Fresh Goods Friday 563 – Bank Holiday Treats

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The sun is shining, the birds are tweeting, the bees are buzzing, and it’s the weekend! If you’ve failed to make plans for this summery treat of an August Bank Holiday it is not too late to take yourself to The GT Malverns. You can pay at the gate, and as a Singletrack member you also have the following benefits:

  • Singletrack Saturday afternoon picnic ride (meeting at 3pm at the Singletrack gazebo), where we will go for a ride of the course with “refreshments”.
  • VIP area to watch the DH racing on a massive telly.
  • DJ Chipps 8am Sunday morning soft rock DJ set.
  • Singletrack camping area. Simply tell marshals you are with Singletrack and you will be directed to our own camping area – see map below.
malvern festival map
Fresh Goods Friday 692 - The Farmer...
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Sonder Dial GX Eagle

This aluminium XC trail bike is a race-tuned 100mm travel Sonder Dial that is actually in stock! Available in ‘Jaffa’ or Grey, can be bought frame only for £299 or fully build from £999.

We have the GX Eagle build, and have a very big adventure planned for it. Stay tuned later this year to find out just what this bike is capable of.

10@Kirroughtree Trophy

Amanda entered a 10-hour endurance XC race recently, because her iron deficiency wasn’t tiring her out enough. 10@Kirroughtree is a tough course in dry conditions, so torrential rain throughout the night and continuing for the full race made for some interesting riding. Many crashes, many considerations to stop and drink beer, and many kilometers later she actually won! This is a great event with the type of organisation and race commentary that really gets the energy going for both riders and supporters.

Smith Optics Persist Road/Gravel Helmet

  • Price: £90
  • From: Smith Optics
Smith Persist

The Smith Persist helmet is good for gravel or road. A budget-friendly option with MIPS that retails at under £100. Available in three colours (black cement, white cement or matte cinder). The helmet pictured is the white cement option. It’s available in sizes S-XL and weighs in at around 300g (in M). It comes with 21 vents, MIPS and has a good deal of adjustability thanks to the VaporFit dial.

Fizik Terra Argo X5 Gravel-Specific Saddle

Following a rather uncomfortable ride a few weeks back on the gravel bike changes needed to be made. The Fizik Terra Argo X5 comes in either 150 or 160mm widths and weighs in at 250-257g (depending on width). It’s a gravel-specific saddle, though it can obviously be used on other bikes. It’s designed with a short nose to help relieve pressure on the most sensitive areas. Good for longer distances, it helps you sit in a more planted position. Featuring a cut-out the saddle offers a flexible shell and greater sit bone support.

Reserve Wheels (Ross)

The 30 SL wheels from US brand Reserve are their newest carbon wheelset. Designed for all-round trail riding, the 30 SL’s have an internal width of 30mm and a lower profile to aid with lateral stiffness yet still remain compliant. Only available in 29er, our test set are laced to i9 Hydra hubs and come in at a ‘kitchen-scale-confirmed’ weight of 1,668g (901g rear, 667g front), with valves and tape.

Michelin DH34 Tyres

The Michelin DH34 will be a familiar sight to anyone following the UCI DH World Cup. This is Michelin’s tough and grippy downhill ready tyre, one which they say is read for the “fastest downhill riders in the world”. This version of the DH34 uses the Magi X DH compound and is designed for hard, rocky terrain and bike park use. The Down Hill Shield casing provides high-speed stability, and of course, is tubeless and e-bike ready.

Halo Vapour GXC 700c Gravel wheels

After running Halo’s gravity wheels for a little while, Andi has added a pair of Halo Vapour hoops to his gravel bike (which is slowly turning into a MTB might we add). The Vapour are an aluminium rimmed wheel featuring a 21mm internal rim and highly adaptable Halo hubs which can be spaced to suit various modern frames. Like the Gravitas, the Vapour uses Halo’s 120 points Supadrive and is taped for tubeless tyres out of the box.

