When all through the office not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. The helmets were hung by the workshop with care, and hopes that FedEx soon would be there.
Enough of that. Here’s an early edition of Fresh Goods Friday for you. We appreciate pretty much everyone is clock-watching this morning with a view to darting off as soon as poss to begin tailgating Chris Rea on the M6.
This could well be the final FGF of 2021. It is after all rather unlikely that anyone has sent any bikes or products in to arrive between Xmas weekend and the New Year. Never say never though.
Cotic FlareMAX G4
- Price: Complete bikes from £3639, rolling chassis from £2799
- From: Cotic
The fourth generation of Cotic’s pre-Downcountry shorter travel trail bike. 29in wheels. Reynolds 853 tubing (only the chainstays are aluminium).
125mm of Droplink-driven, Cane Creek-controlled rear travel paired, in this guise, with a 120mm RockShox SID up front. Can also be built up with a 130mm or a 140mm travel fork up front for something a bit more overtly trail-y and capable.
Cotic’s established Longshot geometry gives this Large test bike a 66° head angle, circa 76° seat angle, 490mm reach and a -34mm BB drop. What it arguably lacks in slack head angle-ness it more than makes up for in length and lowness. Looks extremely fun.
It should be interesting to pit this up against the Giant Trance Advanced Pro featured in FGF 578 for a future magzine issue’s bike test.
IceToolz Ocarina torque wrench set
- Price: £29.95
- From: Windwave
A very, very handy tool that’s also pleasant to use. Comes with 3, 4, 5, 6mm Allen key bits and a Torx T25 bit. As you can seen from the pic above, the tightening range runs from 0Nm up to 10Nm so is good for things like bolt-thru axles and seat clamps as well as the usual cockpit bolts.
By the way, never use a torque wrench to undo a bolt. It can potentially ruin its calibration (hence the big ‘X’ marked on the handle of the Ocarina to remind you never to turn it anti-clockwise).
Ion x MET Traze AMP MIPS helmet
- Price: £144.99
- From: Ion
Colabs are where it’s at in 2021. Here’s Ion teaming up with MET to a make a rather nice looking trail-enduro helmet.
MIPS equipped. The usual rear-dial retention dial adjustment. Full wrap shell. Firmly, albeit non-indexed, adjustable peak. Decent amount of forward facing intake vents. Uses a magnetic Fidlock strap mechanism.
#TOTW The Singletrack Forum Post of Xmas Week presents ..
Lets hark back to those bygone innocent days when we all asked Santa for what we truly desired to find under the tree. That is, if we were in fact lucky enough to have a tree. This topic could prove a life saver if you are in need of that extra item to fill out a young ones Christmas stocking. Please note: others brands are available than those remarked upon by our community of posters.
Downtime EP 1
- Price: £12.50
- From: Misspent Summers
You will probably know the Downtime Podcast. They interview the great and good of mountain biking. You should go and check out their back catalogue of podcasts. Anyhoo. They’ve gone and made a glossy book in colab (another one!) with the Misspent Summers team.
The Downtime EP expands on the varied subjects captured in Downtime’s 240+ episodes. EP1 is 164 pages of beautiful print, with principal photography by Sven Martin, Boris Beyer and Sebastian Schieck, main features writing by Daisy Maddinson, Victor Lucas and Pete Scullion, plus a range of other articles.
Bontrager Rapid Pack Hydro hip-pack
- Price: £94.99
- From: Trek Bikes
For the hip-packers among you, here’s another option. This Hydro version of the Bontrager Rapid Pack comes with a 1.5 litre Hydrapak bladder stroed in the main chamber. Inside this main chamber is apair of Velcro loops for holding a pump. The chamber is generous enough to stow a layer of clothing in there as well.
There is also a vertical, elasticated bottle holder in the middle outer of the pack, if you’re only heading out on a shorter ride and don’t need loads of liquid. There are two zipped, compartmentalised storage pockets on the front. All in all, it’s one of the more maximalist hip-packs out there
Bontrager Flatline shoes
- Price: £144.99
- From: Trek Bikes
In days of yore, flat pedal shoes featuring the iconic yellow Vibram tag were to be avoided; they were never, ever grippy enough. Vibram have changed though. These Flatline shoes feature Vibram’s Megagrip rubber compound which is considerably more MTB-friendly than Vibram’s hiker-centric compounds of before.
What else are you getting for your money? A shock-absorbing EVA midsole (which you really notice when you go back to shoes without this). A finger-pull loop for getting the blighters on in the first place. An elasticated lace tidy. A reinforced toe-box.
The main thing you get with Bontrager shoes, in our experience at least, are shoes that a very comfy and withstand the rigours of mountain biking really well too.
Bontrager Rally Mountain shoes
- Price: £154.99
- From: Trek Bikes
A similarly comfy yet robust pair of shoes from the House of Bonty. The Rally shoes use a slightly more relaxed foot shape (aka last) compared to their more overly XC shoes. The broader and slightly flatter fit should make them nicer to wear when off the bike before/during/after a ride.
Much like the Flatline shoes above, the Rally has an EVA midsole for shock absorbtion, a reinforced toe box and an abrasion-resistant coating on the heel and toe caps. The cleat box is relatively deep to work well with your personal cleat spacing-out preferences, to get them to behave ‘just so’ with whatever pedal you pair them with.
Ion Seek shoes
- Price: £84.95
- From: Ion
We featured the Ion Seek Amp shoe in FGF 575. But these are the non-Amp versions, which means they won’t load any quicker from Google when viewed on a phone.
Not really. These non-Amp Seek shoes don’t have the extra padding around the heel. They still come with Ion’s proprietary ‘SUPTraction Rubbercompound’ er, rubber compound which is shaped into loads of wind turbine-shaped divots to form the tread pattern of the sole.
Which remind us, there is nothing better in life than writing on the sole of a slipper with a biro…
Kitchen-in-a-box from O’Neill Contractors Limited
- Price: How much?!
- From: O’Neill Contractors Limited
I once had to build a kid’s toy kitchen very late at night on Christmas Eve for my eldest (who was two at the time). Despite it not being the most-sober and calmly assembled toy kitchen ever, I’m proud to say it now still stands doing excellent service in my youngest kid’s bedroom.
Where were we? Oh yes. The new kitchen has arrived at Singletrack HQ. I think we’ll be leaving this one until the New Year.
PINND CS2 pedals
- Price: £195
- From: PINND
This week’s classic HOW MUCH?! product. You’re welcome. So, just what exactly are you getting for your nearly-£200?
No bushings. These pedals use needle bearings at the crank arm end of the axle. The axles are titanium (which can cost around £100 on their own if you check out rival brands’ upgrade kits). 5-axis CNC machined. Oil sealed bearings. Five year warranty. Designed and engineered in Scotland. 420g weight.
As you can see, these aren’t the thinnest of flatties but that’s not what their USP is. These pedals have been designed first and foremost to last for a long, long time.
Have yourselves a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
RIP Scratch
Home › Forums › Fresh Goods Friday 580 – ‘Twas the bike before Xmas
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