Fresh Goods Friday 642 – Cake For Me, Corned Beef For You

It’s been mixed up week here at STW Towers, mostly thanks to everyone suddenly realising they haven’t used up their annual leave so they’d better take some time off. We assume something similar happens in the roads department every year, when they realise they haven’t used up their annual traffic light allocation and decide to deploy them all in February and March. Mark has been to Lahndahn to talk about publishing things, Zoe has had her hair done, Amanda is stuck on holiday thanks to too much snow in Spain, and Hannah has had needles stuck in her bum at the physio. Benji is having a day off – but he is working on Sunday, going to see some possibly secret new things… It’s been a very quiet week on the delivery front, apart from the secret things we can’t tell you about. Boo.

Here’s what we can tell you about… (and don’t worry, Hannah has been told that she can’t share pics of the striped bruise on her bum that perfectly matched the padding on her impact shorts, and even she is too shy to ask the physio to take pics.)…

Independent Titanium 169 Skateboard Trucks

• Price: £90.00 a pair
• From: Rollersnakes

Mark and I have noticed it is really hard to spend money on skateboards in a blingy mountain bike style. Where is the carbon fibre and titanium? What do you mean you can start this sport for way less than £100! I’m old, I have some money, please take it. Well, here is one small way to spend £40 more than standard trucks, at only a measly extra £20 per truck.

The Indy Titanium saves about 52g per truck, which is considerable proportion of a boards overall weight. The weight saving is achieved with a forged baseplate, hollow king pin, and titanium axle. Yeah, only the axle is ti. Please make the whole thing ti and charge me £700. Does it make a difference? Under the feet of a 50 year old it is hard to say. Being more flexible and tricking my brain into thinking I can bounce like a 14-year-old would make a much bigger difference. But at my age, I will buy as much advantage as I possibly can.

These have the now retired Indy rounded cross logo. It’s a classic logo that has been printed on millions of shirts, stickers and trucks since 1970. Some people believed it was an “iron cross”, so Indy stopped using it, whilst explaining it is not an iron cross, to “strongly denounce all forms of discrimination, racism, hate, and racial injustice”.

SQ Lab 6OX Infinergy 2.1 saddle elastomer things

• Price: £175.99 (for the saddle and these things)
• From: SQ Lab

We were a bit hasty when we featured the saddle last week, and didn’t spot these elastomer elements that are part of the saddle but tucked away in the packaging! You fit these to the saddle to adjust the amount of damping that it gives you – hopefully protecting your back and increasing your comfort.

Innov8 Rocfly G 360

• Price: were £175, now £85 (members get a 20% discount on full price items, go to the Members Area ).
• From: Innov8

Charlie says… I was looking for a vented hike boot for a hike along the Italian Amalfi coast this spring. I am confident that Italian heat and Gore-Tex would lead to stink foot and put a hurt on my nose.

Innov8, best known for their running shoes, have applied their designs, tech and knowledge to a mid-height walking boot. It uses a unique Graphene-infused foam which “is scientifically proven to deliver 25% greater energy return and retain its optimum levels of underfoot rebound and cushioning for longer, thanks to the infusion of the planet’s strongest wonder material.” Brilliant: rebound,  wonder materials, this is stuff that mountain bikers can get with.

The sole is curved, in much the same way that a mountain bike wheel is round, so you sort of roll into your next stride. The rebound can be felt too. Grip on greasy rock is very impressive. They feel fast too. At only 390g a shoe (size 13 is 513g) there is a big weight saving over a traditional hike boot. And with thousands of feet of climbing ahead of me, at maybe 2,000 steps per 1,000 feet, I will be lifting 300g less per step… eeer… that is 600kg less lifting per 1,000 feet. By the end of the trip I would have avoided lifting the equivalent of half a dozen Volvos! Pop that in your 88g latex inner tube and smoke it. (Please don’t smoke inner tubes).

