Fresh Goods Friday 575 – Tah Dah! All the Fuzzy Feels

This is a warm and fuzzy Fresh Goods Friday – good vibes all round, as you lot kindly donated over £1000 to World Bicycle Relief last weekend, which will get match funded and turn into something like 20 more kids on bikes in countries where they really need them to get around. Whoop! If you’re keen to keep supporting World Bicycle Relief, they’ve got a virtual Christmas card option for this year.

We’ve also got more warm fuzzies in the shape of this week’s thread of the week, and cold fuzzies thanks to Hannah’s fake commute injury. She could try and claim it was all part of a rad effort to learn crank flips, but the truth is she foolishly paused to take a photo with her foot on the pedal and the cargo bike in turbo.

Despite the leg egg, it was good to get outside. Before you all dash off to ride and gather your own leg eggs, here’s this week’s Fresh Goods Friday…

Specialized 2FO Cliplite

• Price: £175.00
• From: specialized.com

The newest addition to the Specialized shoe rack, the 2FO Cliplite. Featuring micro-adjustable BOA Li2 dials combined with a welded upper for a comfortable fit, cushioned EVA foam and SlipNot™ FG rubber sole.

Gloworm X2 1700

• Price: £169.99
• From: Hotlines

A neat little light that comes with more attachments and accessories than you can shake a stick at. Luckily there’s a tidy drawstring bag to keep the smaller items together. Note to light designers: all lights should come in drawstring bags so you can keep all the bits together! Charger, cables, attachments – how long have you spent rummaging trying to match up all the right bit from a box of various bike light accessories? Anyway. This particular light comes with a bar switch so you can alter the light on the go, and an app so you can modify the standard light settings. With a maximum 1700 lumens for 3 hours, you can cycle through the default brightness and flash settings, or use the app to customise them.

Wera Bicycle Set 4 – Colour Coded Hexagonal Socket & Torx L-Keys Set 9pcs

• Price: £46.99
• From: Chicken CycleKit

Very nice tools, not made of cheese, or chicken, now available from Chicken CycleKit. These L-Keys feature Wera’s Hex-Plus technology, which means the tool has a greater contact area with the head to prevent it being rounded out over time. This kit is designed to tackle all the bolt heads you might expect to find on a bike:

• 2 x Hex-Plus 950 SPKL L-Keys (2mm, 2.5mm)
• 5 x Hex-Plus 950 SPKL HF L-Keys (3mm, 4mm, 5mm, 6mm, 8mm)
• 2 x TORX 967 SXL HF L-Keys (TX10, TX25)

Wera Bicycle Set 9 – Zyklop Ratchet Screwdriver Mini Case Set 10pcs

• Price: £48.99
• From: Chicken CycleKit

This mini kit is designed to be small enough to carry on the trail but to provide you with garage quality repair options. The slim design and fine-tooth mechanism of the ratchet, with its small return angle of only 6 degrees, makes it ideal reaching confined spaces on your bike. In the kit you get:

• 1 x Zyklop 8001 A Mini Ratchet
• 1 x Philips Head (PH) Bit 2 x 25mm
• 6 x Hex-Plus Bits (2mm, 2.5mm, 3mm, 4mm, 5mm, 6mm)
• 2 x TORX Bits (TX25, TX10)

Wera Bicycle Set 3 – Kraftform Ratchet, Screwdriver & Socket Set 39pcs

• Price: £83.99
• From: Chicken CycleKit

This might be the ultimate portable kit. Not only do you get an extensive range of tools – ideal for storing in the car or van perhaps – but you also get an extra plastic sleeve so you can choose the tools you need to carry on the trail, much like the Bicycle Set 9 above. In it you’ll find:

• 1 x Kraftform bit hand holder with Rapidaptor quick release chuck
• 1 x Zyklop Ratchet
• 1 x K Rapidaptor Universal bit holder
• 1 x Nut spinner socket adaptor
• 7 x HMA Zyklop ¼” Socket (5.5mm, 6mm, 7mm, 8mm, 10mm, 13mm, 15mm)
• 3 x TZ Philips Head Bits (PH 1, PH 2, PH 3)
• 7 x TZ TORX Bits (TX10, TX15, TX20, TX25, TX27, TX30, TX40)
• 3 x TZ Flat Head Screwdriver Bits (4mm, 4.5mm, 5.5mm)
• 7 x Hex-Plus 89mm long Bits (2mm, 2.5mm, 3mm, 4mm, 5mm, 6mm, 8mm)
• 5 x Hexagon Ball Head Bit (2.5mm, 3mm, 4mm, 5mm, 6mm)
• 2 x Tyre Lever

It’s a long Fresh Goods Friday this week. Have a musical interlude, for no particular reason other than the video contains blue sky.

