There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
The countdown to (a bit more) freedom is on. We might (possibly maybe) soon be able to meet a few friends outside, or head to the pub after a ride, or travel to our favourite trail centre. Possibly, maybe, hopefully, if all goes well and we keep washing our hands and not breathing on each other. With all that in mind, it might only be February but it’s probably a good idea to check out your camping gear now. Have the mice eaten your tent during winter? Do you need a gas refill for your camping stove? Have you lost the bits for your bike rack since the last time you used it?
Yes, it’s only February, but before you know it you’ll actually be needing this stuff and so will everyone else – and what’s the bet supplies get low? Stock up on tent pegs and fly-sheet waterproofing fluid now. You’ll thank us later. And of course, should everything go very very badly, these items will be quite useful post-societal breakdown. Are we allowed to make post-apocalyptic jokes these days or is it all Too Soon?
Let us move swiftly on, to Fresh Goods Friday 538…
Singletrack 426er Not Grumpy Mug
- Price: £12.99 (members get a discount)
- From: Singletrack’s Parlour Of Portly Pottery
Charlie says… A fresh crate of our revolutionary 426er mugs are due to arrive at Singletrack Towers next month. These fine mugs are the 29plus equivalent of the mug world, packing a whopping 426ml of caffeine potential. You really can ride faster and harder (and stop for more wees) with these mugs. Are you still using a Betamax 313ml mug? Well, I guess you are also still using 26” wheels, and a Flexstem. Step in to the future and wrap your lips around the biggest thing in the supping world. It tastes like victory. Get your order in now.
Gong at The Trades Club Tickets
- Price: £20, but sold out.
- Where: Trades Club Hebden Bridge
While we are on the subject of supping drinks and indulgences… The tickets I purchased in 2019 for a Trades Club gig that was postponed have now resurfaced, with a Spring 2022 date. That gives me a whole year to polish my love projector. A Gong gig is a remarkable and unforgettable event at a normal venue, in a normal town. I have high expectations for Gong at Hebden Bridge. All the canal dwelling mushroom bothering folk will magically appear out of the reeds in an unusual and aromatic wave of tie dye, curious hats and gentle anarchy.
Wolf Tooth 8-Bit Pack Pliers
- Price: £76
- From: Saddleback
17 functions in one tool and 9 colour options – overwhelming or almost everything you need to hand? Magnets stop all the little bits from falling out on the trail, and also keep the pliers closed in your pack. We’ve seen these before but as they’re back in stock after selling out last time, Saddleback has sent us another.
- Master link and valve stem lock nut pliers
- Master link storage
- Valve cleaner
- Spoke wrench
- Valve core wrench
- T10 and T25 Torx bits
- Flat head 3.5 and Phillips 2 screwdriver
- Hex 2, 2.5, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 8mm bits
Camelbak Women’s M.U.L.E Pro 14
- Price: £140
- From: Camelbak
This old favourite pack gets an update this year with the new ‘Air Support Pro’ back panel. This is designed to be mapped to your body for comfort and support while keeping you cool – and being a women’s one this is mapped to a more typical female shape, with s-shaped straps. It’s very meshy – lots of mesh straps to keep things feeling light weight and airy. The main front pocket is a half opening style zipper with internal smaller pockets. If you want to add a separate back protector, it’s compatible with Camelbak’s Impact Protector.
Camelbak Chase Protector Vest 8L
- Price: £136
- From: Camelbak
Hip packs might be all the rage but they don’t offer you back protection, and some races require you wear one. If you’re packing light and enduro stylee but still want to protect your spine, this Chase Vest offers space for just 6 litres of luggage and 2 of water and comes fitted with CE level 2 back protection. There’s a decent sized pocket on the vest straps for your phone or even a small tool pouch, plus stretchy pockets for on the go snacks and litter.
Fovno Phantom CNC DUB Chainset
- From: Yi Wu Feng Dong
- Price: TBC
Fovno is the brand name from component maker Yi Wu Feng Dong from China who produces a really varied array of components, parts and accessories. This is their Phantom chainset, and Fovno has sent the latest DUB compatible version featuring 6061 T6 CNC arms and a 7075 T6 axle. The arms are completely CNC machined for stiffness and to reduce weight and can either use a direct mount chainring or a spider for standard BCD 104 rings. Each chainset comes with a BB, threaded in this case, and all the bolts and washers are included are high-quality metal items. Fovno is currently looking for distributors in the UK, but customers can pick up their products via Aliexpress and they’re much cheaper than you might expect.
