Everyone sitting bored at home and wondering what to do with themselves this weekend? Kids getting antsy cooped up? Adults getting antsy looking at their bank statements? Let me present to you the all in one money-saving-exercise-getting-treasure-hunting-charity-supporting solution.
Hey kids, we’re going on an outing, get your shoes on. We’re going charity shopping! One decent walk (or bike ride) into town and a couple of hours later, and you can return home having had some exercise and deserving of a bit of a sit down with a movie. And what choice you will have. It’s fun to flick through the shelves and go ‘Oooh! Flight of the Conchords!’. Grab a box set of something that’s only streaming on a service you don’t subscribe to. Pick out something random to make up the fourth in a 4 for a £1 deal. If you’ve not been in a charity shop of late, it may have escaped your attention that DVDs vary in price between £1 for a single DVD, to 5 for a £1. Box sets are two or three quid. This haul before you came to £12 (HOW MUCH?!) and all of it going to charidee. Once we’re sick of watching them, we can take them back to the charity shop if we want the space in the house.
Doesn’t that sound great? Now you can cancel all those multiple streaming services, saving you enough cash to turn the heating on, or perhaps buy something from whatever is below. Onwards to Fresh Goods Friday…
Jamis Faultline A2
- Price: £1,800
- From: Go Outdoors
We have a bike test coming up based around bikes that are a bit more affordable. The nominal theme is ‘Sub £2k Full Sussers’. We’ve got one bike in already that’s technically under embargo for another month or so (oooh.. much excite etc) and we have another on the way (not saying what the bike is in case it tempts fate) and we have this Jamis Dakar A2.
£1,800 (or £1,600 if you’re prepared to sell your soul and join as a Go Outdoors member). 120mm rear travel, 130mm fork, 29er. And sure, there are some obvious compromises here. The seat angle looks a bit retro. The rotors are those ‘resin pads only’ ones. But in general, colour us impressed. Especially with the colour. Looks a bit paler than it is in these pics (blame Panasonic). Kudos for that excellent chunky head bage too. It is gert lush, as they say… somewhere.
Singletrack Corkscrew Pom Pom Hat
- Price: £23.99 (Singletrack Members get a cool discount)
- From: The Singletrack Shop
Checkout the new Singletrack Hyper Localised Personal Insulation System. Perfect, for now is the winter of disco-tents and/or discontent. You choose.
Our new Singletrack Pom Pom hat is super snug and warm. It has a chunky cable knit construction and a cuddly fleecy headband. If we asked scientists, they might tell us that the deep headband helps prevent winter seeping into your ears, and therefore reduces the possibility of winter infecting your brain with chilly negative vibes.
One is ‘Cherry Sorbet’, a colourful reminder of what you might have as a post ride dessert if it wasn’t so damned cold out. The other colour is ‘Electric Lime’, because everything is electric now: bikes, dropper posts, mechs and even power meter pedals!
LEJOG Off-road Guidebook
- Price: £15.00
- From: The Singletrack Shop
What’s stopping you? It’s only 1,250 miles of doing what you love. Isn’t it time for a career break? Or maybe do it in weekend chunks. This is grade A bucket list stuff.
‘LEJOG Off-Road’ features most of the best mountain bike areas found in the UK. Some of the many highlights include; Dartmoor, Exmoor, the Quantocks, the Mendips, the Black Mountains, the Long Mynd, The Cambrian Mountains, Forest of Bowland, the Yorkshire Dales, the North Pennines, the Scottish Borders and the Highlands. There are also seven trail centres encountered en route; Cardinham Woods (Cornwall), Ashton Court (Bristol), Hopton Woods & Eastridge Woods (both Shropshire), Llandegla (North Wales), Newcastleton and Innerleithen (both 7 Stanes in the Scottish Borders).
It includes lists of on route campsites, hostels, bike shops, cafes and railway stations. That is pretty handy. And there is a link to the GPX files too.
SOLO: What running across mountains taught me about life – Jenny Tough
- Price: £12.73 hardcover, £8.99 Kindle
- From: Amazon
Amanda bought a book. Chapter names include:
- Too Close to the Edge – details of my 25-day run across Kyrgyzstan
- Running Sucks – a history of my bumpy start into running
- I Don’t Believe it Myself – achieving my goal to run across Kyrgyzstan
- Running Home – my 930-km journey across the Canadian Rockies
A journey to run solo and unsupported across a mountain range on every continent. “I wanted to write this book to encourage and demonstrate that everyone is capable of big things, and we’re all so much tougher than we think we are.
