We have all manner of things to keep you warm and stop you from shaking in Fresh Goods Friday 470. From winter gloves and thermal hoodies that keep the chill off to a motorised gimbal that will keep your video super smooth even if you find yourself in the Arctic Tundra in only your boxers. Plus, does a Tesla make a good mountain bike carrying vehicle? We’ll let Chipps answer that for you below.
Zhiyun Crane M2 Gimbal
- Price: £259.00
- From: Zhiyun Amazon Store
Andi has picked up a Zhiyun Crane M2 handheld gimbal so that he can add a little cinematographic flair to our upcoming YouTube videos. The Zhiyun Crane M2 is was chosen for its versatility, compact size and low-cost. At £259 it’s quite possibly one of the smallest and most affordable gimbals on the market that will work with a mirrorless camera, but in the box, there are attachments to use a GoPro or your smartphone too. Keep an eye out for a first-look and some smooth shots in our review videos.
Manitou Mara Pro Shock
- Price: From $579.99
- From: Hotlines UK
The Mara Pro is an all-mountain/enduro air shock that weighs in at only 425g, Being a ‘Pro’ model it comes with all the bells and whistles you would expect including Hi/Lo Speed compression adjustment, rebound adjustment and a separate pedal platform switch for Work or Party modes.
Alpinestars Descender v3 Jacket
- Price: $94.95
- From: Alpinestars
The Alpinestars Descender V3 jacket is an ultra-lightweight windproof packable jacket with water repellent finish. Internally the jacket features soft nylon mesh inserts for increased airflow to keep you cool, while zipped pockets will keep your valuables safe on the ride. Reflective detailing enhances visibility and an integrated store bag makes packing this jacket away super easy.
Toque Slimline Trail Tools
- Price: £19.99 – £24.99
- From: Oxford Products
Torque makes a load of well-priced tools for the trail and the workshop and we have the Slimline 16 and Slimline 12 multi-tools to test. Each tool folds away for easy storage, each has laser-etched graphics and each one comes with all the most common tools you could need in an emergency.
Fix Manufacturing Wheelie Wrench Pro
- Price: £49.99
- From: Cyclorise
Fix Mfg is a California based manufacturer of easy to carry trail tools that are now available in the UK. The company builds well thought out tools that pack away neatly but also creates unique ways to store and carry the tools too.
Pictured above is the Wheelie Wrench Pro. This is a 2 piece tool that includes a couple of 11spd quick links, chain tool and even a disc straightener on top of 17 additional functions and tools.
Fix Manufacturing All Out Belt
- Price: £34.99
- From: Cyclorise
The All Out Belt from Fix Mfg is the perfect accessory for building yourself your own Batman-style utility belt. It’s designed for hanging your Fix Mfg tools from and designed to be worn with shorts or pants with belt loops, but we see this more of a handy workshop accessory rather than something we would ride with.
Kali Pace Helmet
- Price: $65.00
- From: Kali
The Pace helmet from Kali aims to bring added safety and protection to a more affordable price point. Inside the Pace are strategically placed EPS foam that sits under traditional helmet pads which help to protect against rotational forces. It’s a similar idea to MIPS but it’s more affordable and much lighter in weight too.
On top of this new technology, the Pace also used Kali’s own Low-Density Layer technology and a full 15 vents to keep you cool.
Specialized Thermal Mountain Jersey
- Price: £75.00
- From: Specialized
Specialized has arrived with the goods just in time for the cooler winter months. This Thermal Mountain Jersey is made of a Therminal material to keep you warm while maintaining decent levels of breathability. The thermal top has thumbholes in the sleeves, multiple pockets for your swag and a 3 panel hood with adjustable drawcord.
Cube Blackline Rain Shorts
- Price: TBA
- From: Cube
The Blackline Rain Short from Cube is water-resistant and windproof featuring taped seams and zipped pockets. The come in black only with red highlights, though we have a feeling they will quickly turn a wet muddy colour in just a few pedal cranks.