Singletrack Forum Bottle Opener

• Price: £7.99 – members get a discount
• From: Singletrack Merch Store

Having discovered this delivery just hanging out in the car park (top courier action there), we suspect these might be extra lucky bottle openers. Charlie says… It’s Friday, you made it, nailed it, another working week is in the bag. No one got hurt. No nuclear incidents, well none that the press found out about.  King of the freakin’ week. What better way to relax than to cruise the forum, with a nice cold beer to hand, talking grand bollocks. “Came for the bikes… stayed for the bollocks”.

720Wh battery for YT Decoy

• Price: £899
• From: YT Industries

For going over the hills and far away, and over another hill, and another, and even further away, and still making it back home with juice left… This 720Wh battery is a new optional extra that can also be purchased and retro-fitted by existing YT Decoy owners. It’s only recently available and in stock, but our Benji has been lucky enough to have one to try out. Read his review of the YT Decoy over here. If you want one, they can be purchased through EU and US websites (if not available, you can click the notify me button for stock updates), and in the UK you get one by sending the YT team a contact form here.

Lazer Coyote Kineticore Helmet

• Price: £79.99
• From: Freewheel

A new helmet from the house of Lazer, this uses the Kineticore protections system, which uses less plastic than MIPS. It’s also 3% lighter than the MIPS equipped Coyote. The Lazer TurnSys adjustment system keeps it fitted snugly, and there’s a magnetic buckle under the chin. The rear shell is designed to hold a goggle strap, and the adjustable visor can also be moved to accommodate your goggles. Hannah is sad because she can’t ride a bike, and her hair isn’t as cool as Zoe’s.

Oakley Flak 2.0 Photochromic lenses

• Price: £95
• From: Oakley and others

Oakley’s Flak frames are a great, compact set of eyewear with some easily-swapped lenses. But what replacement lens to get? Oakley has a great range of tints and colours, but if you want one lens for those changeable UK days, where it’s cloudy one minute, sunny the next, cloudy again and then you’re in the trees… you want a photochromic lens. These lenses will go from ‘almost clear’ 23% light transmission to ‘pretty dark’ 69% within a minute or so.

Zoe’s New Hair

• Price: Zoe is worth it
• From: Charlotte Dady

If you’re getting in touch with us to talk about your membership, it’s probably Zoe who will answer your questions. Zoe has fabulous hair. Hannah is jealous. Also: How does Zoe resist the urge to gallop around the office making unicorn noises?

Basse Kage Cake

• Price: Free!
• From: Tim at Islabikes

We had a visit from the folks at Islabikes, but we can’t talk about that right now… We can however talk about this cake, which Tim made with his own fair hands. It is delicious. Think gingerbread on a bonfire toffee biscuit base. But better. It might not look exciting, but it is. Kind of like a cross country ski descent.

Tim says: ‘the literal translation is ‘Base Cake’. It’s a recipe from my Danish great grandmother who lived to 98 and who was known for getting her daily fluids from coffee and wine – she said water was only for washing up.’

Ingredients are:

• Flour
• Brown sugar
• Butter
• 1 tbsp marmalade (hence it became known as the marmalade cake at Islabikes)
• Cinnamon
• Crème fraiche
• 1 egg

He does not reveal the method… feel free to experiment and see if you can figure out the family secret!

Thread of The Week

This week’s thread of the week goes to @the-muffin-man for ‘Corned Beef – the most dangerous food?’. It’s a risk and reward thing. Such rewards… mmm… corned beef…

The winning TOTW in FGF gets a prize. And it’s the fabulous majestic Singletrack x Granite Designs RockBand Strap! So, BONZA! to steamtb! Please email editorial@singletrackworld.com. Please include your postal address, as it really speeds up delivery logistics init.

Friday Crossword

Keep thyselves busy and the brain follicles exercised with this crossword, created by Mark. Should be a good warm up for the Members’ Quiz we’ve got coming tomorrow…

Have yourself some Viagra Boys. That’s a band, not a suggestion for the weekend’s activities – though, heck, why not? Check out their other videos and tracks – there’s a lot of variety there. Don’t pigeonhole us, dude.

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