Fovno Ghost Forged Chainset
- From: Yi Wu Feng Dong
- Price: TBC
This is Fovno’s more affordable forged chainset. This version uses a 24mm axle and like the CNC Phantom version can be used with either a spider or direct mount rings. Fovno claims the weight of the Ghost to be just 558g for a 175mm version.
Dekas Alloy Chainrings
- From: Yi Wu Feng Dong
- Price: TBC
We’ve also received this collection of anodised chainrings from Fovno. Each one is a 104 BCD pattern and uses a narrow/wide tooth interface for keeping your chain in place on rough terrain. As you can see the rings are available in a host of colours to match your custom build, and there are plenty of sizes to choose from too.
Fovno alloy spider
- From: Yi Wu Feng Dong
- Price: TBC
To use the above rings with the Fovno Phantom or Ghost chainsets you’ll need one of these spiders. The alloy spider fits to the arm via 3 alloy bolts and can be easily removed if you chose to run a direct mount item in the future.
Peatys x Fidlock Bottle and Coffee
- From: Peatys
- Price: Water bottle £31.99, Coffee £7.50
Combining two of Andi’s favourite things in life, magnets and coffee. Peatys has sent over a small care package of bits and bobs to keep us hydrated. The Fidlock system uses a magnet to keep the bottle attached to your frame rather than a conventional cage. The coffee, well you add hot water and drink it, usually at the start of each day.
Rapha Explore Glasses
- Price: £130
- From: Rapha
Offroad riding glasses with a removable strap to keep them secure on your face or hung around the neck. Two-point snap lock hinges make the glasses easier to put on and remove and the arm grippers are made of something called Megol to keep them in place, even in wet (sweaty?) conditions. The interchangeable nose piece is also made of Megol and comes in two sizes for an adjustable fit. The lenses are vented, hydrophobic and have an anti-scratch layer with a military-grade anti-fogging treatment.
Rapha All Day Leggings
- Price: £80
- From: Rapha
These are newly launched this week, leggings for wearing all day – or for a whole range of activities. You can shop in them, run in them, ride in them or just do jigsaw puzzles on your sofa in them. Made with recycled nylon and with fewer seams for greater comfort, there’s a large and useful pocket on your thigh so you have somewhere to put your phone. OMG, you could go to a rave in them and still be able to dance without worrying about a heavy phone brick limiting your bigger moves…
Galactic Hair
- Price: Dignity
- From: Midlifecrisisville
The front looks better than the back, but Hannah has ‘solved’ her lockdown hair issues with this galactic hair. Those aren’t grey hairs you see glinting, they’re stars. What date it is we can see hairdressers again? For their sake we hope psychotherapists are allowed to open the the same time.
Related stories
WTB Raddler 700c x 40mm Tyres
- Price: £45
- From: WTB
You’ve got to love the product-name-fairies at WTB. The Raddler gravel/cyclocross tyre is a radder version of the Riddler tyre. Geddit? It’s like a pun and, oh forget it… Anyway, these came in as a mere distraction from the product at hand, which is the new WTB CZR rims. Read on!
WTB CZR Rim (on a wheel, of course)
- Price: £499 a rim
- From: WTB
Before you turn away in disgust at a ‘gravel’ product gracing the pages of Singletrackworld, know first that the new WTB CZR carbon rims come in an i23 (mm internal) size and 24 or 28 drilling for gravelleurs (340g) and i30 (mm internal) by 28 or 32H drilling for those 29ers out there (475g). The carbon rims feature reinforced spoke holes and an asymmetric rim shape. While they’re not cheap (what carbon rims are?) they do some with WTB’s ‘Ride with confidence’ guarantee:
- While-Riding Policy: Original owner receives a free rim replacement if their CZR rim breaks while riding. Regardless of line choice!
- Non-Riding Policy: Original owner receives 50% off replacement rim MSRP if their CZR rim breaks while not riding. This includes during transport or storage.
Chipps has promised to pick his usual ‘why did he ride there?’ line choices to give them a try out.