Cube X-Shell Winter Gloves
- Price: TBA
- From: Cube
Full finger winter gloves from Cube. The X-Shell is designed for use in those icy winter months and although designed for cycling we think they would make great snowball manufacturing hand warmers too. The outer shell is wind and waterproof and internally there’s a warming liner material. Cube has even fitted gel foam padding to the palm for a natural fit.
Specialized Thermal Mountain Bibs with SWAT
- Price: $110
- From: Specialized
Bib shorts that use the same Therminal fabric as the jersey above to keep your legs toastie in the snow. Inside there’s a body geometry mountain chamois for comfort and support, while externally there’s UV 50 protection and a total of five Swat pockets. Can you spot them all?
Specialized Base Layer
- Price: £48.00
- From: Specialized
The 3/4 Drirelease Merino top from Specialized retails at £60.00 but the price has just come down to £48.00 so if you’re looking for the natural way to keep warm over the winter now’s the time to pick one up. Merino is very good at insulating and wicking away moisture, and for those days you do decide to wear it in the sun, a Deflect UV 30 coating will protect you skin from ultraviolet rays.
Thule Velospace XT3
- Price: £574.99
- From: Freewheel
While we’d all probably like some sort of van to transport bikes and people around in comfort and style, sometimes you just have to hang your precious on, or behind, your car. Luckily the luggage (and lugging) experts at Thule have a rack for that.
The needs for this rack were that it had to be able to take three (or even four, with add-on accessory tray) assorted mountain bikes and not be afraid of the odd e-bike or two. This Velospace XT3 will take up to a 60kg load while weighing around 20kg itself, so it’s still only a one-person job to install. The rear bar will fold flat for storage and even when fully loaded, the rack will tilt to allow access to a saloon or hatchback boot. Our next mission is to make sure all of the wild and wacky frame designs fit into the lockable gripping arms.
If you want to help Andi’s son become a YouTube star and not get a real job then please watch and subscribe. His channel is all about low-fi and hip hop vibes. Check it out.
It’s an old-skool drum and bass kind of day today.
Friday Singletrack Tunes
Tunes selected by the staff here at the Singletrack office.
Comments (9)
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“The Blackline Rain Short from Cube is water-resistant and windproof featuring taped sesames”
probably best to avoid if you have a nut allergy then?
I’m going to add sesames to every article I write for the rest of this week
The Thule tow mounted bike racks are excellent, however the frame clamps aren’t over keen on the frame design and oversize tubes on my carbon Stumpjumper. This is made worse by adding some protection between the clamp and the “delicate” carbon. It has come loose a couple of times, a heart stopping moment when you look in the rear view mirror and your bike has flopped over into the horizontal plane!! I now make sure to add a bungee as backup.
Question is on the rack, can it take really take 4 bikes; and what’s the max wheel base it will do. A ‘slacked out’ XL S 120? 1256mm. I can see the Tesla / rack combo being quite practical. Time to do some research…
1300 mm Is the max wheel base…
More flippin waterproof gloves with a gel palm. I find I have to grip really hard to overcome the “loose” feeling I get with my waterproof gloves with gel. Does anyone make decent waterproof gloves with a thin palm like normal mountain bike gloves?
Sealskins Dragon mtb gloves have a normal palm fabric. They’re still a bit loose because of the waterproof membrane but it’s never bothered me
@mountainsofsussex Showers Pass make a Crosspoint waterproof glove that doesn’t have any padding. They’re not bike specific, they’re not super warm, but they are pretty waterproof (in my experience). https://singletrackworld.com/2018/03/review-showers-pass-crosspoint-waterproof-knit-gloves/
With a ‘modern geometry’ Hope HB130, it was starting to outgrow the wheel trays, but did fit in. Thule do a ‘fake’ top tube adaptor – (982) that would probably help odd frame tubes, but then you miss out on the locking clamps. I’m planning on fitting as many oddball frame designs on it as possible and seeing what does and doesn’t work…
There is a fourth bike adaptor tray that bolts on, but I’d only use it for tacking on a kids’ bike, rather than cantilevering a great bike suspension bike out the back…