FGF 472 – The ‘It’s Definitely Autumn’ Edition…

There’s no denying it. Autumn has arrived and slapped us in the chops with a big wet leafy smackeroo. It’s dark and lunchtime and it won’t stop raining until May. Or at least that’s how it can feel… Meanwhile, legions of motivated riders are strapping lights on and heading out in the evenings, while equally motivated riders are staring at the walls of their man/womancave while racing pretend people on turbo trainer video games.

Perhaps you’re looking to emerge in the spring as a beautiful, fit butterfly. Or perhaps you’re just looking to manage the decline and to spend the spring working towards fitness by riding your bike.

Either way, you can probably pass some of those dark nights by looking at some of the shiny things you could treat yourself to. Which conveniently brings us to this week’s Fresh Goods Friday!

Norco Sight A2

• Price: £2,995.00
• From: Evans Cycles

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It’s a Norco Sight A2! And while we’ve already brought you a news story and a First Ride Review of it, we couldn’t show it to you yesterday as it was still a big secret. This model is the alloy 29er mid-range bike, with Fox Float X2 Performance 150mm shock and Fox Float 36 Rhythm 160mm fork.

Merida eONE-FORTY 9000

• Price: £7000
• From: Merida Bikes

Mark went on the launch of the Merida eONE-SIXTY earlier this year, and now has this slightly shorter travel eONE-FORTY to test over the winter months. The MT20 Merida e-Bikes come with a full carbon front triangle, integrated battery and a Shimano Steps E8000 motor. The eONE-FORTY 9000, sits at the very top of the line-up and is built with a mix of Shimano XT, Fox and DT Swiss gear, including the stealthy DT Swiss F535 One fork.

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Current Singletrack Best Sellers

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Identiti AKA Frameset

• Price: £499.00
• From: ISON

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The Identiti AKA can be built with 27.5in wheels with a 140mm fork, or 29in wheels with a 120mm fork. Identiti have it pitched as an all-round fun, alloy hardtail that can be used for anything: expeditions, winter trail riding, dirt jumping, whatever you fancy.

EXT Storia V3

• Price: £950.00
• From: MOJO Rising

This is the shock you’ll get if you buy a Geometron, and if it’s good enough for Chris Porter we thought we’d better see if it’s good enough for us. He rates them for being extremely sensitive in the early part of the stroke, being progressive, and having some clever internal gubbins that helps prevent bottoming out even on lighter springs. This one has been specially prepared to suit our tester, who we suspect is a very lucky boy.

TSG Scope Helmet

• Price: £94.99
• From: ISON

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The TSG Scope is TSG’s flagship, but affordable, enduro/trail helmet. It features loads of big vents, space for action cams and trail lights, and room under the visor for your goggles if you like that sort of thing.

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Singletrack Merch Highlights

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Vaude AM Moab Mid STX Boots

• Price: £180.00
• From: Raleigh Bikes

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Hannah tested out an early edition of these but these Vaude Moab flat pedal boots have been substantially tweaked (there’s some tread on the mid-sole, for one thing!) and it’s Amanda that has cried hardest about having cold, wet feet and has bagged these for test. Promising flat pedal grippiness with wet weather protection, these sit in that huge gaping hole in the market for some proper winter flats.

Fox Head Ranger 2.5l Water Jacket, 3l Pants

• Price: £85.00 Jacket, £135.00 Pant
• From: Fox

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Ross is modelling this simple, hooded jacket for the winter months. It comes in black, grey or red. The Ranger 3L pants are “designed as a purpose built all weather trail riding pant” and is fully seam sealed against the weather with a flexible, waterproof material and a tapered fit. We don’t think ‘3L’ implies that it takes three litres of water to fill them, but we’re going to make Ross stand in the rain just in case.

BOA fi’zi:k Terra Artica X2 Boots

• Price: £280.00
• From: BOA

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More winter boots. This is the full-on winter boot of the three new X2 boots from fi’zi:k, with an insulated linking and waterproof eVent membrane for waterproofing. There’s a tall neoprene cuff, with a zip-closure and a BOA dial is there to get the fit just right. The sole is SPD compatible.

CushCore Gravel

• Price: £159.00
• From: ISON

These have turned up for grit.cx, but we wanted to give you a quick look first. Showing just how quickly the tyre-insert world has caught on, here is a set of CushCore tyre inserts for gravel and cyclocross bikes. Even if you feel that tubeless tyres have made a significant difference to (any) off-road riding, there’s no denying that tyre inserts let you get away with even more. We even know of one top-five Three Peaks rider who was running these this year – allowing them to drop 10PSI from their 35mm tyres without incident.

Fidlock Twist Bottle 450

• Price: £29.99
• From: ISON

This Twist-Bottle 450 uses Fidlock’s clever magnet-powered system (included) that allows bottles to push on and twist off easily, but not move until you need them to. And when the bottle’s not there, the mounts are unobtrusive enough to not interfere with bike carrying or frame bags.

Fumpa Pumps – Mini Fumpa

• Price: £109
• Fumpa!

Sounding like a character from Willy Wonka and looking like a cache battery or a vaping pipe, this is neither. It is a portable, battery powered bicycle pump. Yes, beneath the small exterior (65x65x35mm) there’s a rechargable battery and mini compressor. It weighs 190g and Fumpa reckons that it’ll do two road tyres to 120psi on one charge (within a minute). We’re off to try it on the mountain bike. And if you need more puff, there’s a bigger version, with built in digital gauge.

Staff Tunes

In a slight departure from the norm this week we are looking into the ever growing FGF playlists of some of our staffers. This week we have two playlists for your from Mark and Hannah.

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