Ion BD-Shin Pad Socks

• Price: £39.99
• From: Ion

These socks have memory foam protection in the shins and ankles to help with bashes and bangs. There can be fewer injuries that cause so much pain for so little actual injury than a bashed ankle bone. Hannah is thinking these might be very handy for a spot of BMX foam pit action.

Ion Logo and Scrub Gloves

• Price: £19.99 (Logo, blue), £24.99 (Scrub)
• From: Ion

Thin gloves for plenty of feel on the bars.You get a flexible mesh upper, and synthetic leather palm with silicone grippers. The slightly jazzier Scrubs come in a variety of outfit matching patterns and colours.

Ion Seek Amp Shoes

• Price: £109.99
• From: Ion

These might look like casual skate style shoes, but they include toe protection and some subtle padding around the ankle to help prevent crank strikes. Toes and heels have positive tread for more grip while walking, and Ion’s SUPTraction_Rubbercompound for grip on the pedals. Don’t confuse them with the ‘Seek’ version – it’s this Seek Amp that has the extra cushioning around the ankle.

Ion Scrub LS Tee

• Price: £64.99
• From: Ion

Made with an S.Café finish, which combines coffee grounds onto the yarn surface to offer up to 200% faster drying time compared to cotton, and also controls odour and gives UV protection. Mesh panels give ventilation, and there’s an integrated goggles/glasses wipe and lift pass pocket.

Ion Logo Shorts

• Price: £64.99
• From: Ion

Slightly shorter than some of their other shorts, the Logo women are lightweight and flexible thanks to its 2 way stretch fabric. Two zip pockets allow you to store away small stuff and an adjustable velcro waistband ensures a good fit.

Singletrack Sub In A Box – Member deal.

• Price: £45.00 (Members price £22.50)
• From: Singletrack

Christmas is almost upon us, and as part of our Singletrack member services…  we have come up with a mind blowing gift deal for full Singletrack members (that is print and/or digital subscribers, and Lifetime members).

Member Offer: Give a Singletrack “Sub In A Box” this Christmas, and it will not only be half price, but we will also throw in a Singletrack Birthday Tea Towel worth £11.99

In our famous Sub-in-a-Box package is a gift card with a unique voucher code for a year’s membership and full instructions on how to redeem this code. There’s also a copy of the latest issue of Singletrack magazine to get them reading straight away (no waiting weeks for the first issue to arrive). Plus in this offer there is also a tea towel.

Now, while this fine organic and rather cool tea towel would make a great gift, you don’t have to give it away. Keep it… sod them, they have just got a Sub In A Box. Consider it your reward for being so damned generous, whilst also helping out Singletrack a little.

To take advantage of this offer:

1. Make sure you are logged in to get the member discount.
2. Follow this link The Sub-In-A-Box – Singletrack Magazine (singletrackworld.com)
3. Then, at checkout, add this discount code “Iamsobloodynice” to trigger the tea towel offer.
4. Addresses: If you use your own address as the billing and delivery address, both the tea towel and Sub In A Box will be delivered to you, and you will need to pass the Sub In A Box on to your friend. If you use the gift receiver’s address for delivery, they will receive both the tea towel and Sub In A Box. There is only one parcel going out. We can’t send the Sub In A Box to one address, and the tea towel to another… got it?
5. Terms and conditions apply. Offer ends 15/12/21. Discounted Sub In A Box offer is available to full Singletrack members only. We will be posting via untracked Royal mail. If we run out of Birthday Tea Towels, we may substitute for a free gift of equal or higher (not lower) value. If this happens, we will update this news story.

The Rough-Stuff Fellowship Archive volume 2.

• Price: £28.00
• From: Singletrack Book Shop

The Rough-Stuff Fellowship Archive Volume 2 is another incredible 200+ page book of classic off road cycling photography. It is split into four sections covering England, Wales, Scotland, and elsewhere. It’s so much more than people pushing bikes in rain capes – but if you are into that scene then you are in rough stuff heaven. In the last chapter you will find some early days mountain biking with an account of the 1981 Rocky Mountain Cross Country with Joe Breeze, Charlie Kelly and Gary Fisher.

