Fresh Goods Friday 517: Autumn is here!

Fresh Goods

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This week has seen the temperature drop, almost overnight, which raises a few points. Have you got a good jacket? Are your socks warm enough? What’s your shoe drying regime? What is your ultimate post-ride comfort meal to warm you back up?

Whilst you figure all that out, I’m off to leave some carbohydrates and chocolate on Chipps’ doorstep because he appears to have turned into a French Fry in recent weeks – some of the clothing he’s modeling below is likely to be an excellent fit if you order the correct size, so please look past the bagginess. Time for some winter bulking!

Specialized Trail Series Wind Jacket

Yes, it appears that Specialized has re-invented the bright orange cagoule that we all had at school in the seventies. Only this time it’s a windprooof. There’s a smock style half zip and a thin windproof fabric (apart from where it has vent holes in…) School trips to the seaside, here we come!

Specialized 3XDry Shorts

These understated Specialized shorts are made with the amazing Scholler 3XDry fabric, which is a water resistant, four way stretch fabric that’s great for those splashy rides.

Specialized Trail Series Alpha Jacket

See how cosy Chipps looks! He’s wearing Specialized’s new winter jacket – which has a Polartec Alpha lining – this is a super warm fabric that breathes really and yet is super insulating. One for instant-warmth, whether for a mid-ride stop or a post-ride beer garden pint.

Giro Business pants

  • Price: N/A
  • From: Giro
  • Jess and Chipps have a gurn-off…

Need to jog to a business meeting? Need to do some lunges in the board room? These Giro Venture Pants aren’t currently available in the UK, but if there are enough sporty business types out there, they’ll surely have to bring them in. Right? Oh…

Giro Stow H2O Jacket

Quick, look epic!

This slim-fit, lightweight jacket is waterproof and packs up into itself, allowing you to hang it neatly from your handlebars ready for the next shower…

Giro Ambient Jacket

Looking at the summer, disappearing over the horizon.

This is jacket is a sign of the seasons changing. The Giro Ambient jacket is made of a three layer windproof material that’s also very water resistant. There’s a fleece inner layer too for extra warmth and a sewn-in hood that’s also helmet-compatible.

Giro Empire VR90 MTB Shoes

Wear these and you had better be good. There’s black too, for the modest.

It’s been a shoe kind of week here at Singletrack. These gorgeous metallic copper Empire shoes are Giro’s top end race shoes with the special, infinitely-adjustable tension system known as ‘laces’. These allow precise adjustment of tension around the foot to give a perfect fit. It’s a surprise they’re not used in other cycling shoes, to be honest. They’re probably patented, that’s why…

There’s a one piece ‘TEIJIN® Samo™’ upper (we have no idea…) which is perforated and did we mention it’s metallic copper? The sole is a super stiff Easton EC90 carbon sole with grippy Vibram tread. Gert lush!

Shimano SH-ME502 Shoes

Ooh, both sassy and yet black.

Subtly updated for 2021 (yes, yes, I know we’re still in the thick of 2020), the Shimano ME502 shoes are designed to offer a heady mix of pedalling efficiency, off bike grip and all day comfort. Featuring a BOA® L6 dial for fast and precise adjustment and a velcro strap for fine tuning the toe box fit, these are more trail oriented and slimmed down with less protection than the enduro racer focussed ME7. An aggressive outsole looks set to provide plenty of traction off the bike, and there’s a ‘Torbal’ midsole (whatever that might be).

Evoc Race Belt and Ride Packs

  • The essentials.
  • Ah, must be lunch time!
  • Chipps just received his lockdown badge from his scout leader
  • No UK details
  • You might want to loosen the strap…
  • Good contrast
  • Gooder contrast

Who doesn’t like a pack that shows you how to properly hail a helicopter rescue? Anyway, the new EVOC Ride 8 and Ride 16 packs are so new that we don’t have full details – suffice to say that they’re 8 and 16 litres respectively, and the hydration bladder is available separately. Both packs feature huge fully-zip open and lay flat internals. Great if you’re looking for that emergency flapjack/first aid kit that you left at the bottom of the pack.

Up top we have the Race Belt – which is a no-compromise enduro racing action belt. There’s _just_ enough room for a tool, a couple of CO2s plus an inflator, a key to your T5 and a tenner for the pub halfway round the Ard Rock. It’s super light and super minimal. That’s Chipps out then… he’s neither.