Crankbrothers Highline CX/Gravel Dropper Seatpost

  • Price: £179.99 – £224.99
  • From: Extra

Thanks to the popularity of gravel bikes, it’s becoming much easier to find dropper posts that suit 27.2mm frames. This is Crankbrothers’ 27.2mm dropper that is aimed at CX and gravel bikes but could be fitted to a steel MTB frame if it happened to have stealth routing. The Highline CX/Gravel is offered in 60, 80, 100 and 125mm drop options and can be used with either a flat bar remote or Crankbrothers’ own drop-bar remote.

Crankbrothers Dropper Remote

  • Price: £42.99
  • From: Extra

As the above Highline dropper will be fitted to a gravel bike, we have also been sent the optional drop-bar controller. Fitting means re-taping your bars, but it also means you can use your current lever configuration and you will be able to drop your post either from the hoods or drops.

Fizik Terra Bondcush Tacky Bar Tape

  • Price: £32.99
  • From: Extra

Knowing that we have to re-tape the bars to fit the dropper remote, it only made sense to get some new tape in for test too. This Terra tape from Fizik is 3mm thick and uses a layered mid-padding foam to improve comfort. The tacky and slightly sticky surface is said to improve grip too.

Andi is a gadget guru and mountain biker who has lived and ridden bikes in China and Spain before settling down in the Peak District to become Singletrack's social media expert. He is definitely more big travel fun than XC sufferer but his bike collection does include some rare hardtails - He's a collector and curator as well as a rider. Theory and practice in perfect balance with his inner chi, or something. As well as living life based on what he last read in a fortune cookie Andi likes nothing better than riding big travel bikes.

More posts from Andi

Viewing 18 posts - 1 through 18 (of 18 total)
  • Fresh Goods Friday 563 – Bank Holiday Treats
  • endomick
    Free Member

    Sonder dial dropper routing is dumb.

    matt_outandabout
    Full Member

    It raise my eyebrow too – however I guess it goes under BB and then up? Not sure if this is better/worse for routing, other than it surely will fill the frame with more water?

    IHN
    Full Member

    What makes a saddle gravel-specific?

    matt_outandabout
    Full Member

    Marketing makes it gravel specific.

    teethgrinder
    Full Member

    Only available in 29er, our test set are laced to i9 Hydra hubs and come in at a ‘kitchen-scale-confirmed’ weight of 1,668g 9901g rear, 667g front), with valves and tape.

    That’s a heavy wheel!

    snotrag
    Full Member

    Loads of hardtails use the same method for dropper routing. On-one Scandal is the same (and more than similar in many other ways to the Sonder! Same factory, similar tubing, different geo?) .

    fenboy
    Full Member

    i confirm the saddle is very gravel comfortable. the tape while also gravel comfortable… don’t get it wet as it takes a week to dry……

    singletrackross
    Full Member

    @teethgrinder – thanks for pointing that out! (now fixed) I can confirm that the wheel does not weigh nearly 10kg, and is actually a very respectable 901g!

    IHN
    Full Member

    Marketing makes it gravel specific.

    Dats wot i fawt

    whatyadoinsucka
    Free Member

    1,668g (901g rear, 667g front) i don’t have an a-level in maths but that doesnt seem right.

    devash
    Free Member

    That saddle’s just what I need to complement my gravel-specific socks and gravel-specific energy bars.

    brakestoomuch
    Full Member

    Congratulations, Amanda. Group test of trophy cabinets incoming. 🙂

    desperatebicycle
    Free Member

    I’m gonna get myself into the dropper lever business. Markup on those bastids must be immense!

    tuboflard
    Full Member

    Went looking for “map below”. Left disappointed.

    amandawishart
    Full Member

    @tuboflard I’ve disappointed enough people in my life, so I don’t want you on that list! Map added 🙂

    tuboflard
    Full Member

    Thanks! 👍

    shugglez
    Full Member

    Know what would make a gravel bike more comfortable to ride?
    Suspension and bigger tyres, maybe add some knobs on them and a flat handlebar while you’re at it!
    Wait…

    redsnail
    Full Member

    Well done Amanda. 😀

Viewing 18 posts - 1 through 18 (of 18 total)

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