FGF 459 | The Soggy Edition Of Fresh Goods Friday

It’s been one of those ‘it can only get better from here’ weeks. Devastating flash floods in Swaledale resulting in Ard Rock being cancelled for the first time, the silver lining being that the organisers have big hearts and are raffling off a very nice bike to help raise funds for the local community.

It’s been quite a wild week for us here at Singletrack Towers too. One minute it’s so hot we had to ask permission to introduce ‘No Clothes’ day, and the next thing the flood sirens are going.

But fear not, we’re used to this now. We embrace it. Even the posties have been coping, because we appear to have enough helmets to armour half the valley along with lots of other fresh goodies:

Stanton Switch9er

• Price: UK Frame only £699, Elite Candy finish +£100, Complete build £2875
• From: Stanton Bikes

This shiner has come in for our issue 127 bike test. Armed with RockShox Pikes, NX groupset, heavily branded Stanton bars and stem, Burgtec grips, a RockShox Reverb Stealth dropper post and Stans Arch rims. The Elite Candy finish gives it a Quality Street look.

Zipp 3ZERO MOTO Carbon Wheels

• Price: £1875.00
• From: SRAM

Built for trail and enduro riding, these wheels claim to have higher impact resistance, reduced chance of pinch flats, added traction, a smoother ride through rocky stuff AND reduced rider fatigue. Magic wheels? Or science? We’ll get them tested by our in-house rimdinger and report back.

Double Drop No Dig No Ride Jersey – Women’s

• Price: £30.00 £14.99
• From: Double Drop

Hampshire based and rider owned brand Double Drop haven’t been around for long, but they’re already winning with their designs. Everything is available in a men’s and women’s option, they have a rider sponsorship program, riding and casual wear, and are very good at communicating with their customers!

Double Drop Cross Fade Jersey – Women’s

• Price: £45.00 £40.50 10% pre-order discount
• From: Double Drop

The Cross Fade range is the latest addition to Double Drop, there will be shorts to match but this jersey is so fresh the shorts aren’t ready yet. Made from a lightweight, sweat-wicking and breathable fabric with a side pocket for your snacks, a tailored fit and tapered sleeves so they stay up when you roll them up.

Double Drop Socks & Lanyard

• Price: £9.99 £6.99 Socks, £6.00 £3.00 Lanyard
• From: Double Drop

These organic cotton socks are lengthy, stretchy, comfy and monochromey. What more could you want in a sock? Amanda has taken them off to Ard Rock to see if they make you ride faster. The lanyard has the coolfingers symbol on it, so it increases your trail cred and as a convenient bonus it keeps your keys safe!

Pepi’s Tyre Noodle Rokkline

• Price: £65.00 pair
• From: The Cycle Clinic

Rokkline can take more of a battering than the lighter weight tyre noodle from Pepi, so it’s probably the choice for rougher terrain, enduro racing and e-bikes. Claiming to improve traction and grip, give less chance of tyre burping, reduced rolling resistance and less chance of a pinch flat. David really enjoys tyre inserts, he’d change them before every ride if he had the time, so we’ve sent them to him for testing.

Rockstop Tyre Insert

• Price: £65.00 pair
• From: Rockstop

“the toughest baddest coolest most radical tyre insert on the planet…“

Rockstop

… Well, we don’t know that but couldn’t resist quoting it. No valves, no cable ties, no glue, no way! The Rockstop tyre insert has a claimed weight of 250g per tyre, is made from high shock absorbing rubberised polymer and should be easy to fit. You get some FREE Cumbrian air with every purchase.

Forcefield Body Armour CE2 Kneepads

• Price: £89.99
• From: Forcefield Body Armour

Abrasion resistant wrap-around knee protectors with a simple up and over elasticated strap system. They have adjustable external straps top and bottom with silicone grip, and feature extra padding around the sides.

Forcefield Body Armour CE1 Kneepads

• Price: £84.99
• From: Forcefield Body Armour

You can choose whether whether the pads are fitted with Isolator CE1 or CE2 limb armour. A rider who rides predominantly off road in hot conditions should consider CE1, as it’s thinner, lighter and offers greater breathability. For racing, touring, commuting or extreme enduro use, CE2 might be the preferred option.

