Fresh Goods Friday 599: Democracy Inaction Edition

by , and 15

We hope everyone (in the UK at least) is recovering from the white heat of excitement that comes with taking part in western democracy.

Play Melt Banana – Candy Gun on Apple Music

Don’t you just love local elections? Unless you suddenly have to sort panic childcare because some primary schools close for polling station duties and you kinda forgot all about it, obvs.

Without further ado here is this week’s FGF. It’s a bit sparse this week. Soz! Never worry though, annoyingly there’s loads of things arriving in the office today – plus a couple of Top Secret things already here – so next week we’ll be back to (ab)normal service.

Trek Roscoe 24

Honestly, not only do some kids have a free day off school this week, some even get shiny new test bikes to have a go on. They don’t know how lucky they are.

2.8in fat tyres, a 1x drivetrain and a wide-range cassette, sloping top tube, rear brake calliper is tucked into the frame to help prevent damage from laying* the bike down.

*hurling/chucking/stropping

Gore Bike Lupra jacket

A green jacket that doesn’t weigh very much (310g) considering its features. Over-the-helmet hood
Front zipped pockets. Slightly longer back. Pre-shaped elbows. Adjustable hem with drawcords inside pockets. Elastic sleeve cuff. Windproof. Water resistant. “Extremely breathable” claims. Certainly feels like it could be. Still “suitable for use with a backpack” apparently.

KTM 690 Enduro R

  • Price: £9,349
  • From: KTM
KTM 690 enduro motorbike

Charlie says… After last week’s FGF “garlic gate” scandal, I thought it might be fun to set a motorbike amongst the mountain biking pigeons.

At £3,000 less than, and much the same price as many ebikes, it packs a pretty impressive set of stats, when compared to an ebike. It has 250mm of very adjustable travel, massive hydraulic brakes, a 170+ mile range from a “charge”. Recharging time is however long it takes to queue up at the petrol station. It happily shoots past 15.5mph and will carry on to around 100mph, with 60mph all yours in three and bit seconds. There is a whole retail universe of accessories to protect the bike from the trail, and make this a motor-bikepacking bike.

What’s more there is the Trans Euro Trail, a 51,000km offroad motorcycle trail around Europe, with 5,307 of those euro-kili-mile things in the UK. If you think ebikes are cheating bikes… ask yourself… now he is in his 50’s… What would Lance do?

Klean Kanteen Insulated Food Flask

We were super turbo happy with our Klean Kanteen drinks flask. Mid ride middle of nowhere hot coffee is just great. We also discovered mid ride icy cold cocktails on hot summer days. Now, this mountain biking malarkey was getting really rather civilised. But what would mountain biking be like with a nice hot mid ride Korma, or even better… ice cream… top of a mountain ice cream? That has got to be one of the greatest ice creams you will ever have.

And now all these fine culinary experiences can be yours to savour, with the Klean Kanteen Food Canister. It’s a very handy size at 473ml. and will keep food hot for 7 hours. The cold time is 14 hours. But one of the best things is it means no more single use food wrappers.

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Camelbak M.U.L.E. Evo

You see, what Camelbak have done here is take the classic M.U.L.E. and given it all-weather protection. Stormproof welded construction. Air Support back panel with “body mapping technology”. Command Center harness. Helmet carry. Overflow pocket. Integrated tool organization. Singletrack Bottle Opener not included.

Camelbak M.U.L.E.

“Packs that go the distance.” As you’d expect from a range of packs that got their name from Medium to Ultra Long Endeavours back in the day. Featuring “smart storage options”, Air Support back panel, lightweight materials, helmet carry, integrated tool organisation, magnetic tube trap, removable stability belt and ventilated harness.

Camelbak M.U.L.E. Pro

The third and final M.U.L.E. for today. Compatible with impact protectors and e-bike battery carrying. Air Support Pro back panel. Breathable vent mesh harness. Hip belt with storage. Helmet carry. Bike tool organiser roll included.

Gore Bike Fernflow Pants

Lightweight, breathable, robust. Pick three. Just don’t pick ‘cheap’. That’s not an option. Gore wanted “robust and lightweight pants with versatile protection that could handle sprays and drizzle in cool to cold weather”.

We’ll let you know how they perform. Initial thoughts are: very nice windproof pants but need pairing with something underneath them for actual cold weather.

