Fresh Goods Friday 518 | The Great British Doorstep Disco Edition

Fresh Goods

by and 24

Hurrah! It’s Friday! Go wild, do your hair, get your glad rags on and… erm… sit on the sofa with a takeaway? Humph. What this world needs right now is dancing. How about a nationwide silent disco street party? Saturday night, headphones on so as not to disturb the kids, tune in to the Dance For The Hell Of It National Doorstep Rave broadcast, and shake your thing. Socially distanced, not going out, collective raving. House music for the COVID generation. OK, the Acid House Rave can be Friday night and Saturday for the Disco fans if you like – it takes a good couple of days to recover from a proper Rave. And how about Metal Monday – a short thrash metal moshing opportunity? Tea Dance Tuesday for the oldies and hipster jive fans. World Music Wednesday.

Hell, this is almost starting to sound like a good idea. Onwards, dance your way through Fresh Goods Friday 518.

Deviate Highlander Frame

  • Price: £2,599 frame and shock
  • From: Deviate
  • Full carbon frame and rear triangle
  • High pivot means an idler gear is needed to eliminate pedal kickback
  • Just look at it. Isn’t it gorgeous!
  • Deviate Highlander. 140/150mm, high pivot 29er trail bike

Ooh, it’s rather pretty. A 140mm travel (140-160mm fork), full carbon, high pivot 29er trail bike. Except, we have a custom linkage which will make it a 150mm rear travel bike. Or, it will be once it gets built up ready for a thrashing down the Lake District’s finest rocky tech (and no doubt carried up plenty of the Lake District’s least pleasant walks. Do not commit to riding with James Vincent, he loves bike carrying). We recommend not touching this bike if you do happen to see James – we’re pretty sure he’s been drooling all over it ever since it arrived.

TRP Slate T4 Evo brakes

  • Price: £105 (brakes, per end), £20 (pads, per end), £45 (180mm rotor), £55 (203mm rotor)
  • From: Upgrade

Here’s the first piece of the Deviate build: 4-pot brakes from TRP. These Slate T4 Evos feature lever blades designed for better grip and feel with one finger braking, as developed with Aaron Gwinn for the DHR Evo brakes. The hoses have a smaller diameter than usual, for a stiffer brake hose for better hydraulic pressure and increased thermal stability. If that sounds a bit Star Trek, the slender cables should also make for easier for internal routing. There’s a video about the brakes’ development here.

As well as the new features of new resin compound High Performance brake pads, and a new lower viscosity mineral oil formula, you also get the tool free reach adjust and hinged lever clamp for simple installation and removal from bars. James will be running these with 203 front, 180 rear, 2.3mm thick, 2 piece 6 bolt rotors.

Come on, keep dancing!

Thomson bar and stem

  • Price: £170 (bar), £105 (stem)
  • From: Upgrade

While he’s death gripping his way down the mountains, James will be picking his lines using this bar and stem combo. 800mm wide carbon bars, 20mm rise, 9° backsweep, 5° upsweep, with a Thomson X4 stem: 0° rise, 32mm long, 35mm clamp – plus, apparently, knee friendly shape. Now we’re thinking about knee/stem interfaces, we can’t stop wincing.

Ergon GFR1 Grips

Gravity grips made to the specifications of Tahnée Seagrave. So James, we’ll be wanting to see some airtime. The specification promises that the grips ‘provides an extremely high level of damping through the ribbed section under the palm’. Good grief.

Ergon GE1 Evo Grips

With more of a tapered shape, plus a different ‘tread’ pattern, these are still gravity focussed. Will our Mr Lake District prefer the textured taper of these, or will the rubber ribs please his palms more?

Ergon SM Enduro Comp Saddle

Between the carrying up and the standing to head down, we’re not sure Mr Vincent gets much use from a saddle, but this one should do the trick as it’s been developed in conjunction with Fab Barel, Richie Rude, Cody Kelly, Joe Barnes, Remy Metailler to name but a few. The specification blurb promises that the narrow and short V-shape will ensure freedom of movement and easy position shifting, with enhanced steering input and control to the bike through the inside of your thighs.

Showers Pass Elements Jacket

The latest jacket from Showers Pass features fully seam-taped seams, 2.5-layer waterproof-breathable fabric, which really does feel light and stretchy as a first impression. It claims to offer a far drier next-to-skin feel – music to our ears! Available in men’s and women’s cut, in a selection of colours made with eco-friendly dyes. We’ve got this in to test just in time for the sky to fall down in Todmorden. Charlie has done a deal with Showers Pass so Singletrack members get 20% off at Showers Pass. Head over to the members area for this discount code, and many more.

Never mind the sky falling down, put your arms in the air!

Restrap Canister Bag

  • Decent zip pull
  • Spongy things
Contains a burrito

The Restrap Canister bag is made from cordura fabric and has two external pouches, a 1.5 litre interior, easy to grab zip pull, a hook for a light and a weatherproof zip. We have modelled it on an 80 litre cargo bike because, well, we needed 81.5 litres of storage, but it’s a great option for a gravel or XC ride.

Restrap Tech Bag

  • Secure fit…
  • … with an extra strap to stop flapping
  • Contains a PB sandwich
  • This is facing the wrong way! Poor photography skills

The tech bag is completely waterproof, stays still on rocky Calderdale descents, and holds a surprising amount of things. It has been fitted the wrong way around in the photo, but in use you simply pop the elastic up to access your peanut butter sandwich.

Rehook

  • How do we feel about the leverage here?
  • Here are some tiny tools
  • There was simply no room in the cargo bike, we’re so glad this tool attached to the frame.

The Rehook tool is designed to let you put your chain back on your bike without getting all oily and dirty. This latest Rehook Plus brings with it the benefit of tyre levers, wrenches, spoke keys, screwdriver and hex heads, all packaged up a bundle you can strap to your bike.

Not sure what shapes to throw? Follow the video!

Stormstatic Broken Summer 2020

Sage green wall, navy table, great artwork. Good choices.

Graeme Stewart (our issue 131 cover illustrator) has a great selection of prints, stickers and original artwork in his web store. Please check them out, he is extremely talented and don’t we all owe him one for spending countless hours in the Singletrack Forum to create the perfect cover? Yes. Yes we do.

Ginger Ale Clif Bloks

“No CLYDE. It’s ginger flavour. You’re not ginger, I am.”

For big rides out, these are a tasty treat that’s easy to stash in your bag. Although, from experience, we don’t recommend trying to guzzle them down in the middle of a hilly road time trial while battling a headwind. But then, you probably wouldn’t be stupid enough to be doing a hilly road time trial in the first place.

  • Clyde that is MY HUMAN
  • Oh I will end you, Clyde…
  • Yeah, that’s right, sod off.

That’s your lot! Keep shaking your stuff, washing your hands, and wearing that mask. They were fashionable once before you know. Now then. Warmed up? Imagine a nation all dancing to this at the same time.

FGF 518 Playlist

Author Profile Picture
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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