A really small camping mat.

And here is the back protector, to stop the spare battery clunking your spine when you go OTB.

Maxxis Assegai 29 x 2.50in WT


The Maxxis Assegai tyre was designed with multiple downhill champion Greg Minnaar. Coming in a single 2.50 Wide Trail width and either 27.5in or 29in versions, it’s designed to be an all round gravity tyre. In fact the tread resembles a ‘best of’ of all of Maxxis’ well regarded tyres, with a hint of High Roller, a touch of DHF and a sprinkle of DHR.

Friday Tunes & #themtbchain

Here’s our regular playlist of the week to go along with our Fresh Goods. Each track is picked by a staff member here in the office and added to their individual playlist over on our Spotify page. Head over there to identify exactly who is responsible for each choice.

The sun has shone some more this week and issue 125 has been packed off to print, so this week’s staff tunes are a reflection of yet another deadline successfully navigated. If you like what we do at Singletrack then joining us as a Premier Member would really help us

The Singletrack MTB Chain

Remember to use the hashtag #themtbchain to suggest your additions. If we like your suggested tune and your reason for adding it then it will be included in the playlist.

Check out our MTB Chain page here to keep up on the additions and to try out more of our Singletrack playlists.

All of the Singletrack staff have their own playlists that list all their choices for each FGF. So if you want to see who is responsible for which song you can find out by checking out their personal choices. Hey, maybe follow their playlist and boost their egos in the office. Not that any of us need reader validation of our musical tastes or anything.

Staff playlist | Zoe

Here’s sub’s manager Zoe’s personal selection. This is what keeps the numbers flowing around here.

Chipps Chippendale

Singletrackworld's Editor At Large

With 23 years as Editor of Singletrack World Magazine, Chipps is the longest-running mountain bike magazine editor in the world. He started in the bike trade in 1990 and became a full time mountain bike journalist at the start of 1994. Over the last 30 years as a bike writer and photographer, he has seen mountain bike culture flourish, strengthen and diversify and bike technology go from rigid steel frames to fully suspended carbon fibre (and sometimes back to rigid steel as well.)

More posts from Chipps

Comments (1)

Comments Closed