… Olympia FX-1 XC full susser, Jelenew jodhpurs and a €2,000 gold plated corkscrew from Campagnolo.
There are very few UK ATBers who don’t appreciate the aesthetic of a well-executed Reynolds 853 hardcore hardtail. Here’s the Chilli Dog from Radical All Mountain…
Radical All Mountain press release:
RADICAL ALL MOUNTAIN CYCLES LTD
The Chilli Dog is our steel, aggressive hardtail that is handmade right here in the UK. The bike utilises a longer travel fork and exploits several modern geometry traits, but remains conservative across a few areas, resulting in an aggressive, yet balanced experience. The final product being an aggressive frame that is perfect for enduro, competitive racing, bike parks, but also just as comfortable being a mile muncher for long days in the saddle, tackling long technical climbs.
- Conservative measurements across the reach and chainstay give a balanced ride, that is both stable yet responsive; ‘fast and fun’.
- Designed for use of 140mm – 160mm Forks
- Slack Head angle for increased stability taking into consideration dynamic geometry effects.
- BB Drop: Low chassis that increases speed, braking and cornering control. 140mm min travel recommend for this reason.
- Steep Seatube allows for exceptional technical climbing ability, whilst reducing the effective top tube measurement giving a shorter seated position. This is a more natural, upright, comfortable position also reducing lower hip fatigue across longer rides.
- Short/Straight seatube Allows for the use of longer dropper posts which can be fully inserted (internal routing only). This also allows for greater sizing flexibility.
- Tall Headtubes resulting in a taller stack place the rider in a higher, more centred riding position, increasing the overall control on technical descents.
- The top tube runs across the same line on both sizes; this creates a market leading standover for such a product and makes sizing even more flexible.
Build Up:
The main build is composed using a tri blend of Reynolds tubing which are positioned to give the best balance of strength, compliance and weight. Thanks to the strength and quality of the tubing, it creates not just a significant weight reduction to standard 4130 tubing, but it improves ride feel, responsiveness and frame compliance (through reduced butt profiles).
The welding points are carefully located to allow additional flex in certain areas and to avoid butt transitions. A butted seat tube was also introduced to aid in the overall frame compliance.
Apart from the Yoke, all components are UK sourced.
CNC Twin Yoke
Engineered specifically to cater to the needs of the Chilli Dog, the twin yoke was introduced to improve performance and clearance for tyres and chainrings. Each yoke is CNC’d from a single 4130 steel billet in Germany, which is then welded to the frames here in the UK.
The previous Mk.1 featured an asymmetric yoke and the move to the twin was done to increase the power transfer to rear, decreasing ‘torsion’ effects. This improves rear control and stiffness with notable performance increases when, for example, pushing through corners or immediate direction changes. Pedal efficiency was also improved due to torsion being reduced under hard pedalling.
The yoke is not drilled/bored as it allows us to maximise the amount of weight to the lowest point within the centre of gravity of the frame, further aiding in the overall control and stability of the bike.
The yoke also features an engraved chilli logo for aesthetic.
Component specs/requirements:
- Seat Post: 31.6mm Internal Routing
- Seat Post Clamp: 34.1mm
- BB: Threaded BSA/English 73mm
- Headset: 44mm headtube, ZS44/28.6 top, EC44/40 lower (for tapered forks)
- Brake Mount (Rear): IS, max 203mm rotor
- Spacing: Boost, axles and dropout included
- Chain Guide: ISCG05 mount included on frame
- Front Chain ring clearance: 34T
- Wheel Clearance: 29×2.6 max
Minor/ finishing Details:
- Routing grommets are quality machined pieces, which can be removed for ease of cable routing
- Top tube routing features quality machined double clamps, creating a neater finish. Clips are supplied for the routing to the stays, reducing single use plastics (cable ties)
- Frame is not ED coated internally, however antic corrosion formula (similar to waxoyl formulas) is injected internally (through all tubes) to improve protection.
- Pewter cast Headbadge is formed by hand in the UK
From Radical to Ribble. Here’s their latest off-road pushbike. It’s called a gravel bike but will probably be just fine on tarmac or soil…
Ribble Cycles press release:
Ribble Releases Reynolds 725 into Gravel range
Ribble Cycles bolster their award-winning gravel focussed platform with the release of the Ribble 725 gravel model crafted using Reynolds 725 tubing. Comprising of three key specs – Gravel 725 Pro, Gravel 725 Enthusiast and Gravel 725 Sport – the range has been designed for riders looking to conquer off-road terrain with the added ride quality attributes and timeless looks of Reynolds steel tubing adding to the dynamic ride, performance and greater choice of the Ribble gravel platform.