Endura MT500 Waterproof Jacket & Spray Trouser

  • Price: £229.99 Jacket, £114.99 Pants
  • From: Endura
  • Birkenstock SPDs coming to a penguin near you, soon
  • No idea.
  • If you look really close, Amanda is holding a Jessica

The MT500 range from Endura is well known for being a great defence against winter elements, so this waterproof outfit is ideal for Amanda to slop around the Calder Valley in. Both jacket and trouser have ventilation zips, there’s plenty of pockets, durable sections where you need them, stretchy bits where you need those, and many more features you can learn about in the full review, just as soon as winter arrives.

Fox Ranger 2.5L Waterproof Jacket & Shorts

  • Price: £90.00 jacket, £75.00 shorts
  • From: uk.Foxracing.com
  • You’re doing it wrong.
  • This logo placement is great for riding photos
  • What’s in that little parcel behind you?!

Fully sealed, lightweight and breathable material with a DWR finish to repel splashes, mud and crud, with a hood big enough to fit over most helmets. The jacket features two front pockets, first impressions are that it’s a really great cut. The shorts aren’t waterproof but do have a DWR finish for splashes.

Fox Defend Wind Jacket and Jersey

  • Price: £70.00 jacket, £55.00 jersey
  • From: uk.Foxracing.com
  • ‘Get a close up of the holes’ …
  • WIND
  • AUBERGINE

This super lightweight packable windproof jacket has the added bonus of a water resistant finish. With elasticated cuffs and hem, a close fit around the neck and a tailored fit, it should be a good barrier against a blustery day. Targeted cooling a sweat wicking make the jersey ideal for a day out, with the right layers to back it up if the weather turns.

Shimano RX8 Gravel Shoes

Aubergine!

These striking shoes are the latest gravel shoes from Shimano. Yes, you need special, different shoes for gravel riding now. Didn’t you know? These feature the same tried and tested uppers as seen on some of Shimano’s mountain bike shoes, but the sold is different. They’re super stiff (Rated a 10 on the scale that goes up to something like 13) so they’re as stiff as a road shoe, but they also have a decent rubber grip so that you can get off your bike, presumably for feed stops and that gravel race podium. And if you’re too shy to rock the green and purple camo lizard colour, don’t worry, they come in a far more muted black.

MUUL Tubeless Repair Gear

Small and light enough to stick on to bars or top tubes
Neater than the Tracy Moseley ‘bit of garden hose’ method too.
Look ma! No Velcro!

Here are a couple of clever bits and pieces from the MUUL line from Gone Biking Mad. The first is the Quickdraw kit, which is your standard tubeless repair fondue fork, but…. but! it has a clever little rubber home that it lives in, complete with a strong magnet in the end to keep it in place. It comes with a velcro strap to attach to handlebars or top tube so it’s always ready.

The other item is the Rapid CO2 kit – this features a rubbery mount that makes the most of CO2 canisters all being steel. More super-strong magnets live in the rubber mount, strong enough to hold the canister and nozzle in place without needing an extra strap. There is an extra strap provided though, not to hold the CO2 but to use the mount as the base for keeping your inner tube and levers in place on a downtube, while keeping the CO2 handy too. Clever!

Lazer Magneto 2 Eyewear

These Magneto glasses come with three interchangeable lenses and freakin’ magnets! It’s universally accepted that no one understands how magnets work, but that doesn’t mean we can’t use their magic to make our seeing good. These work by attaching a metal clip to your helmet straps and then three magnets in the arms of the glasses stick using the power of Grayskull, or something.

Dark, clear and amber lenses in the case plus some extra arms.

There are extra arms in the case so you can turn them into ordinary un-magic powered gigs and there’s self adhesive metallic tabs for full facers too.

If anyone can explain in the comments how magnets work in a simple single sentence that Chipps can understand then there’s a Nobel prize with your name on it.

Madison Zenith men’s shorts

Made of thick and stretchy fabric plus an all important waist adjustment velcro fastener. But the main feature is the abundance of zipped pockets, including a neat mobile phone pocket that puts your phone just to the back side of your right thigh, out of the way. Not just for tossers either.

Arm Art on Wishart

This is just too nice not to share. Oh, and there’s a close up of the mesh arms on the Fox Defend jersey!

Well that was a big one! I think we all need to wind down after such a weighty Fresh Goods Friday, so here’s something to chill you out:

Zzzzzz.

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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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