Washing machine door seal

  • Price: £15.59
  • From: eBay
New. Doesn’t stink.
Old. Stinks.

Mountain biking is hard. It’s especially hard on your washing machine. How often do you find yourself having to replace your machine’s door seal because it’s gone past the point of being “a bit dirty” and entered the realm of “making normal clothes smell bad post-washing”?

Benji [this is his Bosch btw] is averaging a new washing machine door seal every 18 months.

Thread of the Week

Congratulations this week go to @johndo for this excellent piece of fruitless venting. Anyone who lives with any other human(s) will no doubt sympathise…

#STWFGF winner

Every week we run a competition over on that there Instagram to win a Singletrack Forum Bottle Opener. Yes, they are metal and evz.

Simply tag your riding pics with #STWFGF on Instagram and… that’s it.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Graham golledge (@grahamgolledge)

Congratualtions to @grahamgolledge for this inspiringly freefall shot.

Play Intelectuals – The Bug Club on Apple Music

That’s it for this week. Time to get back to the thrill of watching the local election results trickling in.

Annyeong!

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Author Profile Picture
Amanda Wishart

Art Director

Amanda is our resident pedaller, who loves the climbs as much as the descents. No genre of biking is turned down, though she is happiest when at the top of a mountain with a wild descent ahead of her. If you ever want a chat about concussion recovery, dealing with a Womb of Doom or how best to fuel an endurance XC race, she's the one to email.

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Home Forums Fresh Goods Friday 599: Democracy Inaction Edition

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 15 total)
  • Fresh Goods Friday 599: Democracy Inaction Edition
  • Murray
    Full Member

    Forget new door seal, just run the machine on a hot cycle with Napisan and it’ll be like new

    dangeourbrain
    Free Member

    I don’t think I’ve ever had to replace a door seal because it’s gotten a bit manky.

    Actually I’ve only ever had to replace one because after about 12 years it was brittle.

    Speshpaul
    Full Member

    Can I be the first to do a howfeckingmuch post, but with a twist!
    A Gore waterproof £180 that’s like not too bad, and its Gore as well.
    Then, £140 for a Mule… jeez with 3 he’s.

    nickc
    Full Member

    Command Centre? really Camelbak? It’s all a bit Action Man isn’t it?

    dangeourbrain
    Free Member

    I think there’s an awful lot of camelbak’s market who are “a bit action man”, that actually or the US DoD, so can understand there’s going to be a lot of slip from that market to the cycling/walking one in terms of the marketeer speak names for simple stuff.

    fahzure
    Full Member

    Thanks for that last song!

    Harry_the_Spider
    Full Member

    £140 for a bag?

    dangeourbrain
    Free Member

    Yeah but this one has an Overflow pocket which is absolutely not just more space. And that one is suitable for carrying ebike batteries, which I guess are absolutely not allowed in other bags due to FAA luggage restrictions. or something.

    austen
    Full Member

    Even with prices going through the roof, I also now think that KTM’s look good value. Nice bike Charlie, have fun on the TET.

    rattler
    Full Member

    I once had to replace a washing machine door seal because a pet rabbit chewed it (after he’d chewed through a lawnmower cable). Unfortunately not longer after, he “found his way” into the wild.

    salad_dodger
    Full Member

    Love the KTM. Has it broken down yet?

    charliedontsurf
    Full Member

    Ha haa. The KTM has not broken down yet. It’s only 1000 miles in. So any moment now.

    But seriously, I am a plodder, steady as she goes. I don’t really use the top 50% of its powers. I have gashed a tyre, and dropped it, and been over the bars, and dropped it again. Gotta say… body armour is ace.

    wcolt
    Free Member

    Good to see the Ktm here. Definitely true they increasingly look better value for money than mtbs these days albeit less and less places off road to legally go esp here in the south. Used to run a husky two stroke, always have my eye on the te150s now…. Post more!

    dogthomson
    Full Member

    Fitting a Bosch washing machine door seal reduced me to years once. I’m manly enough to admit that!

    reeksy
    Full Member

    Mate’s son has that 24” Roscoe. Awesome beast!

    Washing machine seal change? Never even heard of that. Try rinsing out before sticking dirty gear in the machine.

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 15 total)

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