Just received an email from my employer that due to the recent NMW increase my salary sacrifice benefits (car, c2w and pension) take me below the NMW so they are…
While we won’t argue with anyone at all that it’s high time for spring – after all, the flowers are popping and the winter was soooo long and soooo cold, but we’re not quite ready for spring time yet just because we’re still finishing off the new (and special 20th anniversary!) issue of Singletrack Magazine. There’s nothing worse than the irony of designing and proofreading a magazine about bicycles while a blue sky day comes and goes on the other side of the window. So, if you don’t mind, hold spring until – ooh, next week – and we’ll come round to your house and collect it… OK?
And to anyone doing some kind of accountancy year-end nonsense about now, you have our sympathies and can we recommend Bernard’s accountant, Nick?
And now, it’s time to look at the few but fine things appearing in this week’s Fresh Goods Friday!
Sunn French Connexion Racing By Alpe D’Huez Team
- Price: Priceless
- From: French Connexion Racing
Andi is currently on a secret mission/midlife crisis and is currently out in Spain wrenching for the Sunn French Connexion Racing team. Andi has been a fan of Sunn since the Radical so when he was invited to join them as their head mechanic for the EWS season he jumped at the chance. So far he is enjoying it although it is stressful looking after 5 new kids. The FCR is made up of French National Champion Theo Galy, young guns Guillaume Larbeyou and Louis Jeandel, plus E-EWS riders Lucas Frigout and Quentin Arnaud.
Sunn Kern Finest EN
- Price: TBC
- From: Sunn
The very frame that Theo Galy raced to the overall French National Title in 2020! Ok not this actual frame but it’s the same model and it’s the same size. The Kern EN is Sunn’s flagship enduro frameset and features a unique hidden shock and link design. Apparently it’s a fast and stiff frame that feels link a mini downhill bike, though Andi hasn’t had a chance to ride his yet.
Formula Mod Rear Shock
- Price: TBC
- From: Formula
The Formula Mod coil shock showed up on a factory Orange last year but has since launched to the public. The coil features the usual adjustments such as compression and rebound but it has the added benefit of using Formula’s CTS system that enable the damping circuit to be removed and replaced in just a few minutes.
Formula Selva S Fork
- Price: TBC
- From: Formula
This ultra-violet fork is the same model that the Sunn French Connexion racing team will use this season. The Selva S is the air sprung version of the burly enduro fork and is available in travel up to 170mm. Like the coil shock the Selva’s damping can be custom tuned via a CTS replacement.
FSA Gradient Carbon Wheelset
- Price: TBC
- From: FSA
Wide carbon hoops for enduro racers and aggressive riders. This wheelset is the 29in version of the wheel boasting a deep ‘V’ profile carbon rim laced on to FSA’s own hubs. The stealth black decals are optional as FSA ships the wheelset with alternative colour decals allowing you to customise them to suit your build.
FSA Team Oil Slick Stem
- Price: TBC
- From: FSA
Who doesn’t love oil slick? This FSA stem is available in either 32 or 40mm length options for 35mm diameter bars only and it looks… slick!
Monkey’s Sauce lubes
- Price: TBC
- From: Monkey’s Sauce
These are so new that they were hand-delivered to Andi by The Brigade downhill rider Alex Marin. The new range of Monkey’s Sauce lubes cover pretty much all riding conditions with dry, ultimate dry, all-weather and ceramic lubes. Obviously, we’re not going to need the ultra-dry option much in the UK but the all-weather variant sounds like a good bet.
DT Swiss F232 Forks and R232 Dropper
- Price: £924 forks, £475 dropper
- From: Freewheel
We got our Dean (who’s just become a dad, congrats mate!) to go to a disused German mine in the middle of winter to see these forks last year and now we can see them in the flesh, in the actual daylight. The F232 fork is basically DT Swiss’s Olympic level cross country fork – coming in, as it should have been an Olympic year last year. It’s a pared down, no-nonsense 100/110/120mm XC fork (look at that neat machining on the lowers!) and there’s a matching ‘just enough’ XC-specific dropper post too. The R232 Dropper features 60mm drop (just enough, what did we say?) that works in reverse – in that the head of the post is mounted to the ‘slider’ while the ‘stanchion’ of the system stays fixed in the bike. It’s a light way of doing things and the ‘up or down’ arrangement and coil spring means that it’s simple. Even if it’s not cheap at £475. These’ll be going to one of our tame endurance racers for some uncouth and merciless testing.
Fat Tire Flyer Magazines
- Price: £12.99
- From: Singletrack World Of Antiques
Why the long face?