Every detail has been considered for versatile off-road adventure providing an ultimate ride experience with triple butted Reynolds 725 heat treated steel tube profiles, full carbon monocoque fork with tapered steerer, flared gravel riser handlebars with progressive frame geometry tailored specifically for control and handling on rugged terrains. Tyre clearance of up to 45mm for 700c or 47mm for 650b wheels with internal cable routing creates a sleek clean design as well as keeping cables free from dirt and grime. Finished in Matt Air Force Blue with gloss blue details with custom colour available, the design incorporates multiple mounting points for maximum luggage carrying capacity including rear rack mounts, carryall mounts on the fork and multiple bottle mounts – additional considerations to further enhance overall style and ride performance.
The Gravel 725 Pro SRAM Rival XPLR AXS is a high performance gravel bike weighing in at 10.8kg (medium) designed without limits for off-road exploration. Equipped with the wireless shifting performance of SRAM’s XPLR eTap AXS groupset, Mavic Allroad wheels wrapped with Halo GXC gravel tyres to offer control across any technical terrain.
The Gravel 725 Enthusiast SRAM Rival thrives when off the beaten track to provide a confident and comfortable ride across any ground with SRAM Rival 1x groupset, Mavic Allroad and LEVEL gravel optimised finishing kit.
The Gravel 725 Sport SRAM Apex 1 provides an accessible and versatile gravel offer whether it’s for a short off-road blast or an epic bikepacking excursion.
“Gravel is an extremely exciting dynamic – embraced and enjoyed by the Ribble team from participating in the inaugural UCI World Championships to bike packing adventures, the Gravel genre continues to evolve and grow. The all-new 725 models complement and enhance our gravel platform where our design focuses on off-road optimised frames, long and low geometry, oversized headtubes and flared bars. The gravel 725 offers greater accessibility to the genre providing a more classic aesthetic and unique ride quality that comes with the Reynolds steel frame. Overall, this addition provides greater choice and diversification across the whole platform alongside an exhilarating enhanced riding proposition for whatever your chosen style of off-road riding” summaries Jamie Burrow Ribble Head of Product
Builds can be fine-tuned and personalised using the Ribble BikeBuilder and CustomColour tools and include noteworthy options including Campagnolo Ekar 1×13.
- Ribble Gravel 725 Frameset: £1,299
- Ribble Gravel 725 Sport: £2,099Ribble Gravel 725 Enthusiast: £2,399
- Ribble Gravel 725 Pro: £2,899
Jelenew is a relatively new cycling apparel brand. Jelenew “has always regarded promoting women’s cycling as the brand’s mission, creating a precedent for ‘haute couture’ in sportswear”, apparently.
Jelenew press release:
How to Dress for Winter Cycling: Jelenew’s new Momentum Brushed Thermal Bib Tights to Keep You Warm and Dry
Made of high-quality warp-knitted soft-brushed fabric, Jelenew bib tights are warm and breathable, made for female cyclists, crafted for winter
How to Dress for Winter Cycling？Warm, breathable, and quick-drying cycling pants are essential for cold-weather cycling. Recently, American professional women’s cycling brand Jelenew launched the new Momentum Brushed Thermal Bib Tights. These cycling tights are made from a high-quality soft-brushed fabric that optimizes moisture control, breathability, and durability. The unique interior surface is skin-friendly and soft-brushed and the exterior has a smooth appearance and soft-to-the-touch. Combining Jelenew’s unique haute couture drape tailoring, hip lifting design, and a 7-hour protective cycling chamois, these cycling tights are both functional and stylish, allowing female cyclists to enjoy winter cycling experience without fear of the winter chills.
Inspired by the BMW VISION NEXT 100, which achieves aerodynamics with its outstanding streamline design, Jelenew applies this design concept to the winter bib tights, which use a textured, diamond-shaped dense woven mesh at the waist to form an aerodynamic surface, allowing air to freely enter and exit between the fabric and the skin, creating a three dimensional structure that automatically regulates body temperature and achieves temperature balance.
Jelenew carefully selected the antibacterial brushed fabric from Italy. The breathable surface and texture creates excellent insulation without suffocating your pores. The brushed inside of the fabric forms an internal heat circulation system. Jelenew makes sure that all the fabrics selected are ethically sourced, certified by OEKO-TEX® and bluesign® approved, and comfortable an healthy for the the body. The skin-friendly and soft brushed fabric inside incorporates SILVERPLUS® silver-ion antimicrobial technology to inhibit growth of mibrobials. The proprietary pro-fit tailoring on the leg creates an ultimate form-fitting shape and thus effectively reduces drag during the race. The side of the calf is lined with a COIL&VISLON® YKK® zipper, which prevents the legs from riding up and reduces friction. Jelenew uses fabrics that have a high elasticity and shape retention to make sure women of different shapes and sizes feel confident and comfortable in our apparel.
