Get your boosters, wear a mask, play outside. Try not to be a dick. Be nice to people, say hi, take your litter home. Make someone else happy, hug your loved ones. Here endeth Friday’s lesson.
Here beginneth Fresh Goods Friday 573.
Ghost E-Riot Trail Pro
- Price: £6,599.99
- From: Hotlines
A week late for Halloween? Fitted with a Bosch Performance Cx Gen 4 motor and 625Wh battery, this trail eMTB has 140mm rear and 150mm front travel. It has a carbon front triangle and aluminium one-piece rear, with forged one piece rocker. The marketing promises endless traction thanks to the ‘especially balanced TractionLink system’. The integrated dropper is 150mm on this medium – and 125mm on a small or 170mm on a L/XL. Hannah is looking forward to some e-assisted covid recovery rides. Amanda has confirmed it weighs 52.36lbs/23.75kg, so Hannah may start out with something gentle – given she’s barely had the strength to type this week.
#TOTW Singletrack Forum Thread Of The Week – New Bike Shop
From: The Singletrack Forum
Each week we pick a #TOTW Thread Of The Week from the far reaching and near intergalactic Singletrack Forum. This weeks winner is DallasWiseMan, who asked for advice about opening a bike shop. I am sure the member was expecting specific advice and contacts etc… but he received a very honest forum view of the bike shop world. What’s more I would have to agree with almost everything posted. It is indeed a damned tough trade, you can fall out of love with bikes, and making the money actually stick is not easy. And then it just seems to get tougher and tougher.
One of the great things about the Singletrack Forum is that it never goes away… some of our 500,000+ posts are 14 years old. This thread will remain online for a very long and serve as a brilliant chunk of wisdom from people who have real world experience in bike shops. One member summed it up well: “Honest truth… It’s freakin brutal in the industry now”.
But it’s not all bad… DallasWiseMan will be getting some Singletrack merch for creating Thread Of The Week. Sincerely, best of luck dude.
Outdoor Provisions Starter Pack
- Price: £16.00
- From: Outdoor Provisions
A starter pack to get you hooked on the sachets of nut butter and tasty bars. No refined sugars, vegan, packed full of protein, fibre and slow-release energy, and gluten free! If you take a banana on your ride, squirt some nut butter on it for a natural speed-up.
Specialized 2FO Roost Clip Mountain Bike Shoes
- Price: £110.00
- From: Specialized
A casual looking SPD shoe with ergonomically designed footbeds, SlipNot™ rubber soles, and a 4mm longer cleat bed for more tuneability. For those who want to go straight from sending sweet jumps to editing their YouTube clips in the bar afterwards? Probably also good for riding the trails at lunch before sneaking back to your desk just in time for that management presentation.
Cheese
- Price: Friendship
- From: Not pigs
Hannah’s recovery is being assisted by cheese. This cheese was sent to her by her lovely friend Ruth, wife of ‘Mats The Swede’ – a Swedish rider and downhill racer, formally of Calderdale residence. Hannah met Mats in a luggage rack on the train 14 years ago, but that’s another story. Mats represents a missed opportunity – he did not attempt to lure Hannah into riding bikes off road. Instead, that credit goes to Kinesis rider, Emma Osenton. It’s eight years since she entered Hannah into a City Cross race, which meant Hannah got some off road tyres for her Marin hybrid, which meant Hannah decided to go and ride the local trails she’d previously run on. After riding down the Blue Pig on her hybrid, she thought maybe she ought to get a proper mountain bike. Anyway. Further fun fact (learnt this week in a podcast binge): you don’t get cheese made from pigs because they’re too grumpy to milk.
Fox Mainframe MIPS
- Price: £79.99
- From: Fox Racing
The Mainframe is Fox’s newest open face trail lid and is designed to offer plenty of protection and styling, at a more affordable price. It features extended rear coverage and a MIPS liner to keep your brain safe should the worst happen. There are plenty of vents and channels in the molded EPS and inside is a removable and washable moisture wicking liner.
Madison Flux Trousers
- Price: £79.99
- From: Freewheel
The Flux trousers are constructed from a 4 way stretch material to offer all day comfort and great flexibility when on the bike. They feature a DWR coating to help ward off trail spray and there are laser cut vents on the thigh, rear yoke, and knee to help keep you cool when working hard. The waist fastens with a ratchet adjuster to help dial in the perfect fit and they are constructed with double and triple stitching where needed for increased durability. Incidentally, someone complained that we called some trousers ‘pants’ the other week and asked if we’d gone American. Here in Calderfornia ‘pants’ is commonly used to refer to trousers, leading to occasional confusion and socially awkward situations. Perhaps it’s time to resurrect the term ‘slacks’? How about some slacks for when you’re trail slaying on your long low and slack steed? Or maybe slacks are more refined. Gravel slacks for the discerning rider? You heard it here first.
Reserve Fillmore Valves
- Price: £39.99
- From: Reserve
The new Fillmore Valves from Reserve Wheels claim to offer three times the air flow of a regular presta valve. This is achieved by utilising a full length ‘poppet’ rather than the screw in core seen on a presta, which also stops the valve getting clogged. Fillmore valves are compatible with tyre inserts and also allow sealant to be directly injected.
Nothing to do with trousers, but anyway…
May your cup runneth over with fine trails and fun rides. Happy weekend!