Charlie says… Great Scott! We are putting some miles on the Company Delorean this month. We recently went back to 80s again and liberated some copies of the first ever mountain bike magazine: Fat Tire Flyer. Charlie Kelly has held on to these for around 40 years, stashed in his garage, having to climb over them every time he needs his power drill. He told me he didn’t know what to do with them, and they were getting in the way, and that they might even get thrown away! “Woah, hold on Charlie, I know who will want to see these”. This is where mountain bike media started. Think of Fat Tire Flyer as Singletrack’s grandfather… “it was never like this in my day”. Having said that within these pages you will find Nike mountain bike shoes and even rear suspension! We have 11 different issues of the magazine, but only a handful of each copy. Hannah chatted with Charlie when he came to Singletrack Towers, you can watch that here.
Kingud Bike Care Products
- Price: Various
- From: Paligap
Kingud was founded in 2013 in the heart of the Snowdonia National Park and produces a range of bike cleaning and protection products to cover everything from pre-ride prep, to post ride polishing, and helmet care. All products in the range are fully biodegradable and come in either recyclable or reusable packaging, and are dispatched in recycled or reclaimed packing. Kingud further promote this by selling refills for a lot of the products as well as providing local bike shops with dedicated bike wash refill stations. The good folk over at Plaigap – the UK distributor – have sent us the following products to keep our bikes clean and running sweet:
- Kingud Bottle For Life – £10.99
- Kingud PH Neutral Shampoo Cleaner 1ltr – £14.99
- Kingud Detailer 250ml – £8.99
- Kingud Citrus Degreaser 250ml – £7.99
- Kingud Purple Helmet Polish (!) 100ml – £7.99
- Kingud Wet Lube 100ml – £7.99
- Kingud Dry Lube – 100ml
- Kingud Frame Renovate / Protect 150ml – £9.99
- Kingud Shot Cleaner Concentrate 200ml – £6.99
- Kingud Helmet Fresh 100ml – £6.99
Empire Biscuit Recipe
- From: This story
- For: @earl_grey
- 175g plain flour
- 100g salted butter, cubed
- ~100g icing sugar
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 2 medium egg yolks
- 100g raspberry jam
- 50g dried fruit, cherries or whatever
Rub butter and flour with your fingertips then mix in 85g of the sugar, vanilla and egg yolks. Add ½ tbsp water if the mix feels a little dry. Roll the mixture together, knead it a bit. Wrap and chill for 30 mins.
Heat the oven to 160c – 180c (I never actually check, apologies). Line two baking trays with baking parchment. Lightly dust your worktop with flour, roll the dough out to around 3mm thick, then cut 24 biscuits from the dough with a 7cm cutter. Put them on the trays and bake for 10-12 minutes, or until they start to turn golden around the edge. Cool on a rack.
Mix the remaining icing sugar with some water (I can’t remember amounts) to make thick icing. Spoon it over the top of half of the biscuits. Top with a small piece of fruit, then leave to set for half an hour. Spread the jam over the un-iced biscuits and sandwich together with the iced halves. Put in your riding pack, and set off.
OK, it’s time to head towards the weekend like, I dunno, someone who’s very keen for it to be the weekend. That’s probably most of us, eh?
Have some Wilson T King to liven things up on your way…
Meanwhile, in the forum..
Sportpoursui: please help a thicko
I am sure I saw a 10% off first order on their site. But now I can’t see it. I think it was for suscribing to their mailing list. But…
Help! Messing up lockout on Fox 32
Hi all, I got some Fox 32’s fitted at the LBS. The lockout wasn’t really doing anything, so I tried to adjust it and now am confounded. I can see…
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That Sunn frame is beautiful. In my late teens I always wanted the Sunn Radical.
Oooo love the formula forks colour, and a recipe for empire biscuits, result!
“That Sunn frame is beautiful”
It is, I’ve heard that the box the shock fits in can be a bit of an issue in muddy conditions though.
Andi, can you grab me a Sunn bmx and fork on your way back. Beautiful looking bikes 🙂
It’s for my son, honest!
Looks like Saturday is biscuit day! Thanks Amanda!
Just to rub it in, we’re sacking it off for a ride in around 30 minutes. To reduce the hurt it’s road riding.
Biscuit recipe is noted for this weekend’s baking project.
The Sunn frame is nice but a Bold Cycles also have hidden shock and linkages.
What’s going on with the Sunn Team legging tight trouser things, couldn’t they get any in the right sizes? 🙂
The Sunn trousers were probably baggy when they bought them, but looked like that after two washes. That’s what happens to mine anyway.
Ooh, I have a 20 year old Sunn hoodie! Used to work for a shop that sold Sunn in my country waaaayy back in the days…
It looks like the Power Rangers are having a team building day.
Like everyone else I always wanted a Sunn Radical, even if they did all break
The empire biscuits seem to have a rat poo on top where the joob joob should be though
Is that l’kingud or f’kingud?