The Momentum Brushed Thermal Bib Tights are cut with a deape tailoring technique ensure that the pants fits the three-dimensional structure of the body perfectly and provide adequate support for the core muscles during cycling. The hip-lifting design cinches the waist and flatters the hips, making it a stylish choice among women cyclists. The integrated professional chamois is tailored to fit female ergonomic and provide stable protection. The Elastic Interface® Crossover cushion is suitable for more than 7-hour rides and has an antimicrobial-treated surface to prevent odor or stale feeling after long or multiple rides. The special channel structure and the incredibly soft and recycled polyamide make the cushion moisture-wicking, quick-drying, and environmentally friendly, greatly enhancing the experience of long rides for women cyclists.
Mamma Mia..!
Campagnolo press release:
The Gold Corkscrew
The famous Big Corkscrew is covered with the most precious alloy on earth in an exclusive limited edition.
The Gold and The Rose Gold corkscrews were designed to reinterpret the creative ingenuity that traditionally distinguishes every Campagnolo product.
The timeless quality of an object that is a symbol of Made in Italy design is enhanced by its precious and elegant form.
Its beauty and design excellence are combined with extreme functionality.
To prevent incorrect extraction of the cork from leaving residue in the wine, the Campagnolo Big corkscrew is designed so that the screw self-centres on the cork, ensuring optimal extraction every time.
- THE GOLD: 24KT GOLD PLATING
- THE ROSE GOLD: 18KT GOLD PLATING – DIMENSIONS: H 30 CM, L 13 CM
- PRICE € 1.950
1966 TULLIO CAMPAGNOLO CELEBRATES AND GENIUS STRIKES AGAIN
Perhaps he had to toast a victory, or drink a glass of wine with a champion: the fact is that in 1966 Tullio Campagnolo hurt a hand opening a bottle of wine. His anger was sparked, but also his genius. Therefore, in a few minutes, he designed a new type of corkscrew that over the years has become a cult item and a collectable.
Tullio Campagnolo was justifiably proud of his corkscrew, which, like all Campagnolo patents, is a small mechanical jewel. A self-centring telescopic bell positions the screw exactly in the centre of the cork: once the screw has been inserted, the two levers make the cork come out easily and delicately. This prevents breaking the glass, jerking the bottle or raising up the sediments that are typical of aged wine. Furthermore, the corkscrew is designed such to never puncture the lower part of the cork, preventing pieces of cork from falling into the wine. A precision tool created in the same plant as the components for high-range bicycles. In fact, for example, the 2 levers are fastened to the body of the corkscrew using screws deriving from the Super Record crankset from the 70s.
More very Italian cicli stuff. This time from Olympia and their new F1-X short travel XC race weapon…
Olympia comunicato stampa:
Olympia F1-X, lighter and more agile than ever
This full suspended model, a favourite among Olympia pro bikers, gets lighter without however compromising on its racing inspiration: longer suspension travel, lowered centre of gravity, optimized linkages, upgraded geometries for improved stability downhill.
(Padova). At Olympia evolution never stops and the F1-X is a prime example. This full suspension bike, which made its name at XC and Marathon circuit events with top athletes in the saddle including Claudia Peretti, Filippo Fontana and Daniele Braidot, is back with the same competitive spirit and with valuable design and set-up updates.
Visitors to Eicma this year were able to appreciate the latest additions to the 2023 range F1-X specifications such as a centre of gravity closer to the ground, geometries designed for excellent response when riding downhill without affecting uphill performance, where the longer front end travel is offset by the frame dimensions. In short, a true off-road lioness, ready to tackle increasingly technical routes and which, during its evolution, has shed as much as 100 grams compared to the previous version.
A major new feature of the new F1-X is its central suspension, moved to a low position and semi-integrated into the frame. A peculiarity of this design choice is that the suspension uses the same steel pin to which the stay’s lower stems are connected, thus making one of the pins unnecessary and creating a single compartment that is sturdier, more rigid and lighter. By lowering and moving back the fulcrum point, efficiency is improved making the suspension work smoother and more precise. Suspension integration into the frame isolates it and protects it from external agents. The top of the housing is covered with a rubber seal.
The new design does not in any way affect user-friendliness during adjustment and maintenance, as these operations can be carried out easily from the outside using the specially provided access points. A rear cover can be opened to service the suspension valve and the connector of the valve locking cable.
The front has a sturdy fork with 35 mm stems and an extra 10 mm of travel, for a total travel of 110 mm. Thanks to the narrow dimensions of the steering unit, the geometry of the bike helps keep the rider’s position and the reach and stack dimensions unchanged, enhancing riding smoothness.
