FGF 601: Fort Bill is Back Edition

by , and 10

We’re all just clockwatching today – yes, even more than normal – because it’s Fort William Weekend once more! We just want it to be Sunday now please. Yes, even more than normal.

The Downhill World Cup returns after a ridonkulous six weeks since round 1 in Lourdes, and a whole two years since it last took place in Fort William.

While we wait for YouTube to get busy rendering all the World Cup team videos that must be imminent, here’s this week’s Freshest of Goodies…

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Peaty’s Steel City DH 3rd Place (Vet F) Medal

  • Price: £49 to race, free to watch, £5 to park
  • From: Steel City

Yeah yeah yeah, we’re all bored of hearing about it. If you’re not, head over here to read Hannah’s write up. On hearing Hannah was third, her daughter’s immediate response was not ‘well done’ or even an emoji. It was: ‘out of how many?’. Kids keep you in your place. And the answer was ten.

Cotic RocketMAX Gen4

  • Price: Frame from £2,099, Complete Bikes from £3,999
  • From: Cotic
Straight outta bubblewrap

The fourth and latest incarnation of Cotic’s big wheeling bruiser, the 160mm travel RocketMAX. Pair it with a fat legged 170mm 29er fork up front. Go full bore 29er all round. Or throw a 27.5in wheel in the back and embrace the mullet (angle-adjust headset advised). You can read all about it here.

We’ve got one of these frames in to act as our new testbed for Big Bike Bits. You know the sort of thing. Big brakes. Big forks. Coil shocks. Sticky tyres.

Peaty’s Holeshot CO2 Tyre Inflator Kit

Peaty’s version of a CO2 solution. 2 x 25g cartridges, an inflator head, a closed base sleeve. The straight-line design of the head is intended “for maximum airflow”. Push down to operate. Release to stop. Available in twelve colours (designed to specifically match Chris King stuff).

Peaty’s Tubeless Puncture Plugger Kit

Question: What’s in this then?
Answer: This.

Designed to fix the punctures that sealant can’t. Single-sided stabber design, “Leaves the plug in place each time without pulling it back out of the tyre”. O-rings on the can keep the dampness out. Again, available in a dozen Chris Kingy kolours.

Better than half price deals

Tailfin Bikepacking luggage

Golly gosh, we got sent a whole load of Tailfin stuff the other day. This is just a sample of what they sent for test. What’s it all about? Well, there’s a rear rack, a modular thru-axle, a QR-thingy, a rack pack, some suspension fork mountings, and… er, just loads of different drybag-mounting cages and straps.

Basically, all kinds of ways of attaching Tailfin’s own dry-bags and seatpost/rack pack. We’re going to hand this over to our friendly neighbourhood bikepacker for a thorough testing. All we can say for now is that it appears to be extremely well made stuff.

DMR Vault

  • Price: £160 for the new ‘liquid camo’ finish
  • From: Upgrade Bikes

What more can be said about the DMR Vault? Nothing really. Well, apart from the fact that you can now get it in these liquid camo colourways (yes, colourways). The only other thing to say about the DMR Vault is that yes, it is still way up with the best flatties around. It ain’t new. It doesn’t need to change. Big platform. But not too big. Not too thin. Spot-on concavity. Trigger’s Broom rebuild-able.

These are still the flats that a lot of folk come back to after a dalliance with other (really good) flat pedals. There’s just something about the way they feel.

DMR V6

Plastic versions of the venerable old DMR V8 and V12 sorta flattie. Arguably they’ve been utterly usurped as a trail pedal by various other designs (see above) but there are still riders/disciplines out there who swear by the old skool shape. And nine year olds will like this camo colourway (yes, colourway).

This particular DMR V6 is in green camo. This pedal will be available from July. It’s DMR’s entry level pedal still but with the new cool camo finish costs is a little more (£27).

Tonic CBD

  • Price: £59.99 8% Water Soluble, £18.00 2% Miracle Serum, £19.00 CBD Tea
  • From: The Tonic Tribe

A couple of years ago, Amanda landed on her head in Torridon and subsequently suffered from a very long term concussion. She used the water soluble 8% CBD oil to aid recovery. The 2% CBD Miracle Serum is ideal for muscle and joint aches, perfect for us cyclists! And the CBD tea contains 5mg CBD per cup and tastes delicious. If you want more information on how CBD can help you, contact The Tonic.

Specialized Pathfinder Pro

The Specialized Pathfinder Pro can’t find the correct paths for you, so when Amanda took hers down the Pennine Bridleway, she did the walk-of-shame home and promptly ordered a replacement. This tyre is ideal for tarmac, with off-road capability on tow paths and the like. It’s not fit for mountain biking, neither is a gravel bike.

