Fresh Goods Friday 655: The Jennride Cooldown

I (Amanda) have spent all week recovering from the Jennride. Not physically, but mentally, as it’s quite hard going from a sunny social Lake District adventure to being, as far as I can tell, the only member of staff from Editorial in the office this week. Hannah is up in Scotland teaching her fiancé about jacket layering systems. Benji is in Anglesey with his family, hopefully rock-pooling and eating ice creams. Chipps is STILL in the Pyrenees. I am here in Calderfornia with a satisfying dull ache in my legs and a bunch of new friends I met in the Lakes. Caroline and Martyn, it was lovely to meet you! And all the other subscribers along the 100miles of glorious gravel.

Speaking of the Jennride, this was in my head for two days straight and I think it’s perfect for a sunny spell of weather:

Hope Tech 2.3mm thick, 203mm rotor

• Price: £50.00
• From: Hope Tech

Thicker stiffer rotors with more thermal capacity you say? It looks like most bicycle brake brands are finally realising that thicker rotors are better in the sense that they offer more mass of rotor material to soak up the heat from braking and give more consistent performance and brake feel. They effectively do this by taking longer to heat up and therefore being a more consistent temperature. The side effect is that they’re also stiffer so will likely vibrate less and be less susceptible to getting bent rattling around the back of your car.

Bell  Full-10 Spherical

• Price: £579.99
• From: Zyrofisher

The hefty price tag on this Bell DH helmet is courtesy of the Spherical technology from MIPS. It acts like a ball and socket, redirecting impacts away from the brain. It has a carbon shell, fully adjustable visor with airflow vents and a decent amount of pad options/replacements.

ODI Attack Grips

• Price: A tenner
• From: ODI Grips / Good shops

The ODI Attack grip has been around since (at least) the early nineties, when it was known as the Tomac Attack – which will date them, and the readers who recognise that name. Unchanged since those neon days, the Attack grip features comfortable, conforming rubber ridges, along with an inboard groove to wire them on, old skool style. 

Not tried push on grips for a while? Be like Benji and Chipps and embrace them again. The smooth ends stop you getting ‘Lock-on palm’ and reasonable price means you can replace them for grip and comfort more often. It’s the future!

SRAM Butter / Dynamic Seal Grease

• Price: Tenner a tub
• From: SRAM and shops

You can’t have a spring clean of your bikes without a bit of fork and shock maintenance. These two tubs provide factory-approved fork and shock lubrication to get your bike working smoothly once you’ve stripped and cleaned your fork and shock and reassembled, hopefully without any spare bits left over. 

SRAM Code RSC

• Price: £200 an end or so, plus rotor
• From: SRAM

It’s amazing to think that the SRAM Code RSC is now over five years old, but it’s only just been joined by SRAM’s new Stealth brake line. They’re still in the range, though – and Chipps has never been too cutting edge, so he’s got these in for a bit of a revamp on his bike. Code (great name SRAM! Good job…) is SRAM’s brake for ‘hard-hitting, heavy-duty braking’, the Code RSC features much of the company’s clever touches, like bearings in the lever pivots, adjustable reach and bite points, all with a glossy piano black finish and rainbow anodised hardware. The four pot calipers come stock with metal sintered pads and the Bleeding Edge system allows for easy, bubble-free bleeding. Hopefully these will stop Chipps from hitting the tree while he’s trying not to look at the tree… 

Hannah’s Unwelcome Pet

This is a reminder to buy and carry tick tweezers with you. Not only that, but make a conscious effort to check for ticks, as the little swines are often so small they look like a piece of dirt.

Alpkit MytiCafe 750ml Titanium coffee pot

• Price: £49.99
• From: Alpkit

This titanium cafetière is 750ml in capacity, it has a pouring spout, fold out handles and a mesh carry bag. The importance of a strong coffee in a morning is amplified if you wake up in a bivy bag in the middle of nowhere, so this means you only need to carry a stove, water and some ground coffee. You can get away without a mug or any coffee devices, and that suits Amanda just fine.

Schwalbe Magic Mary Super Trail

• Price: £68.99 each
• From: Ison Distribution

The Magic Mary is a stalwart of the mountain bike tyre world. It’ll be 10 years old next year, in a fast moving industry that alone shows just how good the Mary really is. Many of the current crop of top end gravity tyres are influenced by the tread pattern of the Magic with its alternating 2-3 centre knobs with big supportive shoulder tread. The newer casings and Addix compounds are excellent and offer some of the best bite on the market. This soft compound trail casing will make a great long lasting front tyre, although my (Rhys) personal fave is the super soft super gravity up front for some seriously dependable grip on basically everything.

Scicon Aeroscope Eyewear

• Price: £195
• From: Sciconsports.com

Pricey gigs but they do come with some unique features. Firstly, the arms are adjustable from 120mm – 130mm. Secondly there’s a quite amazing promise included if you are the original buyer. Scicon promise that if you scratch your lenses (You get two in the pack) that they’ll replace them for free. There are some conditions attached as you might expect. You need the proof of purchase each time you claim. You can also only claim twice per year. But that’s it. If you follow those rules you get free scratched lens replacement for life.

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Thread Of The Week

Following the release of the new Raleigh Chopper, a11y got us all reminiscing about our first bikes, and there’s some cracking photos in there:

The winning TOTW in FGF gets a prize. And it’s the fabulous majestic Singletrack Forum Bottle Opener! So, YOOHOO! to a11y! Please email editorial@singletrackworld.com. Please include your postal address, as it really speeds up delivery logistics init.

What is Fresh Goods Friday?

It’s Singletrack’s long running, weekly roundup of all of the new products that have been sent in to the magazine.

Where do all of the goods come from?

They’re sent in by bike companies and marketing agencies

What happens to all of the products?

They’re featured and then some are reviewed down the line in either Singletrack Magazine or in online reviews and photoshoots.

What happens to them when you’ve finished with them?

They’re usually sent back after review, or kept on long-term test bikes. But no one ever asks for shorts and shoes back. Trust us on that. Once we were asked to return some brake pads.

I’m a company making the next big thing. How much does it cost to feature in FGF?

Nothing. Nil. Zero. Diddlysquat. Sod all. Just send all ‘next big things’ to us at – Fresh Goods Friday, Singletrack Magazine, Lockside Mill, Dale Street, Todmorden. OL14 5PX. Please note that if you require the products back after they have featured then you are responsible for arranging collection at your cost. While it is our policy to feature everything we receive in FGF if we decide your product is not suitable for publication we won’t do it. Publication is at our discretion. Whether a product goes on for publication as a review is at editorial discretion. Beer, coffee & spirits will ALWAYS be tested.

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