You may have noticed the Singletrackworld homepage looked a bit different yesterday. This was due to the new issue of the magazine coming out.
Basically, when the new mag comes out we want all the content simultaneously going online so all our members can access it however and wherever they chose to.
In some publishing circles it’s similar to something called Digital First. Except that usually refers to stuff going online first with a view to it (maybe) going into print at some point afterwards.
The way we do/did it was more of a synchronised launch. We might tweak the way we do it for the next issues but hopefully you get the idea.
Anyway, that’s what our week was taken up with. We still found time to do FGF though. Here ‘yare…
Rockrider All Mountain MTB Bottoms
- Price: £39.99
- From: decathlon.co.uk
Mountain bike trousers for under forty quid. Tapered cut. Stretchy fabric. Shins and bum panels get some DWR coating. Not much (or indeed, anything apart from two pairs of press studs) in the way of waist adjustment. Two zipped hip pockets.
Pretty impressive from first inspection. As ever with budget clothing, the main thing will be durability. Let’s see how they are after six months.
Rockrider ST 500 MTB Bottoms
- Price: £49.99
- From: decathlon.co.uk
I [Benji] have had a pair of these once before. Throughout winter 2020/21. They were great. Until they weren’t. Basically they wore through where my body meets the saddle (medical name: arse). Having said that, I still opt to ride in them!
They have decent water repellency. I like the single thigh pocket. But the best thing is the brushed lining. They are very cosy riding kecks for fifty quid. My previous bum panel problem is a concern though.
Rockrider ST 700 Rain Jacket
- Price: £69.99
- From: decathlon.co.uk
The fabric looks like it’ll be good. I like the colourway (yes, colourway). But… the fit is very much a tale of two halves. A top half and a bottom half.
The bottom half looks to be a bit too high at the front for MTBing. And the top half is… mahoosive. Great if you want to look like Wilfrid from the Bash Street Kids – and good that you can properly fit it over a peaked helmet in awful weather – but feels rather OTT and oppressive when the hood is not deployed. It’s hard not to have it sit up to your nose and down to your eyebrows. Letterbox stylee. Needs to be ridden in to see if these fears are unfounded.
Kali Maya 3.0 Helmet Artist Edition
- Price: £109.99
- From: oxfordproducts.com
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Low Density Layer ‘Rheon’ technology (a gel padding for rotational impact protection). Composite Fusion Plus construction, no less. Meaning, layers of multi-density cone shaped EPS.
But whatever. This is all about the colourway (yes, colourway). It’s called Dandelion. We (quite) like.
Kali Mission 2.0 Knee Guards
- Price: £59.99
- From: oxfordproducts.com
Pretty much every mountain biker on Earth is permanently on the lookout for The Perfect Pad. Will these be they? We shall see.
4-way stretchy constructions. ‘Abrasion resistant’ kneecap (wish mine were). Extra tall length for comfort and stability. Here’s hoping.
Rapha Trail Hip Pack
- Price: £60.00
- From: rapha.cc
Yes, we have a hip-pack group test coming up. This is a typically £nice offering from Rapha. Ripstop fabric. Three litre storage capacity. Aquaguard zip. 100% Recycled Nylon.
Nice colourway (yes, colourway).
Rapha Trail Knee Pads
- Price: £80.00
- From: rapha.cc
Mo’ pads. Rapha: “Fit knees like a glove as a result of their industry-leading experience across bib shorts and tights.” Make of that what you will.
Another of this week’s items featuring ‘Rheon’; a polymer that is flexible during use but reacts to impacts by “concentrating more material into the impact zone”.
Arrow Wheels AGRS Road Gravel Hope Wheelset
- Price: £1,099
- From: arrow-wheels.com
Full disclosure: I [Benji] am friends and ride pushbikes with the guy behind Arrow Wheels. He lives over the hill from STW HQ.
