Barry Manilow did not sing “If you like a piña colada” song. Nor did Michael Jackson sing “I believe that children are the future”. The Truth behind these two iconic tracks is revealed below. Oh, and there’s some bike stuff too.
Truth bombs: George Benson sang “The Greatest Love Of All“. Rupert Holmes sang “Escape (The Piña Colada Song)“.
The vibe in the Singletrack World HQ currently is The End. The end of 2022 to be precise. Reader Awards, Editor’s Choice, Advent Calendar, Christmas content, 2023 schedule… all that sort of stuff.
Yes, I just typed The C Word.
Heck, count yourself lucky I didn’t type The B Word. Although Black Friday is certainly on the horizon too.
D’oh!
Merida One-Sixty 6000
- Price: £4,600
- From: Merida Bikes
This bike gets its official unveiling today. You can read our first ride review of the new Merida One-Sixty 6000 here in fact. What’s the bike all about? OUr man Dean sez: “The Merida ONE-SIXTY is a bike designed and tested to withstand the rigours of the modern enduro stage. Long travel and an extended reach to give riders confidence at speed and in the rough, whilst still allowing you to winch up to the start of the next stage.”
Personally speaking, it’s look very much like the sort of bike I like to ride when there’s no race tape or stopwatches involves. Gosh, modern mountain bikes ar flipping rad.
Sonder Frontier Deore Rigid
- Price: £999
- From: Sonder Bikes
This is also a rad mountain bike. And it is also strangely modern, despite having no bouncy bikes nor carbon nuffink. It has discs. It has suitable reach. The geometry says the head angle is 68° but we’ll see about that (it looks slacker dunnit?) It has 2.4in tyres.
It’s the sort of bike that will do everything a gravel bike will do but with less neck ache and general discomfort. It basically looks like a kids bike for grown-ups. And that is flipping well rad. Can we say “rad” too much? No. Rad!
RockShox Reverb AXS Dropper
- Price: £750
- From: SRAM
Remote control droppers are perhaps a bit OTT for most ordinary folk but in the rarified and/or dandified circles of bike journoland, the reality is (as much as we taste any sense of reality at all) it is really useful to not have cabling/housing involved when dealing with multiple test bikes.
For example, this here AXS Reverb will initially see duties being swapped between Amanda’s Vitus Rapide FS (didn’t come with a dropper at all) and Santa Cruz 5010 (which came with a rather-meagre 150mm dropper). So, not essential but still very handy.
SRAM GX Eagle AXS Upgrade Kit
- Price: £554
- From: SRAM
More wireless stuff from the House of SRAM. This time, I’m going to be daring enough to say that AXS gearing isn’t OTT. I mean, clearly it is. Stay with me here. Wireless shifting is also better than cable-actuated shifting. Electric gears are the only electric component that is better than its analogue(?) sibling. I prefer cable-actuated dropper posts, for example. Push-button shifting is better than paddle-pushing shifting.
Is it worth £500? Well, it’s certainly worth more than top-tier cable-actuated drivetrains that cost similar amounts. I’m mainly here banging the drum for AXS in the hope that it ushers in AXS functionality down to the lower tier groupsets TBH. Rice rich people! But AXS stuff ASAP. It’s your cycling social duty.
Lost Lanes Central book
- Price: £16.99
- From: Singletrack Shop
The fifth book in the Lost Lanes series of cycling guidebooks is a celebration of cycling the Central England, taking in Midlands and beyond, from the windswept hills of Shropshire to the big skies of Lincolnshire, from the crags of the Peak District to the comely villages of the Cotswolds.
The rides range from 40km to 105km and can all be done in a day, split over two days or linked together into longer, multi-day tours. There are recommendations for pubs, cafes and places to stay overnight, from boutique hotels to wild camping spots.
Mongoose Fuzz Pro BMX
- Price: £Mates-Rates
- From: Sanny
Not content with increasing his levels of self flagellation through the medium of skateboarding, our publisher Mark has now decided the age of 51 is the perfect time to rekindle his old BMX days. This fracture magnet was acquired from long time contributor and practical staffer Sanny – well from his wife who has sensibly decided that riding this would be stupid.
The extent of Mark’s understanding of BMX encompasses only what he can remember from when he last owned one in the early [19]80’s. “It’s just a small bike. What harm could it possibly do?”
SockGuy SGX Wool Socks
- Price: £16.95
- From: Silverfish UK
The Most Comfortable Socks Ever. Not debatable. Fact. Not even an alternative fact. Pure fact brah. Made from the most-excellently named TurboWool. Blend of 50% Merino wool and 50% Polypropylene. Shrink-resistant and itch-free. Anyway, I had to hunt these socks down. I actually have a pair of Öhlins journo-bribe socks that came with a test fork. And I totally wear them all the time because they make all my riding shoes feel 400% better. Can you but these Öhlins socks? Nope. Not in the UK anyway. But via my super sleuthing powers (looking at the label) I realised they were TurboWool socks from SockGuy.
P.S. in the modern era of wearing full length riding trousers all the time, it’s safe to wear short socks once more. Thank me later.
Altura Esker Women’s Trail Trousers
- Price: £75.00
- From: Altura
Speaking of riding trolleys… Ta-da! Durable water resistant coating. Tapered leg design. Articulated knee. Elasticated cuff. Zipped thigh pocket. Available in size 8 to 18, which is good to see.
Singletrack Camo Whamo Hoodie
- Price: £59.99 (all our lovely Singletrack Members get a deranged deal)
- From: Singletrack Shop
Do you ever feel like you need a hug? These super snugly top quality heavyweight hoodies will make you feel like you are being hugged. Ride to the shops encased in a warm embrace. Turn the heating down a few degrees and hoodie the hell up. I could go on, however the bottom line is we have a handful of these left in size small and medium, and I need to make space for the new winter merch. And that my dear members is why we are doing the last few at a very sweet price for full Singletrack Members. Click on through to see the members deal.
Latest Stories
Mrs Charlie
- Price: Could have got a new bike for less
- From: The GT Malvern Classic
Charlie says: “Following on from the shock that a garlic press made it into Fresh Goods, I present to you my favourite human. Several years ago I came out of the rave’y mosh pit at The GT Malvern Classic having distributed a box of very long pink floppy ribbed BMX grips amongst the ravers. Beside the bar, next to Chipps (both in their preferred natural habitat), I saw Tanya. Our eyes met and she seemed rather attracted to me and the big pink ribbed grips. To this day I have no idea why she was drawn towards the grips. She doesn’t even have a BMX!
“Top wedding tip: Of all the money spent on this and that, it was the eBay confetti cannons that offered the most bang for their buck. About £33 for a box of 24 cannons.”
Thread Of The Week
Congratulations this week goes to FOG for this most excellent kick-off…
Every week the winning TOTW in FGF gets a prize. And it’s the majestic Forum Bottle Opener that is to be awarded.
So.. hola FOG! Please email editorial@singletrackworld.com to claim your opener. Please include your postal address, as it’ll really speed up despatch.
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Please follow us on the ‘Gram if you don’t already. K THX BYE.
We love you long time.
P.S. This Film Is Real…
Laters!
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