Stans NoTubes Race Sealant

• Price: £32.00
• From: Paligap

Stan Koziatek has been quietly formulating a special racing version of his famous sealant for almost fifteen years, and it’s now available to buy. It contains twice as many crystals as the regular sealant, and ‘XL’ crystals at that, meaning it should seal faster, and clog larger punctures. Stans warn that the quantity and size of crystals in this formula means that it can only be installed directly into the tire. As a result of its sealing capabilities, the Race Sealant will clog injectors and smaller bottles. Sounds good!

Gloworm XS 2500 Lumens

• Price: £250.00
• From: Luminous

The Gloworm XS has one of the best light output vs. size vs. weight ratios on the market, features a wireless remote so you don’t need to fumble around for the button whilst riding, and claims to have a two hour run time at full glow.

Gloworm X2 Adventure 1700 Lumens

• Price: £195.00
• From: Luminous

As above, only smaller with a 1.5 hour run time. These lights are both waterproof, come with a helmet mount, 3.4 AHr lithium-ion battery, Gloworm TX wireless remote, 31.8mm quick release carbon composite bar mount, hex tool, spare optics (wide angle/spot), spares bag, smart charger and a 80cm extension cable.

Smith Forefront 2 Helmet

• Price: £180.00
• From: Ultra Sport Europe

Offering ventilation, protection and both front and rear eyewear storage, the Forefront 2 features a lightweight aerocore construction, ventilated protection with patented Koroyd material, MIPS, VaporFit adjustable fit system, twenty vents, three-position adjustable visor and antibacterial lining. There are some very lively colours available!

100% Altec Helmet

• Price: £139.99
• From: Silverfish UK

Featuring the 100% answer to MIPS known as Smartshock® Rotational Protective System, this trail helmet offers plenty of airflow with an impressive fifteen ventilation ports, glasses storage, multi-point adjustment on the visor and a push release snap-buckle closure.

Bell 4Forty MIPS Helmet

• Price: £89.99
• From: ZyroFisher

Featuring MIPS, a goggle guide adjustable visor, fifteen vents, lightweight float fit system with adjustable fitment at the back and internal padding to guide sweat away from your eyes, this helmet is available in eight colours.

Bell Sixer MIPS Helmet

• Price: £149.99
• From: ZyroFisher

Twenty six vents, four brow ports, four position visor adjustment, eleven colours… It’s not all numbers though. This helmet features ‘progressive layering’ with varying foam density to help manage the transfer of impact after a crash. Also includes MIPS, sweat controlling foam and quick adjust straps.

Bell Spark MIPS Helmet

• Price: £69.99
• From: ZyroFisher

This sleek ergonomic design is available in universal men’s, universal women’s and universal junior’s sizes, keeping the cost low as they’re not having to make various sizes. It features MIPS, thirteen vents, a none-adjustable visor, and all the usual stuff like sweat guiding pads and fit adjustment.

Singletrack Merch

• Price: £19.99, or £16.99 for registered users
• From: Here!

Wait a minute… is that Singletrack’s best selling T-shirt of all time, re-worked and making Hannah look super cool? It is! We have new designs too, but we can’t really afford to pay real models and Andy has terrible posture. Head over to our shop to see what’s new.

Friday Tunes

Next up, staff picks. Slightly less good in some instances? You’ll have to figure out if there’s a theme or if they’re random picks.

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.

Staff Playlist: Mark

This week we’re featuring Mark. Mark hurt himself this week moving a washing machine, and we know that the only thing to cheer him up would be more followers on his playlist.

Amanda Wishart

Art Director

Amanda is our resident pedaller, who loves the climbs as much as the descents. No genre of biking is turned down, though she is happiest when at the top of a mountain with a wild descent ahead of her. If you ever want a chat about concussion recovery, dealing with a Womb of Doom or how best to fuel an endurance XC race, she's the one to email.

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