Juice Lubes Stuff & Things
- Price: from £5.99 up to £29.99 (for the tubeless valves, in case you’re wondering)
- From: Juice Lubes
A Tardis-like cardboard box arrived earlier this week. Not that big but impressively heavy. Inside was a lot (and I mean, A LOT) of stuff from Juice Lubes. Chain lubes, tyre sealant, tubeless valves, carbon assembly paste, aluminium anti-seize, general grease, hand cleaner, maintenance spray, frame polish, chain cleaner, fork lube, degreaser, disc brake cleaner, sponge, cloth, bike cleaner, brushes, chain cleaner and stickers. Plenty of stickers. Should keep the Singletrack Office Workshop Crew happy for a while (especially the stickers).
Panda Optics Conquer Sunglasses
- Price: £79.99
- From: Panda Optics
Widescreen fronts with really quite narrow arms following behind. Worth a look (ha!) ifyou want hewge lens but only have a dinky melon to attach them to. Based on Panda Optics’ ski goggles apparently. With a semi-rimless frame and cylindrical lens. Three lenses included (Mirrored red category 3, Amber category 2, Clear category 0).
Race Face Turbine Cranks
- Price: £199.00 cranks, £66.95 chainring
- From: Silverfish UK
Race Face have been making cranks with Turbine written on them since 1993. That’s quite a long time. The new Turbines offer narrower Q-Factor, an updated preload collar, Cinch ring mount. Lifetime Warranty. Cranks come with pedal washers and spindle spacers (chainring and BB shown here available separately).
Etnies Camber CL MTB
- Price: £120.00
- From: Etnies
If Dennis The Menace mountain biked (pretty sure he just rides BMX). Formula G rubber with clipless pedal specific tread pattern. Foam midsole. Nylon pedal shank. Pro Foam 1 PU footbed. Exo-Shield upper. Adjustable Power Strap. Lace Lock. Lace Guard asymmetric lacing. Nylon pull loop on heel and tongue. System Flo2 Compression Tongue. Anti-debris sock thing.
Etnies Semenuk Pro MTB
- Price: £99.99
- From: Etnies
Designed by Brandon Semenuk himself apparently. Cobblers, you might say (boom tish!) Tread pattern designed for ‘multi-placement pedals’. Force Shield reinforced upper. A ‘hot-melted quarter panel’ with repel treated upper that blocks moisture. Thinsulate lining and tongue gussets that shields moisture, dirt, and pebbles. Ankle Shield protects your inner ankle from clonks. Lace pocket on top of tongue and Pro Foam 1 molded PU footbed.
Jamis Dakar A2
- Price: £1,500
- From: Go Outdoors
Another Jamis. This is the Dakar A2. 120mm front and rear travel full suss with 27.5in wheels. It costs £1,500 or £1,300, depending on if you have a Go Outdoors card in your wallet/purse.
Now then. A shortish travel full suspension mountain bike with 27.5in has something of a limited appeal these days. So I scratched my receding hairline and thought about who is a good target for this bike. And basically ‘small people’ was my answer. So we’ve got this super cute XS size one in. Small adults and standard-size children, form a line!
Thread Of The Week
This week’s winner is technically from 10 months ago admittedly but Pigface‘s buffet bonanza keeps on giving. Which is kinda appropriate if you think about it.
Every week the winning TOTW in FGF gets a prize. And it’s now the fabulous majestic Singletrack x Granite Designs RockBand Strap that is to be awarded.
Hola Pigface! Please email editorial@singletrackworld.com. Please include your postal address, as it’ll really speed up despatch.
Classifieds Ad Of The Week
- Price: £550.00 (“price is a guide only”)
- From: Classifieds
“Fully working and fully serviced. New rail in 2020. I can remove it or buyer can remove to ensure familiarity. You will be very lucky if it fits your location but if you’re a bit handy it could be modified or just buy a new rail – complete stairlifts are ridiculously expensive! Collection from Chesterfield. Please buy it someone to prevent the monorail idea in my head becoming reality!”
Join our mailing list to receive Singletrack editorial wisdom directly in your inbox.
Each newsletter is headed up by an exclusive editorial from our team and includes stories and news you don’t want to miss.
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.