We are all feeling like we have had a very lucky escape. We’ve just opened to the door to our studio and discovered hundreds and hundreds of wasps. Luckily, they were almost all dead. But it is all a bit weird. We should have expected it really – we’ve had fire (a local mill burned down), flood (again), and so presumably this is just the pestilence phase. We’re suspecting that there has been a big Wasps vs Spiders war. The spider won.
It’s been another busy week here. Chipps has been on holiday, Andi has been to a dealer show, and Amanda has been off having adventures in Denmark for a forthcoming feature in the magazine. Apparently there was some bike riding in between the foraging and nakedness. Issue 127…don’t forget to subscribe!
But enough of that. You’re here for the Freshies. Let us proceed.
Islabikes Creig 26
- Price: £799.99
- From: islabikes.co.uk
At last, a bike that doesn’t cost the same as a family car! Destined to be ridden by Sanny Jr, the Creig 26 is Islabike’s take on what a kid’s mountain bike should be.
Everything has been designed with making riding fun for kids – a short travel RST F1rst Air fork that can be adjusted to different weights as well as featuring a lockout, shorter cranks for shorter legs, an 11 -42 rear block mated with a 32t front ring and an 11 speed SRAM NX Gripshift set up that small hands (and no, we don’t mean Mark of this parish) can work with ease. Even the brakes are designed for smaller hands – SRAM’s DB1’s which are fully hydraulic while the wheels feature only 24 spokes in order to sensibly save weight. Tyres are knobbly Vee Rubber Crown GEM’s in 2.25 flavour.
Sanny Jr has already been making big plans for it including her first half century as well as the more important stuff such as riding to the ice cream shop from the beach.
Islabikes Mixte 26″ tyres
- Price: £19.99
- From: Islabikes.co.uk
Coming in a trim 1.5″ width, these tyres feature a Kevlar belt for puncture resistance and reflective side trim for added safety at night. Weighing in at a shade less than 500g, they are a good lightweight option for when junior wants to do a longer ride or make riding require just a little bit less effort. The small block tread make for low rolling resistance so you can watch junior disappear off into the distance as they leave you for dust!
POC Ventral Air SPIN AVIP
- Price: £220
- From: pocsports.com
Coming in five colours in addition to the super jazzy Zinc Orange we have here, the Ventral Air SPIN is POC’s top end road and gravel helmet designed to maximise air flow on the hottest of days. Featuring POC’s answer to the problem of rotational head injuries in the form of their silicone SPIN pads, and a whopping 20 vents, it is designed to protect while looking and being cool. Other features include a super light fit adjustment system and a glasses garage for keeping your shades safe when not in use. One for the discerning XC rider as well as roadies and gravelists.
POC Omne Air SPIN AVIP
- Price: £140
- From: pocsports.com
Slightly less blinding than the Ventrail Air is the Omne Air SPIN AVIP helmet. Designed as a do it all helmet for everything from all day mountain bike adventures and gravel epics through to commuting, the Omne is POC’s budget offering, albeit still at a bit of a premium. A bit less venty and a little heavier than the Ventral, the Omne doesn’t skimp on safety features. The rear is Zinc Orange for daytime visibility while a subtle, blink and you will miss it, reflective strip adorns the rear. Inside, SPIN pads are in place to help keep the squishy bit inside your skull safe. It lacks a peak for the Enduro crowd but then the helmet isn’t aimed at that market.
POC Resistance Enduro Adjustable Gloves
Price: £50
From: pocsports.com
Not just for the En-doooo-ro crowd, these bright orange beauties (hmmm! Is there a theme developing here?) have been snaffled by Sanny. Jam packed with features – vented palms, touch screen compatibility, Velcro wrist adjuster, silicone grips on the fingers (good for removing bogies, Sanny assures us) and a Terry wipe for getting rid of them, they look pretty dope too, as the youngsters haven’t said any time this century.
