Yes, yes, yes! It’s the end of a dramatic week of weather, of news, of new bike launches and of people being in and out of the office like yo-yos… This is the time of year where everyone decides to launch their new bikes and to visit us with secret things we can’t tell you about. It’s also when many of the parents here take a week or two off and where others in the office make the most of those still-light evenings to try to thrash themselves on trails full of nettles and brambles, all aware that those long evenings won’t be long forever.
And in between all of this, we’ve got a new magazine back from the printers (thanks Andy Carter – the Singletrack-reading master of the printing works down in Lincolnshire) which everyone reckons is one of the best-looking (and reading) issues of recent times. We have a lot of fine Fresh Goods filling the shelves and we have the nominees of the Singletrack Awards to sift through too. It’s all in there! Phew! So, in between catching up from press launches and holidays, prepping for the next trip or secret bike story, and wearing ourselves out on bikes for fun, it’s a wonder we have enough energy to bring you episode 460 of Fresh Goods Friday!
Spanner Bike Haute Gravel
- Price: Approx £1800 frame and fork
- From: Spanner.Bike
This is a bit of a departure from the full-on enduro-gnar carbon fibre shred-sleds that we normally show you, eh? This is a bike for a slightly gentler pace across the countryside, taking in view and admiring glances alike. Spanner Bikes is Andrew Maddison, who has spent the last decade helping guide everyday riders through the mire of having frames made in China to exacting specs. He’s taken all of this knowledge and is now starting to offer a service where you design the bike, and he’ll get it made in China, in titanium for you, handling all of the to-and-fro and the shipping and customs too. As a way of showing just what can be done with the right factory, this Haute Gravel is a twin top and downtube, extended seat-mast lovely with a quirky four-legged fork. While a standard frame will run you £1200, this is a little more complex (and comes with a fork too).
Singletrack Magazine Issue 126
- Price: Bargain!
- From: Singletrack Magazine
Yep, the new issue of Singletrack hits the shelves this week. With 148 pages of extra colour-packed gorgeousness, each one written with overflowing love and gushing enthusiasm by beautiful people. (OK, we made the last bit up…)
Giro Tyrant Helmet
- Price: £150
- From: Zyro/Fisher
The Giro Tyrant was launched this week to great fanfare. And it’s immediately split the office between those who think that it’s a super cool helmet and those that think it looks like a canoe or ice hockey helmet. However, if it’s your thing, then it’s definitely a good looker with some great tech in there for the money. Although it costs £150, the same MIPS Spherical system is only available elsewhere in Giro’s £259 Aether road helmet.
Alpinestars Vector Helmet
- Price: $179.95
- From: Alpinestars
Adjustable visor. 
Stylish colours. 
MIPS for your head.
With 19 air scoops all around this bright Alpinestars Vector helmet, Andi hoping that the sun will begin to shine again so he can enjoy the feeling of personal air-conditioning. The Vector has been designed to be both strong and lightweight, great features for a helmet, and it features a MIPS rotating safety buffer. With the cooling, safety and comfort boxes checked, Alpinestars had time to work on the hygiene aspect of the Vector too with quick-dry anti-bacterial and washable inserts. Other smart features include a fully adjustable dial sizing system, adjustable visor, and room for goggle storage.
Nukeproof Horizon Comp Flat Pedals
- Price: £27.99 (Black)
- From: Chain Reaction Cycles
These Sam Hill inspired Nukeproof pedals feature large platforms, adjustable pins and angled edges to help you avoid clipping passing rocks and ruts. They are constructed of nylon-reinforced composite with chro-mo axles, and have high quality DU bushings and two sealed cartridge bearings, and are available in seven colours that all differ in price!
DT Swiss 1200 Spline Premium Carbon Wheels
- Price: £1899/pr
- From: Freewheel
At 30mm internal, they’re wide enough for modern wide tyres.
As you’ll have seen yesterday, DT Swiss has just released its first carbon mountain bike wheels in a decade and they’re worth the wait. Coming in sub-1700g, these wheels are still 30mm internal width, with DT Swiss’ new ratchet hubs. Very clicky. Very nice.