The seat tube has been verticalized following a progression that varies according to the height of the biker: the starting value is 76.5° for the size S increasing by half a degree for each subsequent size. This ensures the best weight balance in all seating positions and excellent stability on the most challenging stretches, even if the fork travel were to be brought to 120mm: in fact, it would be possible to do so by simply changing the internal rod of the suspension supplied as standard. The more forward position goes hand in hand with a steering angle that opens by 1.5°, until it reaches a width of 67.5°. The slightly more extended fork and the rear stay shortened to 430 mm result in a more linear progress when negotiating obstacles downhill.
The 1.5/1.5 headset, developed by Olympia in conjunction with FSA, is equipped with two inlets on each side for the integration of the cable harness in a position that facilitates cable sliding and smooth handlebar turning.
The T1000, T800, T700 and M40J carbon fibre frame is made according to EPS technology, for a more uniform monocoque frame internal surface finish without excess material. All wiring is concealed.
The carbon fibre link has been streamlined. Similarly to the fork length, the length of the central suspension has also been increased to 190×45 mm.
The new F1-X set-up includes 29” wheels.
STOP PRESS! We were just about to hit ‘Publish’ on this frostbitten edition of NBD when this PR arrived in our inbox…
Cotic press release:
2023 Cotic Solaris – What’s New?
For 2023 the Solaris loses the MAX and goes back to its roots, reducing weight and fork travel, whilst building on everything that made the current SolarisMAX such a hit. A slightly more XC sensibility, but still crazy capable on rowdier terrain. Over 20 years of hardtail heritage, development and character has distilled the Solaris into your downcountry tool of choice.
The advent of amazing 120mm forks such as the latest Rockshox SID and Fox 34 allowed us to reassess the Solaris. By focusing the fork travel range on 100-120mm, we have been able to refine and revise the Reynolds 853 tubeset to reduce the weight of the frame by around 100grams (depending on size).
The Details
In the fine details, the frame adopts the dropout from the Escapade/Cascade which gave us space to bring a post mount rear brake fitting inside the rear triangle. This does make the bike 180mm rotor only, but we felt it suited the style of the new approach. You can fit 4pot brakes in there if you want more power.
It also means we move away from the Syntace hanger to our Escapade/Cascade hanger. We did think hard about this, but during Covid keeping you all in Syntace spares proved trying at times (we ended up getting a batch made in the UK at one point), but we were always able to get these hangers from our supplier. We currently have over 400 in stock, so as we always try to do, we’ve got your back with spares. All part of the service.
We have added our 5 step C-sizing, which reduces steps between sizes and seat tube lengths, giving more precise rider fit and comfort. The full geometry table is on the product page, so have a look and see what will work for you.
The brilliant Longshot SolarisMAX geometry is mostly carried over, retaining the 66/75 angles, but with a lower BB for ripping through those singletrack corners.
Development and Prototyping
The lower BB idea came to me as I noticed I didn’t have clearance trouble when riding my Cascade. The 70mm BB drop on that bike never once bothered me offroad, even using 175mm cranks on some fairly proper terrain with SID suspension forks. As you might expect, gravel/lanes escalates into mountain biking quite quickly around here, which is why I like my Cascade so much.
Translated onto the new Solaris, the lower BB improves the cornering grip and feel when between the trees, whilst still having enough room under the pedals on tech climbs to clear those crux moves that are so good to nail on a great hardtail.
Forgive the uninspiring backdrop – this is my C5 size Solaris prototype
The theory was proved out in practice. I had one of my favourite rides of the year whizzing this prototype through the Nottingham forest singletrack with Paul.
The prototypes were made for us by Five Land in the UK. It’s such a boon to be able to get them to build test frames up so quickly. Once I had completed the drawings we were riding bikes within 2 months. We wouldn’t have been able to deliver this project by now if we had been reliant on Taiwan for samples.
It is worth pointing out that the dropouts and stays and colour aren’t representative of the production frame.
The colour was the production (at the time) RocketMAX navy blue for speed.
The frame fittings were simply parts that were easily available in the UK to prove out the concept when Five Land made us the prototype. Production frames will be much neater, and closer to how the Cascade looks in this picture.
Pricing
The frame price for the new Solaris is £849, bikes at £2,499, and a (refundable) 20% deposit will guarantee you a frame or bike from the first batch, which is due in Spring 2023.
Current Stock
Our best selling SolarisMAX is still in stock in some sizes and colours, but not everything by any stretch, hence opening orders for the new bike.
It’s held at the current price, and obviously no change to the maximum 140mm fork capability.
However, once these are sold through they’re gone, so you’ll need to get on the list for a new Solaris. If you want a 130-140 fork, you’ll need to get on the BFeMAX.
It’s been a fun project this. I hope you like it.
Cy, Founder and Director
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