A bike, a puppy, a donut conversion kit | Fresh Goods Friday 476

Let’s start with the important stuff. BREAKING NEWS! Hannah has never seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Although in typing that, I realise she could become a victim of angry people off t’internet, so to spread the load… Andi doesn’t like puppies, Chipps lets a muddy dog on the front seats of a brand new car, Amanda doesn’t understand the metric system, and one time Mark said the vegan sausage roll from Greggs is “better than the meat one.”

The only staffer that can come out of this Fresh Goods on top is Ross, because he put a smile on every single face in the office this week (oh, apart from Andi) when he turned up with Stanley!

Stanley smells like honey, he’s a bit clumsy and he likes to chew stuff. So, now you know a bit more about this small team of misfits, we thank you for continuing to visit us once a week (or more, for many of you) to check out what exciting new items are available to us mountain bikers. Now let’s check out the goods before Stanley chews them all up.

Ibis Ripley Mk4

• Price: £Kerching!
• From: Ibis Cycles

Chipps managed to break the cardinal rule of new bike week, which is ‘Don’t hurriedly finish building a bike* on a Friday afternoon before driving with it to Wales for a weekend of riding’

(*A bike with many one-off components, many of which are complicated and electronic…)

Anyway, this is the new Ibis Ripley Mk4 long termer in ‘Journo’ spec. It features a full SRAM AXS Eagle groupset with AXS Reverb post too. It also feature the new Zipp MTB wheels with integrated Tire/TyreWhiz tyre pressure monitors. It’s basically, All Very Fancy… Tune in to issue 129 for a look at how it’s all holding up in the British winter weather.

Merida Matts J. 20+

• Price: £425
• From: Merida

Merida’s J range of bikes is aimed at kids who want to explore the outdoors and not be hindered by sub-standard components. Whereas some brands are building big travel free ride bikes for kids, Merida has focused on lightweight and confident geometry for its junior range.

The Matts J. 20+ which we have at the office uses a lightweight aluminium frame and ships with plus sized 20in wheels, although you can fit 24in wheels if you like to meaning the J 20+ grows as your child does.  The frame also features rack and bottle cage mounts, and the build includes child-specific components and powerful Tektro hydraulic disc brakes.

BRINK DYED Bro Protection

• Price: £37.00
• From: Brink

These frame protection kits are made up of 6 individual pieces, a main piece for the top tube, as well as two extra pieces to guarantee being able to cover bigger bikes. There’s a clear downtube protector, 2 chainstay ones and 2 for the seatstays. These kits are available in 26 designs, and now have a UK distributor, who kindly sent us a packet of biscuits to celebrate!

RRP ProGuard Bolt-On

• Price: £35.99 each
• From: Extra UK

This large direct mount bolt-on mudguard is available in two sizes and comes with the bolts needed for Fox, Marzocchi, Ohlins and Suntour forks. You don’t need any zip ties, it’s easy to fit and remove, the height can be adjusted by up to 6mm, and there’s a go-faster stripe that you can get a coloured sticker for running down the middle.

Sun Chlorella Powder

• Price: £68.96 30 x 6g sachets
• From: Sun Chlorella

Feel like you need a winter boost? Chlorella is a freshwater single-cell green algae, a natural whole food that contains nutrients such as iron, vitamin B12, vitamin D and folic acid. That sounds like it wont taste great, but fear not! You can mix it into a smoothie.

Aftershokz Aeropex

• Price: £149.95
• From: aftershokz.co.uk

We can’t call them earphones, can we? They don’t go in your ears – but they do let you hear music. These came in after we were searching for earphones that let you listen to music while still being able to hear large lorries bearing down on you. These Aftershokz ‘phones use bone conduction to get the tunes into your head while still leaving your ears free to hear ambient noise, traffic and calls of ‘Anyone want a cuppa’. Stay tuned to see how well they work with riding and helmets…

Muc Off Tubeless Goodies

• Price: See below
• From: Muc-Off

Muc-Off has expanded its range of tubeless essentials kit with new tools, an inflator, rim tape and even a complete Tubeless Set-Up kit that contains everything that you need to ditch those tubes.

Muc-Off’s tubeless rim tape comes in various widths to suit all types of rims including non-mountain bike style hoops. 6 rim widths are available and prices start from £14.99 a roll. The Ultimate Tubeless Setup kit comes complete with rim tape, CNC machined valves, and 2 pouches of No Puncture Hassle Tubeless sealant. There are kits to suit all types of bike and prices are £40 for the kit. 

For those repairs on the trail, Muc-Off is offering the C02 Inflator Kits consisting of a CNC machined inflator head, C02 cartridge and neoprene sleeve to avoid freeze burn. Prices start at £28.99 for the MTB version with cartridges costing £4.99. 

B.A.M is a pressurised bottle filled with latex foam that will inflate and seal your tyre in those emergency situations. The B.A.M bottle is good for 29in MTB tyres and will seal holes of 3-4mm. B.A.M costs £14.99 and there’s an additional Utility Belt so you can carry it on your frame for £4.99.

For those simple puncture repairs, the Puncture Plug is what you need. This lightweight kit comes with 5 x thick plugs and 5x thin for all sizes of puncture and are suitable for all tubeless tyre repairs. The kit cost £12.99 while refills are £4.99.

Last but not least is the Essentials case, a soft zip bag to carry all your new tubeless repair tools in for £15.00.

Deft Family Gloves

• Price: $27.95 EQVLNT, $36.95 CATALYST
• From: Deft Family

These brightly coloured gloves are a mix of EQVLNT and CATALYST designs. If you head to the Deft Family site you’ll find a huge range of any colour you could ask for, including white. I can’t imagine many of you are asking for white.

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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