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It’s a grey old world out there right now, but this week’s mailbox has brought us a shower of colour. Which got our thoughts turning to our walls. Did you paint yours at the start of Lockdown Mk1? A nice tasteful shade of linen mist, or cotton breath, or white-but-not-quite? Are you now eying them up with the view of one who is a little bored and thinking that life should be more interesting, colourful and daring?
Maybe it’s time to swap out that tasteful shade of chalk breeze to something a little more live-a-little? How about fizzy orange, or celeste? A feature wall in enduro lime, a skirting board in Paul purple?
OK, maybe don’t take interior style advice from us, but we invite you this weekend to find a way to make life a little less boring and add colour to your world – even if it’s only the red glow of cheeks in the fresh air.
Patrol 691 Evo
- Price: $4699 USD
- From: Patrolmountain
Patrol Mountain sent over this 691 Evo enduro bike along with their affordable carbon hardtail last week, but we thought we should keep this burgundy beauty a surprise. The Evo shares its suspension with the previous 691, but has had geometry updates to make it lower and longer. The BB drop has now increased and the reach numbers have lengthened slightly and at the same time, the standover has been reduced.
The 691 Evo comes in one build named the ‘S’ spec and as you can see it’s decked out in some premium gear. The fork is a 160mm travel Fox 38 Factory with Kashima coating. The rear shock a Fox X2 and the drivetrain is full Shimano XT, including the Superboost rear hub. Patrol’s main market is Indonesia but the bikes are available in the U.S, Norway, Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore. Speaking with the Patrol team it looks like the UK could be their next stop.
We’re going with a psychedelic funk theme for the tunes this week. First up Russian jazz funk type stuff!
Polar Grit X Watch
- Price: £379
- From: Polar
This watch does waaaaay more than tell you the time or count your steps. Designed specifically for outdoor sports, it’s made to balance durability and weight while packing in features. As well as on board tools like heart rate monitoring, altimeter, GPS and compass, you can expand its capabilities even further by connecting it to the Polar Flow training app, or Komoot. It’ll give you directions, tell you when you need to eat, and let you know if you’re getting enough sleep. You can also use it to track progress towards a a training goal and there’s even a fitness test option. Having had the watch class her fitness as ‘good’, Hannah will be using it to calculate her daily cake allowance.
Ragely Bigwig
- Price: £1999.99
- From: Hotlines
The 2021 Ragley Bigwig is in for an upcoming hardtail shootout. This steel framed 29er boasts a triple butted 4130 steel frame with a 140mm travel Revelation fork. The Bigwig’s slender steel tubes and low-standover give it a purposeful look and we can’t wait to get it out on the trails over the coming weeks. It’s a way too tasteful grey, so we’ve livened it up with purple pedals – but check out the rest of the Ragley range for some nice varied colour options.
A bit of Arabic jazz funk now. Where are my velvet flares?
Lockdown Hair
- Price: £10ish
- From: Manic Panic
If quarantine hotels are happening, we strongly suggest that the delivery of hair dye to rooms is banned. Bored people do things like dye their hair blue. And their hands, and their bath, and their towels, and their pillow cases.
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Vee Tire Attack HPL
- Price: $65.00 – $70.00
- From: Veetireco
Earlier this week Vee Tire launched the Attack HPL tyre. The new rubber is aimed at aggressive riders with a tread pattern and rubber compound that is suited to most conditions and trail types. The HPL is available in either 29 or 27.5in variants with an Enduro Core or Gravity Core construction. The rubber compound is Vee Tire’s Top 40 rubber which we have already tested and been impressed by on the WCE tyre. And has had a pair of HPL on his Izzo for a month or so already and is about to mount this pair to another bike, so keep your eyes peeled for a full review soon.
Before the internet, there was Andy Kershaw’s world music radio show (he now lives in Todmorden, fact fans). Now we can discover interesting tunes at the click of a track pad.
Inventor’s Gin
- Price: £38 or so
- From: inventorsgin.com
More booze? But wait, there’s a totally mountain biking (and gravel bike) connection here. Inventor’s Gin is made by the Lockharts in Ardrossan – the ferry port that leads to the Isle of Arran, (host of previous Grinduro events for a start) but there’s more. Inventor’s Gin is, as far as we know, the ONLY gin in the entire world that is co-distilled by a UCI Cycling Commissaire. You may well have had Andrea checking your bar end plugs at the start of a race, without realising that you were in the company of Scottish Gin royalty. Or something like that. Anyway, Chipps has sampled it and he disappeared with the bottle, muttering something about ‘Just you wait until Gin Martini Friday…’ – In fact, has anyone seen him?
Specialized Recon 2.0 Shoes
- Price: £165
- From: Specialized
Wow, these are some bright shoes! The Specialized Recon 2.0 shoes are an all-round performance trail shoe for clip-in pedals. They feature a stiff sole that then magically transitions to flexible at the toes for extra grip for those steep ‘I’ll walk back up there and have another go’ kind of moves, as well as regular hike-a-bike stuff up mountains in the Lakes. For a Californian-designed shoe, they’re VERY knobbly too, which gives them great grip in mud and general wet, British landscapes. And they’re bright – like Dyno-Rod van bright orange. If you can’t do them justice, there’s a full black version too.
May your weekend be bright, your loungewear flamboyant, and your evening drinks vibrant.
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How big does a watch need to become before it is a wristclock?
(Or does Hannah have very slender wrists?)
I have weeny wrists. 16cm circumference. I haven’t worn a watch in years and so far this Polar isn’t feeling weird – it’s light despite the size.
Err, I think Grinduro was on Arran. But if you’ve been on the gin I’ll let you off. Cheers for a fine, fresh goods Friday.
Fixed! Sorry about that. I knew the right answer because I’ve raced there! It’s the Santa Claus Cyclocross World Championships on Mull 🙂 Everyone knows that!
Is it me or does £2k for a steel framed hardtail sound like a lot of money?
Someone needs to screw that rear valve nut down against the rim on that purple Patrol.
Which bikes are in the “upcoming hardtail shootout” ?
Manic Panic… Hell yeah 😀
Same colour on my mop during Rammstein gig in Milton Keynes in July 2019.
Good memories…
Cheers!
I.
That Ragley is nice. I’d have that over the Patrol any day. Any chance of a members’ discount on the gin? 🙂
Even Polar are jumping on the Gravel / Grit bandwagon!
Looks very similar to my Polar Vantage. The sleep stats stuff is addictive….
Is Ragely for bad tempered riders?
“Is it me or does £2k for a steel framed hardtail sound like a lot of money?” It is with that spec. Nice backdrop on the Patrol pics.
On the Gin Bothy but that Inventors looks tasty!
Footflaps- the GritX is essentially the metal cased version of the Vantage V. (Bit like Garmin’s fenix 5 is a metal Forerunner 935. Except being Polar it doesn’t fail like a Garmin).
(Another Vantage M user here)
I say this every time there’s a Ragley full build, but, how is it so expensive? The price and parts list just doesn’t add up
Cracking music choices this week folks!
That Motherwell FC Patrol isn’t a looker, Transition have, up until this, had awesome looking bikes recently!
Is Ragely a new bike maker? 🙂