This is the bintro… the intro that actually got written on bin day (which is Thursday round here). Speaking of bins, and the attendant bin juice, this is the time of year where everybody really needs to share their soup recipes.
So please get soup-sharing in the comments!
Stif Squatch frame
- Price: £649
- From: Stif
It’s that time of year again. The time when trail speeds slow down and the trails start to offer up their version of suspension for you (why thank you trails) by virtue of turning to mush. Hardtail time.
I [Benji] appreciate that hardtailin’ is a 24/7 365 lyfestile for some of you, but for me it’s a winter sport. My faithful ol’ NS Eccentric Alu Evo 29 has seen me well for the past few years but coming back to it after many months away from it has been tricky. Essentially it felt a bit steep and a whole lotta short.
After a bit (okay, a lot) of searching around for The Perfect Geometry Hardtail, I came upon this. The Stif Squatch. Sub 65° head angle (I’ll be running 140mm forks on it to nudge things even slacker). Decent reach (500mm on this XL). Steep seat angle (78°). The reach and seat angle will get a tad slacker by my over-forking but I figure it can take it. The BB is certainly low enough.
What else? Good dropper insertion. External routed cabling (apart from dropper finale, obvs.). It’s silver. And it has a proper headbadge.
Nukeproof Silverware
- Price: £?
- From: Nukeproof
What are the chances of that, eh? Nukeproof have launched a new silver colour for the Horizon components and accessories. Sometimes the planets just align like that. Silver. It’s the new oil slick doncha know. This bundle of silverware is destined for the Stif Squatch frame build-up.
What silver stuff do we have here then? Horizon Sam Hill Signature Enduro flat pedals, Horizon headset (top and Bottom cup sold separately), Horizon bottom bracket (24mm spindle), Horizon Stem (35mm long, 31.8mm diameter), Horizon chain device, Horizon Race grips, Horizon tubeless valves and to top it all off (literally) a Horizon seat clamp.
(Remember the silver RockShox PIke Ultimate from FGF 622? And the Wolf Tooth Morph stainless steel bottle cage from FGF 617? Hmm… silver surfing)
Silva Spectra A
- Price: £669.99
- From: silvasweden.uk
Mention the name Silva to anyone who has spent any time in the outdoors and you can be pretty sure that they will say purveyor of the world’s best compasses. However, the Swedish manufacturer also produces a range of seriously impressive lights.
Top of the tree is the Spectra A, the latest and what Silva claim to be quite possibly the greatest bike light ever. Offering a frankly staggering 10,000 lumens maximum light output with a 3 hour burn time at 20 degrees c down to 80 lumens for 80 hours (perfect for those long Alaskan winter evenings!).
Sanny drew the lucky straw and is going to put this retina burning mini sun through its paces over the dark winter nights. Supplied with remote controller, helmet and bar mounts and extension cables, power comes from a 96Wh battery that is not much bigger than your mobile phone.
Silva Exceed 4XT
- Price: £319.99
- From: silvasweden.uk
Coming in at less than half the price of the Spectra A, the Exceed 4XT is designed to appeal to everyone from bikers and climbers to skiers and runners. Featuring a dinky 129g head unit with three CREE led’s, the Exceed 4XT offers 3 light levels all the way up to 2000 lumens for a staggering 12 hour burn time at 20°C. When power drops down to 10%, the headlamp automatically switches to power saving mode to give you at least 30 minutes of additional light to get back to civilisation.
Bar and helmet mounts come as standard while the 10.5 Ah battery pack charges via a USB-C cable. Sanny says he is determined to see if he can ride for 12 hours of darkness on a single charge. I guess we could tell him that he could just leave it switched on but why spoil his fun eh?
Fidlock Twist Universal Connector
- Price: £39.99
- From: ison-distirbution.com
Designed to work with the Fidlock magnetic bottle mount system, the Twist Universal Connector features a BOA locking system meaning that you can carry your bottled beverage of choice on your bike.
Although designed around plastic bottles, our man in the north Sanny reports that he has already successfully tried it with a glass bottle of ‘ginger’ also known as Irn Bru. You just cannot disguise class, can you?
Five Ten Trailcross Pro Clip-In MTB Shoes
- Price: £180.00
- From:
I (Amanda) had a pair of the high top flat pedal Trailcross shoes two years ago, and got on very well with them. Having since converted to SPDs, you can imagine my delight when these turned up! Possibly a bit late in the year, but that’s what waterproof socks are for.
Charlie has reviewed some flat pedal Gore-Tex Trailcross here, Amanda reviewed the original flat pedal boots here.
Red Shift Sports PRO suspension seatpost
- Price: £319.99
- From: ison-distribution.com
Fresh from his foray into the world of podcasts where he waxed lyrical about the resurrection of suspension stems, Sanny has just taken delivery of this rather neat looking take on suspension seatposts from Red Shift Sports.
Coming in a 27.2mm diameter and either 280mm or 350mm lengths, this one is going to be fitted to his custom DeAnima gravel bike for testing. Offering 20mm of elastomer based travel and weighing in at 415 grams, it promises to smooth out the trail and reduce fatigue from bumps and vibrations.
Bum Butter Small Knob And Big One Bundle
- Price: Was £24.98, now £19.98 (for all members).
- From: The Singletrack Shop
Here we have the legendary Bum Butter in a small ‘knob’ of Bum Butter and a big tub, at a special Singletrack member price. Simply sign in and you will get 20% off, which makes the small knob a freebee.
The handy and compact small knob is great for taking on day rides and weekends away. What’s more, you can easily top it up from the big tub. Bum Butter is handmade in Dorset from natural ingredients and prevents friction in your shorts. It also works as lip balm, but don’t double dip.
Half Price Singletrack Jigsaw Bundle
- Price: Only £24.99 for both
- From: The Singletrack Shop
Charlie says: “Just in time for your Christmas shopping we are doing a ‘buy one get on free’ on our turbo popular jigsaw puzzles. Normally £24.99 each, now you can get both for £24.99.
“Our birthday jigsaw celebrates 20 years of mountain biking. The lockdown issue cover captures just about every lockdown distraction… and a tiger… and the legendary sudocrem cat.
“That’s two Christmas presents sorted, and you also helped us at Singletrack to carry on pumping out news, reviews, opinion, adventures and cool bikey vibes.”
Nukeproof Blackline Storage Bib Shorts
- Price: £75.00
- From: Nukeproof
Made from Miti fabric which is described as a ‘high performance Italian fabric’. Multiple back pockets plus side leg mesh pockets to carry spares and stuff. The back pockets are designed to sit above your baggy shorts. Elastic Interface MTB Performance 2 chamois, designed for 7+ hours of riding. I can’t remember the last time I rode for over seven hours but I’ve definitely worn liner shorts for that long if you include the post-ride dirty-stopping-outness.
Thread Of The Week
This week’s winning forum post is from unfitgeezer. Surly it’s not hoarding if it ends up beng useful (12 years later)..?
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.
Ahoy there unfitgeezer! Please email editorial@singletrackworld.com. Please include your postal address, as it’ll really speed up despatch.
Classifieds Ad of the Week
- Price: £2,750
- From: Classifieds
“I enjoyed the SL but want to try something else, I bought it in May 2021, approx 720 miles use, I have the shop receipt and have registered the bike with Specialized. Complete with charger, manual, fork/shock volume spacers and spare new brake pads. Happy to deliver within a reasonable radius of Southampton.”
L8RZ!
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