POC DO Half Blade AVIP Clarity
- Price: £195
- From: pocsports.com
Oh look, orange again! Designed to be an optimal fit with POC’s own helmets, the Half Blades come loaded with all sorts of technological jargon. Grilamid construction. Just what is that? What we do know is that they are close fitting with vents built into the top of the lenses to help stop them steaming up. Carl Zeiss lenses are interchangeable and come in a variety of shades with even mountain bike and road specific options. Protect your eyes, look smart, nuff said.
Galfer Bike Brake Discs
- Price: from £27.99
- From: Galfer Bike / TWS
Spanish manufacturer Galfer has been making brake rotors and pads for nearly 20 years. There are discs for many different brake brands, with different decorative trims too. The new ‘wave’ range is designed to offer better cooling, more poser, and includes a little bit of float to allow the expansion of the rotors when heating during use.
Exotic Cable Ends
- Price: £tbc
- From: discobrakes.com
For those finishing touches, match your cable ends to your decals, your shoes, your hair…whatever takes your fancy. These are from the makers of many coloured things, so there’s no excuse for clashing with your brake rotors.
Fabric Race Team Radius
- Price: £69.99
- From: CSG
Brighter than bright, if you wear black shorts the glow may make your bottom look like a baboon’s. This is Chipps’ favoured perch, and this colour apparently coordinates with his bike (though he has some very strange colour matching ideas, so make it actually just clashes.) Hard wearing, easy to clean, and with titanium rails for bum fat offset, you can purchase this in a matches-everything black.
Hiplock E-DX Maximum Security Noose Chain
- Price: £119.99
- From: Hiplok
Weighing in at a whopping 3.6kg, this is not designed for carrying around on your XC whip. Instead it’s a beast of a Gold-Standard security lock for your e-bike or cargo bike. The D-lock clips onto your bike without the need for a bracket, and the chain will also double as a weight training aid.
Timber! MTB Bells
- Price: £24.99
- From: Singletrack Web Shop!
You can ring my be-e-e-ell 
Ring my bell.
Deploy your bell as you approach your human trail obstruction and they get a constant ting-a-ling that they can hear from hundreds of metres away. You get to keep your hands where you need them: on the bars, covering the brakes. You then retract it once the trail is clear. Available in two variation: the clamp on, and the band on. The band on is very handy if you have several bikes and want to move the bell between bike.
And you can buy it from us! Right here.
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Issue 126£6.50
Don’t forget that issue 126 of Singletrack is now on sale and going down a storm with our regulars. Buying it not only pleases our egos but keeps us able to think about what goes in issue 127.
Every copy bought is supporting us here at Singletrack and we appreciate every one of you who buys one.
Tunes!
This week’s playlist is a little short, since a whole bunch of staff appear to have booked something called a ‘day off’. Hopefully they’re not all camping. No, we’re not hoping that at all.
And, finally, here’s this week’s Chain! With thanks to the forum’s Welshfarmer, who explains his choice thus:
Lord Herefords Knob, or Twmpa, is a hill that dominates the view from my farm here in the Black Mountains. It is popular with walkers, but is also one of our favorite Wednesday night rides. In fact we were up there only last Sunday. The song also mentions Hebden Bridge for extra Brownie points. Not only that, any song with the lyric, “Twmpa, Twmpa, you’re going to need a jumper” sure deserves a place on the playlist 🙂
Welshfarmer can expect to be rewarded with a fine Singletrack t-shirt shortly – We’ll be in touch.
If you have a suggestion for our MTBChain playlist then email us or use the hashtag #themtbchain on the socials. We need your reasoning so we can publish your wisdom.
Ta-rah for now folks!
Comments (2)
Comments Closed
Cable ends? Ebay.
Bought a billion (ok, 50) anodised green ones to go on the TicTac for a couple of quid.
cause of the multiple wasp fatalities? – I’d be looking for a somewhat confused youngster from a small Highland village with a predilection for insect cruelty..