Park Tool PP-1 Piston Press
- Price: £24.99
- From: Freewheel
You know the scene: pull your bike out of the back of the car and go to put the wheel in, but then you find that your kit bag has been pressing on the front brake lever for the whole journey and now the disc won’t fit in between the brake pads. This is what the Park PP-1 was meant for. With a sharp wedge at one end, it lets you sneak in between the pads and press them back into place. Handy too after brake bleeding and related brake faffing. It’s pretty specialist, but it does save you from trying to wedge a dirty screwdriver in to separate (and contaminate) your pads.
Suunto 5 GPS Sports Watch
- Price: £299
- From: Suunto
The Suunto 5 GPS Watch boasts a battery life of up to 40 hours – with intelligent battery mode that can prompt you to charge it up before it knows you’ll be out on a ride or run. It features GPS tracking of your activities as you might expect, but also works as a personal fitness coach, monitoring your activity, fitness and your resting. It also works with Strava and Trainingpeaks built-in too, including heatmaps for finding new training routes. Oh, and it tells the time!
Revolution – How The Bicycle Reinvented Modern Britain
- Price: £9.99
- From: Prelude Books
The takeaway punchline of this book is that, essentially, the bicycle expanded the gene pool and enabled a better Britain. Before the bicycle, few people travelled from the villages where they grew up and then they married their cousin. With the bicycle, though, men (and women!) were free to see what was over that hill, and the next one.
Shiny Sauce
- Price: £8.99
- From: Shiny Sauce
Shiny Sauce is an environmentally safe, biodegradable, pH-neutral, water-based, general-purpose cleaner that will cut through mud, mould, algae, bird fouling, sticky pollen, dead insects, traffic film and light grease and oil contamination with ease. And it has a nice label.
Wacaco Nanopresso
- Price: £66.90
- From: Wacaco
This neat little espresso maker is a compact, hand-powered machine that comes with a scoop, cup, a cleaning brush and a sturdy travel case. It’s surprisingly easy to use, as sometimes the more compact an item is the fiddlier. It makes a single or double shot with a nice crema on top. Simply add boiling water!
And, finally, here’s this week’s Chain! With thanks to our own Antony DeH!
And that, as they say, is all we have time for this week. There’s plenty more lining up for next week, but for the moment, we want to concentrate on having another coffee, some of Amanda’s amazing flapjack and think about #drinkbeeratyourdeskfriday
Comments (9)
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that Spanner bike looks ace for the money
A sturdy tire lever does the same job as the piston press, but yeah its nice to have a tool for the job.
Trouble with the sturdy tyre lever, Jimmy, at least around here, is that they’re rarely, er, sterile… 🙂
And if you’re going to ruin £20 of brake pads by rubbing grunge into them, it’s almost worth the proper too…
Don’t SRAM brakes all come with a little red wedge thing that nicely prises pads apart for £24.99 less? I’m pretty sure my last 2 bikes even came with them.
It’s a tool which is going to spend most of it’s time rolling round the bottom of a tool box or drawer. If you’re worried about “sterile” it’s going to need cleaning before it’s used anyway! (especially when you inevitably try to justify it’s existence by finding other leverage based uses for it)
Freshly wiped screwdriver for me thanks!
ive go one of those piston presses.
managed to chip pistons with it. contaminate pads with it and its hard to align pistons with it.
i keep trying to use it as i spent over 20 quid on it. Last time i did i cracked an s4 caliper.
id be interested to know how others get on with it.
I recently bought a cheap version off Ali express. £9, I like it, wouldn’t justify spending the park money
gert big flat blade screwdriver does the job for me. Do like that Spanner Bike, Andrew was great in helping me design my own Chi Ti as well. Top Bloke.
You don’t contaminate pads with a screwdriver if you push the screwdriver behind the pad (then push that pad against the other). I thought everyone knewed that. 🙂