Frome Brewing Company Beer
- Price: Normal beer prices
- From: Frome Brewing Company
This is (almost) all that’s left from a mixed case of 24 cans (currently £48) that Chipps impulse-bought recently. The brewery is on the same trading estate that the famous Charge Bikes used to inhabit (and which now houses the shadowy world of Cannondale’s design department. It’s also where Chipps used to spend many a youthful new year, being a Somerset boy and all. Oh, and it’s ‘frooome’ and not ‘fr-ohm’ OK?
Invisiframe Frame Protection
- Price: £79
- From: Invisiframe
Someone’s got a shiny new Yeti and has decided to give it some protection from knocks and scuffs and the like. Invisiframe has literally thousands of computer-cut frame protection kits that all fit absolutely precisely and (if you’re good at it) invisibly. With practice, you can do a whole frame in less than a couple of hours. It took Chipps six… but hey, he’s not used to having to be careful and precise…
This week’s internet stumble is VeryHandsomeBilly. He also does some kind of live stream thing on something called TwitchTV which is making us all feel very old. We’re off to find young people to try and figure out what’s going on.
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“polish my love projector”
Erm…
Really interesting that you are now being sent what some may see as ‘cheap chinese stuff’ directly from the manufacturer (ie presume?). Very interested to read what you have to say on these as I’m looking for a budget crank that takes a direct mount chainring!
Good effort on the hair @stwhannah.
I’m looking more professor Heinz-Wolfe, debating if I should go full bald…
So will any of the original members of Gong turn up? Most of the key ones are dead but I suppose Steve Hillage and Didier may come out to play. Seems a strange choice for a tribute act but I’d love to go as a massive fan from the early days.
Will we see a Singletrack (flying) teapot to go with the coffee mugs?
Remarkably well priced leggings from Rapha but they appear to be women only? (not sure if even the biggest sizes would fit my rather large legs and posterior!)
Price: Dignity
From: Midlifecrisisville
LOL
so many possibilities
I quite like the look of the pliers. They seem to be a really neat solution to more in-depth problems you could have on the trail. Or in a shed
Gong!!!!!! That’s a blast from the very distant past. Had no idea they were still around!
Actually the Trades is probably the perfect venue for them.
Rapha on Singletrack. Ugh.
Ms Sandwich trusted me with the clippers last week to do sides and back at no.2. Surprisingly successful given that I usually do my barnet with an all over no.4. Suffice to say that I’m not going to diversify into hair-cuts after it’s all back to new normal.
I had a set of those cranks, albeit slightly different. They had the arms of the DUB ones, were called Z-Race Hardrock, but had the 24mm alu axle.
Quite nicely finished, cost me about £70 with a BB and chainring. SRAM mount chainrings fitted no problem. They were light enough and pretty stiff.
However, the bolts are soft and I wasn’t 100% on the wavy interface either. after a couple of fittings on different bikes the mounting bolt was a bit baggy. it was clear that the bolt wasn’t designed with torquing up onto a wavy taper. As a self extractor it worked fine though. for attaching the crank I used to swap it out to a steel ISIS sized bolt.
I think the multiple bikes I fitted them to took it’s toll and they started to creak a bit and I think had migrated all the way up the quite short, wavy taper.
So look nice, but wouldn’t expect them to last many BB changes.
found them…
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ZRACE-HARDROCK-MTB-Crank-10-11-12-Speed-Crankset-Eagle-Tooth-Sram-Crank-170-175-/312748205403
Gong. Love it. ✨
Got Dekas NW chainring on my WeirdCat. So far probably 6 or 8 rides old. So far, so good. Matched with Sunrace 12speed chain and cassette.
426ml mug is at least 2x too small for me.
Please let me know when you will have 852ml mugs available. Will be buying them in truckloads as I’m habitual mugs smasher xD
Cheers!
I.
Those chinese deckas rings are £8 on Ebay, no import fees under £15 value (well it was pre brexit, not sure now). I guess the TBC price depends on how much a UK distributor decides to take the proverbial.
” I guess the TBC price depends on how much a UK distributor decides to take the proverbial.”
or, “sustainable margin”.
Waiting on a Rapha changing robe to go with those leggings
Any comments about the Frome beer? I’ve been tempted by the same impulse.
Won one of those mugs last year and it’s been a game changer, I can’t remember the last time I actually used a wine glass.