Whilst you may not relate to the old drop bar bikes that are being used, you must certainly be able to share the frustration of knee deep mud and cold river crossings. It is an incredible window into the genesis mountain biking, and is only a bobble hat and tartan thermos flask away from what we now call gravel biking.

EVOC FR Trail E-Ride 20 Backpack

• Price: £199.99
• From: evocsports.com

It seems that everything these days can be made to be e-bike specific and this new bag from EVOC is no exception.

Offering 20 litres of storage, it is worthy of the term “feature-packed”. Starting with an inbuilt removable back protector and ventilated back system, the bag also comprises a proper hip belt with zipped storage pocket making it ideal for carrying heavier loads…..such as a spare e-bike battery! Yes, you read that right, there is an internal pocket sleeve in the main body of the bag that is designed to do just that. If that is you then this might just be the perfect bag for your next two battery adventure. Throw in more storage pockets than you can shake a stick at as well as a rain cover and emergency whistle and you have the makings of Ray Mear’s new favourite bag. Well, you would if it came in duck twill cotton and looked like it came out of the Ark.

Sanny is planning to do a future review but has already noted that the pocket is just the right size to hold a bottle of “ginger” (Irn Bru for those south of Gretna) or a tube of Lidl Pringle copies. 

Marin Tidy Trails Bag

• Price: £17.50
• From: marinbikes.com

This natty little bag is going to be part of an online feature coming very soon and forms the centrepiece of Marin’s global Tidy Trails initative. Made in Scotland by Montrose bags, it is the perfect little off the shoulder number for giving a little back and keeping your local trails tidy. Sanny has already nabbed this one and reckons he may have his work cut out for him given the recent bin strike in Glasgow which coincided with COP 26. 

Specialized Tactic helmet

• Price: £100
• From: specialized.com

The Tactic 4 is the latest addition to Specialized’s helmet collection. This one is designed for Trail and Enduro riders but with a big nod to the potentially higher impact speeds for those riding e-bikes. As such, it meets the NTA-8776 standard for e-bike certification. Compared to a regular XC helmet, there is quite a bit more coverage. The visor is fixed in one position and has been designed to work well with a wide range of glasses and goggles. There are even two larger vents at the front under the visor designed for placing the legs of sunglasses when not wearing them. The helmet comes with the anti-rotational MIPS safety system as standard and is available in a range of colours.

Forum Topic Of The Week

Each week we pick a forum topic that we think is amazing and give the author a prize. ‘Amazing’ can be defined in many ways and there are a lot of subsets, like funny, ridiculous, heart-warming, informative etc. In short, the criteria is wide and the winners will undoubtedly be varied and possibly arbitrary. But hey ho. A prize is a prize right?

In Charlie’s absence this week it has fallen to me, Mark, to pick our winner. Most weeks I’ll listen to a podcast called Freakonomics and this week’s winning topic reminds me of the sign-off that the host, Stephen Dubner uses at the end of each episode.

“Take care of yourself, and if you can, someone else.”

Freakonomics

This week we have a topic that we think falls in to the heartwarming subset. A tale of a forum user and rider who just went out to ride his bike and ended up in trouble and in need of help. That help came and the story, despite its painful beginning, is one of humanity and caring. So this week’s winner of a prize from Charlie’s merch shelf is user masterdabber.

Have a read of this…

And if Scott, Phil and Dean are listening, we have something for you too. If you know who they are, tell them to get in touch!

That’s all folks! Thanks for being here, have wonderful weekends, and we’ll see you all next week. Have yourselves a sad but sweet outro…

Charlie Hobbs

Merch & Marketing Manager at Singletrack

Grumpy, happy, hairy, overweight and awesome. I started riding offroad in 1978, and never stopped. I was once Charlie The Bikemonger, I invented orienBEERing, the Clunker Classic, and the Dorset Gravel Dash. I own the Bum Butter brand and I'm a co-owner of Dirt Dash Events. I also work at Singletrack, I have the self-appointed job title of "Overlord of the leftovers" and look after the merch shop, and marketing. Other interests include skateboards, surfboards, motorbikes, and cooking (I invented the Beefer Reefer).

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