Great British Gravel Rides

Charlie says… What did you do in the Covid ages? Well, Markus Stitz went to 26 corners of the country, with a local rider, threw in the miles and created the Great British Gravel Rides book.

The local guides include a lot of big “round the world” names such as Mark Beaumont and Jenny Graham. Sheep illustrator Jo Burt is also in there. Each route has a really interesting description that gets into the riders history, local history, and the character of the trail. It’s a guidebook that is also a good read. All the directions are in the maps and free GPX files.

The photography is excellent, indeed worthy of being hung on a wall, but it was not easily attained. You see, I rode with Markus for the Dorset route, and I climbed every hill at least three times. A 4 hour route took 11 hours. I rode up the hills for still photos. Then up again for video, and then finally for drone footage. What’s more we only stopped at one pub!

Etnies Camber CL Clip

The first MTB clip-in shoe from a well-known skate brand. Where have we heard that before?

The new Etnies Camber CL clip-in shoe is a first for the Etnies brand, more often seen in the skateboard world. The new Camber CL features a clip-in specific tread made from ‘Formula G’ rubber, apparently. There’s a close-fitting neoprene scree guard, while the rest of the shoe features lots of mesh (treated to repel water apparently…) and there’s a lot of rubber-bumper action to keep your toes intact as you glance off the scenery.

DexShell Ultra Thin Crew Socks

Hannah really rated the shorter version of these waterproof socks as they fit nicely in normal shoes without having to size up to allow for thick socks like is the case with many waterproof ones. The only thing she hoped for was a longer version, and tah-daah, here it is. Summer showers here we come…

Sisters of Send Stuff

The inaugural Sisters of Send festival was a huge hit, and until Amanda finds the SD card from her camera, this is all we can show you from it!

Thread of the Week

The prestigious TOTW crown this time goes to eddiebaby for this fictional scientific ice-breaker…

#STWFGF winner

Every week we run a competition over on that there Instagram to win a Singletrack Forum Bottle Opener.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Yannick Mtb Tracker (@mtbtracker)

Congratulations to @mtbtracker for this week’s chosen pic. Who doesn’t love New Bike Day? Please email editorial@singletrackworld.com to claim your prize, @mtbtracker

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Well played Mr Vangelis

Antio sas!

Until next time. Keep it rubber side down. If you want to.

Orange Switch 6er. Stif Squatcher. Schwalbe Magic Mary Purple Addix front. Maxxis DHR II 3C MaxxTerra rear. Coil fan. Ebikes are not evil. I have been a writer for nigh on 20 years, a photographer for 25 years and a mountain biker for 30 years. I have written countless magazine and website features and route guides for the UK mountain bike press, most notably for the esteemed and highly regarded Singletrackworld. Although I am a Lancastrian, I freely admit that West Yorkshire is my favourite place to ride. Rarely a week goes by without me riding and exploring the South Pennines.

More posts from Ben

Viewing 10 posts - 1 through 10 (of 10 total)
  • FGF 601: Fort Bill is Back Edition
  • cyclelife
    Free Member

    I see the Cotics still bend/break just above the link attachment point on the seat stays! Saw two somewhere in South Yorkshire last week.

    neilupnorth
    Full Member

    Out of how many………now that’s real love x

    danposs86
    Full Member

    Correction, 3 years since the last World Cup at Fort William!

    gazzab1955
    Full Member

    @Hannah explain to your daughter that, in the words of every sports pundit, “you can only play what’s in front of you!”
    I am playing in the final of our Squash Club’s veterans tournament tonight, it doesn’t matter that only 6 people entered, I will still be the club Vets champion if I win. 🙂

    kevgeorge
    Full Member

    Vangelis and a certain Demis Roussos!

    Sandwich
    Full Member

    A podium place is still a podium place no matter the numbers entered. “Bloody kids!”

    rickon
    Free Member

    £169 for DMR Vaults?! And just with a special colour?! Holy hell. They’re optimistic.

    arkike
    Free Member

    Congratulations @Hannah that’s awesome!
    Those tips from Elliott Heap helped?

    Northwind
    Full Member

    On hearing Hannah was third, her daughter’s immediate response was not ‘well done’ or even an emoji. It was: ‘out of how many?’

    Isn’t that the only acceptable response? I got my first ever podium in the last GT7 and literally everyone said “out of how many”

    ThePinkster
    Full Member

    Arguably they’ve been utterly usurped as a trail pedal by various other designs (see above) but there are still riders/disciplines out there who swear by the old skool shape

    Not just the old skool shape. I should think the old skool price makes a difference too.

Viewing 10 posts - 1 through 10 (of 10 total)

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