These are Arrow Wheels’ gravel hoops. Toray T700S & T800 carbon fibre. Smooth Wall Technology; no folded prepreg during curing. Carbon Strip Reinforcement: the rim bed uses a unique carbon strip to the spoke bed which reduces weight without sacrificing any strength. Hookless design. Two rim finishes available, gloss or matt black.
PNW Loam Dropper Post 200mm
- Price: $199.00
- From: pnwcomponents.com
PNW’s shortest, lightest and most customisable dropper yet. The new Loam also features swappable silicone bands, giving you the opportunity to match your bike (or mood). This one features… a black one. Soz.
25mm of travel adjustment. This here 200mm one has been quickly (after a quick YouTube search) adjusted to be 190mm. No tools required. Just hands (and a fingernail).
PNW Pine 27.2 Dropper Post 90mm
- Price: $199.00
- From: pnwcomponents.com
Technically, this isn’t PNW’s kid dropper post (that’s the PNW Fern). This is just the skinny 27.2mm modest-travel dropper with external cable routing.
Great for kids (those that are heavy enough to actuate the post anyway), old bikes, CX/gravel bikes, bikes with faffy internal cable routing that you just can’t be bothered dealing with etc etc.
PNW The Loam Lever
- Price: $69.00
- From: pnwcomponents.com
“A yoga mat for your thumb”. Super smooth actuation genuinely improves the feel of any cable actuated dropper post. Oversized sealed cartridge bearing. The problem with The Loam Lever is that it makes other dropper remotes feel rough AF.
PNW Loam Pedals
- Price: £74.00
- From: pnwcomponents.com
A new entry into the crowded flat pedal market. These look worthwhile though. Vital stats: forged and CNC’d 6061 Aluminium, sealed cartridge and roller bearings (no bushings). 445g, claimed. 22 replaceable pins per pedal, 105mm x 115mm.
As with all flatties with similarly bushing-less designs, the Loam pedals will sink or swim depending how you get on with the axle bulge near the crank.
Personally, I have no issues with bulged pedals. I ride (well, descend) with the middle of my foot sitting over the axle. This means the narrow part of my shoe soles is adjacent to the bulge. Plenty of room, whilst still fully on the pedal pins. Not a problem. Some folk who ride with the ball of their foot over the axle may have issues.
Initial rides on these pedals are very promising. Super planted. Review to follow further down the line.
PNW Rover Hip Pack
- Price: $69.00
- From: pnwcomponents.com
It wasn’t designed as such but this is (accidentally) a brilliant little bumbag for mirrorless camera gear. That’s what I’ve used it for anyway. Even the press-stud-on bottle holder is ideal for storing a lens in!
Well made, comfy, decently padded and weatherproof too. Enough compartmentalisation to be useful without having trouble finding things.
Singletrack Magazine Issue 141
- Price: from £2.50
- From: Read me
New issue arrived!
As we’ve already blathered: “You have probably noticed that we’ve just published Singletrack Magazine online. If you’re a member, that means you can go and read the articles right now, if you want to. You’ll find a few extra images, plus some videos – but it doesn’t smell like our printed magazine, and it’s riskier to read it in the bath.”
Gil Scott Heron. Just because Gil Scott Heron:
This week’s #STWFGF winner
Every week we’re now running a competition over on Instagram to win a free subscription to Singletrackworld (or some other item of merchandise if you’re already a subscriber/member).
Simply tag your Instagram riding pics with #STWFGF and… that’s it.
Ideally we want riding-a-bike pics but… we ride alone as much as anyone, so we non-riding pics too.
We sift through the tagged candidates at the end of each week and pick a winner. The winning Insta pic gets proudly displayed in Fresh Goods Friday.
Congratulations and respec’ to Ash Napier for this week’s winning shot. Send us a DM on Insta and we’ll sort you out with your prize.
Thread of The Week
This week’s thread of the week goes to @barrysh1tpeas for the stop boozing thread.
See you next week for more even fresher goods. TTFN!
