It’s the first week of a new year, and the only thing fresh in this office is the goods. That’s not due to hangovers, or struggling to get back in to the swing of normal life. No. It’s because Amanda emptied the waste toner tray of our printer into the office, creating a colourful yet suffocating cloud. Fun fact: toner is hydrophobic, so if you breath a load of it in, it remains dry INSIDE YOU.
Anyway, on a more positive note the sun is shining, there’s not much wind and the steady flow of exciting new products has begun for 2020. We have received a box (pictured below) that we’ll have to open for you next week, but in the meantime you can speculate about what might be in there:
Bell Super Air R
- Price: £274.95
- From: ZyroFisher
The Bell Super Air R MIPS is the latest removable chinguard. 22% lighter than before, featuring Flex Spherical MIPS (where a whole inner helmet is free to rotate, rather than just a yellow plastic skullcap). The chinbar clips on with one fastener per side, meaning that it’s speedy to take on and off at the top (and bottom) of the local downhill runs.
Gradient Overland LS Shirt
- Price: £95.00
- From: Morvelo
Overland is the new bikepacking, off-road sub-brand of Morvelo. This shirt is made from a windproof, water repellent, four-way stretch, breathable, quick drying material with chest pockets, two side pockets and reflective details. It also makes Charlie look less like a bum skater and more like a biker, which is progress.
Giro Ventana Fastlace Shoes
- Price: £129.99
- From: ZyroFisher
Could these new Giro shoes be the natural successor to the popular Terraduro shoe, beloved by enduroists everywhere? These shoes are ‘born and bred to navigate the demands of all-mountain adventures and all-day trail riding’
There’s a fancier BOA version too, but we like these ones for their speedlace and Velcro simplicity. There are also no actual vent holes (though there are vented panels) so they should be OK at shedding some spray and the seamless construction should mean that there isn’t any stitching to dig in or come apart.
Giro Stow Jacket and Havoc Pants
Here’s a bit of tween season clothing from Giro. The Stow H2O jacket is a taped seam windproof and waterproof jacket that’s cut big enough to go over layers and made of a nice fabric that doesn’t rustle as you ride. Good for some casual hanging out, as demoed by Chipps here.
The Havoc Pants are DWR coated softshell material for riding in cooler temps. With a four way stretch, they’re comfy on and off the bike. Chipps here is wearing a size 32, which he reckons he’s not been since he was a bike messenger in the eighties, so size carefully. There’s plenty of Velcro adjustment, though, and belt loops for when the new, fit you appears.
Giro Xnetic Trail gloves
- Price: £34.99
- From: ZyroFisher
Ignoring the crazy person wearing them, these are lightweight, cuffless summer trail gloves. They’re knit backed too, so there are no seams there.
Giro Xnetic H2O Gloves
- Price: £tba
- From: ZyroFisher
So new, they’re not even listed yet, the Xnetic H2O gloves are waterproof, but knitted too. So you can have that old school feel and look of wooly gloves, but without the wind whistling through the knit. They have a seamless membrane and clever phone-compatible thumb and fingertips.
Spank Split 35 Stem
- Price: £79.99
- From: Hotlines UK
To pair nicely with her Spank Oozy 35 bars, Amanda has a neat new stem. 35mm in length, black, and ‘highly weight optimised’ which can go towards compensating for the weight of the big steel 29er it will be steering.
A Time of Birds
- Price: £9.99
- From: All good bookshops (after 9th April launch date) / Saraband
It’s only just come through the door, so we haven’t read it, but the blurb says ‘Finding herself at a crossroads and in need of a change from her job and domestic responsibilities, Helen Moat set herself the challenge of a lifetime: she got on her bike and embarked on an epic cycle ride across Europe, all the way to Istanbul, accompanied by her eighteen-year-old son. They followed the great rivers to the edge of Asia, meeting along the way a beguiling cast of characters and a series of astonishing sights, providing ample time for reflection. Crossing a continent shaped by war and peace, peoples divided and reunited, Helen reflects on her own upbringing during Northern Ireland’s Troubles. And the birds she spots along the way invoke the spirit of her father, his love of birds and the legacy of his religion and occasional melancholy. Helen’s life-affirming journey proves to be both literal and metaphorical – and a celebration of humanity and all its quirky individualism.’
That’s your lot today. Be sure to do the Christmas Quiz – there’s even a prize of a discount code for our shop if you do it!
Too lazy busy to do the quiz? We’ve got a discount code for bobble hats in our shop. Use ‘bobble20’ to get 20% off the usual price – so if you’re a subscriber, that 20% comes off your already specially discounted subscriber’s price. Bargain!
To round things off, we need some tunes. Hannah has been seeking out simple guitar riffs and chords since Grandpa bought her kids a job lot of four electric guitars for Christmas… and two amps. Maybe this isn’t an appropriate number for a nine and 11 year old?
Late Breaking News!
What the what is going on here?
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Chipps having his long awaited 12 speed ring installed.
13 speed! 🙂
Good forehead vein going on there…
Tuttut Morvelo, £95 !?
I mean i know your kit is fairly good but jeeeeeze!
Migraine sufferer?
RoboCop’s back
Ear hair removal
Dunno if Hagrid looks right in a plaid shirt…
Chipps = Trailer park boys?