Bank Holiday incoming! What better way to celebrate an extra day off work than taking a look at FGF618? And look! Thread Of The Week has returned.
And, however you choose to mark the Queen’s funeral on Monday, whether you’re riding bikes, or you’re not, make sure you take a moment to appreciate what you have. Some people have more, some have less, but you have you and (hopefully) a bike to ride that takes you to nice places. Don’t forget that. Bikes are great. In fact, they’re surely inherently a force for good. Has anyone made a film about an evil bicycle? I mean, there are films like Stephen King’s ‘Christine’, or ‘I Bought a Vampire Motorcycle’ but it seems that bicycles are almost universally A Good Thing.
Anyway, with that in mind, we hope you get to ride a bicycle this weekend and we hope that everyone is nice to you.
Orbea Occam M10 LT
- Price: £5,999
- From: orbea.com
Occam LT is the “wilder” Occam. More aggressive geometry, Fox 36 forks (which I [Benji] still think have the best aesthetic of any fork, so there), and 10mm more travel (150mm). Bigger rotors, from Galfer no less. 4-pot brakes. And this particular model comes with a coil rear shock. A Fox DHX in this instance, with a 550 spring (thankfully we have lots of spare springs to try). Occam LT looks to be a very handy burly trail bike. The Orbea Rallon has now evolved to Basque brand’s full-on enduro bike, in case you were wondering.
p.s. there’s a group test of coil shocks in the next issue of Singletrack for all you boing fans out there.
Lezyne Pocket Torque Drive
- Price: £65.00
- From: Upgrade Bikes
Less of a multi-tool. More of a delightful fidget spinner for adults. That said, we’ve done a fair few cockpit swap-outs this week and this little set proved to be a very effective tool indeed. With the handle removed the wrench packs up neatly into a compact, molded EVA case and comes equipped with six hardened steel bits, including 2.5, 3, 4, 5mm Allen bits and T20, T25 Torx bits. A custom composite ‘Matrix key’ is included to help easily adjust the wrench’s torque setting. It’s adjustable between 2 to 6Nm in 0.5NNm increments.
Hope Tech 200mm Floating Rotor
- Price: £55.00
- From: Hope Tech
Remember the Hope stuff we got a couple of weeks ago? The Tech 4 V4 brakes with 220/200mm rotors? Well, turns out 220mm might actually be overkill. Don’t tell anyone, m’kay? We asked Hope to send in a 200mm rotor for use up front to help us in our flailings. Oh, did we tell how insanely powerful the new V4 brake is? Review coming soon!
Hope Tech Race Pro (AKA ‘Green’) Pads
- Price: £16.50/£25.00 depending on calliper
- From: Hope Tech
The semi-mythical Green Pads of Hope. Purest green, if you will. What’s so good about them? Everything, apparently. There does seem to be something happening over in Barnoldswick with brake pads. They may be a small part of the system but – like tyres on a bicycle – they are arguably the most important part. “Absence of noise. Better feeling, progressiveness and braking power. Minimization of vibration to the wheel. Resistance to high temperatures. Increased durability.”
Bike Tag
- Price: £25.00 (Apple AirTag not included)
- From: Bike Tag Co
Another edition of Fresh Goods Friday, another Apple AirTag-based bike security system. Still, choice is good. And we like the cut of this system’s jib. Made over the border from Singletrack HQ, the Bike Tag discretely holds an Apple AirTag up inside tapered fork steerers. Weather-sealed. Made in the UK.
Redshift Sports ShockStop PRO stem
- Price: £269.99 (Regular version £179.99)
- From: Ison Distribution
Hello readers, this is the Eighties calling and we are back, baby! For those of you old enough to remember the Girvin Flex Stem and the Allsop Softride stem, the ShockStop PRO Stem will definitely trigger the memories of simpler times when bike suspension was all in your arms and legs.
Coming in a range of sizes from 80mm to 120mm and available in either a 6 degree or 30 degree rise, this particular one has been nabbed by Sanny to be used on his DeAnima gravel bike. Featuring interchangeable elastomers, this lightweight version features titanium hardware and CNC machining to reduce the weight down to 242 grams while offering 20mm of vertical travel.
Redshift reckon that the suspension on offer means that you can go faster, ride further and have better control when riding over rough surfaces. Bold claims which Sanny is going to put to the test. Just don’t be surprised he takes you on a trip down memory lane as he does so.
Shimano GRX Cranks and Front Mech
- Price: £109.99 for the cranks and £219.99 for the front derailleur
- From: Freewheel
The true champion cyclist will train hard in all weathers to get in shape to win. When faced with an upcoming, legendary cyclocross race with enormous mountains to climb (the Three Peaks…) the rest of us will panic-buy lower gears so that we can grind up the hills even slower while delaying having to walk… That’s exactly what Chipps has done, having learned that Shimano’s GRX makes a knee-friendly 46-30T double chainset (at a very fair price for the GRX 600 chainset). However, the matching Di2 GRX front mech that lets you shift between the two, costs twice what the chainset does. At least Chipps is going to be committed to finishing now. No more excuses…
Fidlok TWIST Bottle and TWIST base
- Price: £39.99
- From: Ison Distribution
Occupying the “why did I not think of this?” category of deceptively simple designs, the TWIST bottle and base from Fidlok is a new take on mounting your bottle on your frame. Using a mechanical and magnetic mount system, the bottle twists in and out of your frame with none of the frantic wrestling you can endure with traditional bottle cages.
The BPA free, dishwasher safe bottles come in a range of sizes; this being the biggest at 800mm and feature a flip top cap to keep trail dirt off your bite valve (or as Sanny discovered when he fitted it to his bike after taking these shots, dogs business!)
Ideal for smaller frames or frames where bottles and cages can interfere with under the top tube frame bags, this looks like a really promising alternative to cages. Sanny will put crayon to paper and share his thoughts once he has put it to the test.
Singletrack Ride And Shine Coffee
- Price: £8.00
- From: ST Shop
Not Covfefe. Coffee.
It can still make you trump.
Singletrack Organic Tea Towel
- Price: £12.99
- From: ST Shop
174gsm weight is nice and weighty. 76 x 48cm dimensions. Organic Cotton, because the planet has enough chemicals already. Made in the UK by people who happen to ride mountain bikes.
Car Park Cat
- Price: N/A
- From: The Car Park
Not one to mess with.
Thread Of The Week
ToTW returns after a mini-break. Congratulations this week goes to lesgrandepotato for… this:
Every week the winning TOTW in FGF gets a prize. And it’s the majestic Forum Bottle Opener that is to be awarded.
So.. OI! lesgrandepotato! Please email editorial@singletrackworld.com to claim your opener. Please include your postal address, as it’ll really speed up despatch (once Charlie gets back from his honeymoon).
Singletrackstagram!
Giz a follow. Go on. Giz it.
Giz it.
And before we go… we didn’t find an evil bicycle (yes, we know about Evil Bicycles, but that’s different) but we did find evil clowns AND a bicycle. And Peewee Herman, but don’t let that put you off…
Tata!
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