Fresh Goods Friday 672 – The Metal Mullets Edition

Autumn is here at last! Time to perpetuate all the various myths that come with it. Russet ferns, dusky pink sunsets, snuggles in front of log fires, mists, mellow fruitfulness, conkers for goal posts… that sort of thing.

Or we could be honest and say now is the time to swap tyres and chain lubes and dive into the chilling filth that awaits us out there on the fleeing fells.

I don’t know about you but I’m going to dig out my thickest oil, my spikiest tyres and go out mining for muck in the woods. TTFN!

On to Fresh Goods!

Orange Switch 6 Frame

• Price: Framesets from £2,900, complete bikes from £4,900
• From: Orange Bikes

Not long since the enduro dust has settled on his previous longtermer (Cotic RocketMAX Gen 4 review here) and Benji is off with another pushbike project. A pink pushbike project no less! I [Benji] don’t know why I’m talking about myself in the third person so I’ll stop doing that now. Basically, as soon as I saw the new Orange Switch 6 when it first launched in June of this year, I thought it looked like it could build into a very interesting hardcore trail bike (can I still say “All Mountain”?) And it came in a pink colour that was called ‘Angel Delight’. I mean, come on!

You can call it ugly if you want to. I know it is cool AF.

Seriously though, the Switch 6 ticks an awful lot of boxes that I think are very much worthwhile ticking. It’s a genuine single pivot. Single pivots done well are brilliant. I hope to be testing out various single pivot theories/myths on this bike.

What else? The bearing mount shock appeals greatly. The straight seat tube will accept proper length droppers (especially now that Orange have chopped a bit off their seat tube lengths). The head tube can take angle adjust – or reach adjust – headsets. The bottle mount in inside the front triangle. There’s frame storage for essential tools wrapped in a windshell jacket.

And it’s a mullet, which I’ve never been that swayed before but at least this mullet looks like it has decent length chain stays. Oh, and it’s UDH. So I can put SRAM AXS Transmission on it.

What else am I going to build it up with? Am hopefully going to get some coil sprung Formula suspension (fork and shock) as well as some of their impressive Cura (X?) disc brakes. I’ll be putting some existing mullet-ed Scrub Alloy Trail wheels on. Probably some Hutchinson Griffus 2.4in bronzewall rubbers to begin with. Dropper post, I’ve got a 175mm wireless Magura Vyron to try out but I imagine I’ll eventually slap a 200mm+ dropper in there. As for bars and stem… dunno! Will probably start with my standard 32mm stem and 50mm rise bars and see what happens.

The Beaches of Scotland by Stacey McGowan Holloway

• Price: £20.00
• From: Singletrackworld Shop

Charlie says: “This is a great book to pop on your Xmas list. Just perfect for a winter of planning excellent adventures. The great thing with Scotland is their right to roam, which means that you and your bike can get almost anywhere. You will find over 150 great beaches in this book, but not one of my favourites, so let me spill the beans on that one. You know that classic endless summer road trip dream of living in the dunes, no one around, just seals and good surf? Check out Hosta in the Outer Hebrides. It is right on the 185 mile Hebridean Way cycle route. The book gives you a good insight into each of beaches with a great picture, description, location and notes on access. Next on my list of wild beaches to explore is Sandwood Bay on page 133″

Kommit Zugsystem (Bike-Towing System)

• Price: £64.99
• From: Cyclorise

The round box thing goes under your saddle rails, the extending loop fixes around the rear bolts on the stem of someone who wants to be towed along/uphill (adult or child). Or there’s a carabiner for attaching it to the towed bike in some other fashion. As a big fan of the TowWhee stretchy-tow-rope system I’m very interested to see how this alternative fares. It may not offer the length of the TowWhee or the stretchiness but it does look like it looks like it could be quicker and even lass faffy to use than the TowWhee.

Lizard Skins Charger Evo Grips – Lock-On and Push-On

• Price: £32.00 Lock-On, £12.00 Push-On
• From: Upgrade Bikes

Lizard Skins are one of the venerable names in the world of grips. After browsing their extensive range of classic rubbers, we came across a couple of new designs that we’ve not tried before. First off, the new Charger Evo. We have it in both flavours, lock-on and push-on. The Charger Evo is the “most complex grip” the Lizards have ever created, apparently. Dual pattern design. 136mm long. 32mm diameter. A few colours (black, grey, blue, orange, red).

Lizard Skins Machine Grips Lock-On

• Price: £32.00
• From: Upgrade Bikes

Another new (to us) Lizard SKins grip. “We incorporated a waffle pattern to manage finger placement on the bottom surface. Specific right and left grip design for optimum performance.” 135mm length. 31mm diameter. Colours: black, gum, olive, red, orange.

Lezyne Hecto Drive 500XL & Fento USB Set

• Price: £56.00
• From: Upgrade Bikes

While it may not be deepest, darkest winter just yet, the mornings and late afternoons are decidedly dingier than they were a few weeks ago. It’s that gosh darned rotating planet in a solar system type thing again. This is a classic combo of easy-on/off tool-free LED lights. The front is the Hecto Drive 500XL with 500 lumens on tap, spat out of an aluminium body. The rear LED is the Fento, 5 lumens, with an angled base/platform so that it compensates for seat angle. Both lights are USB rechargeable.

Timber! Yew! Quick Release Bell

• Price: £32.99
• From: Cyclorise

The all new (as of this month) quick release Yew! offers a few improvements: spring loaded piston in the on/off lever for smoother shifting, stronger, all parts are now completely modular. Tool free mounting and removal. New beefier, grippier bands mount firmly. Made of “UV resistant EPDM” so they shouldn’t degrade.

Reverse 220mm Disc Rotor

• Price: £44.99 for 220mm
• From: Cyclorise

Mahoosive six-bolt rotors made from steel. 1.8mm thickness. Engraved by frikkin’ lasers. Weight: 210g. Look a bit like a slantier slotty SRAM Centerline design. Will principally be used here on any e-bikes that come in with sub-par stopping power.

Reverse Organic Disc Brake Pads

• Price: £13.99 for Magura MT7
• From: Cyclorise

Another aftermarket brake pad option for you. Reserve claim: “Long life. Very good cold braking performance. Very good braking performance on cold, dryness or wetness. Optimal braking and long life in the mid-temperature range. Low noise. Asbestos free. We assume this means that there no asbestos in them as opposed to an amount of asbestos being included at no extra cost.

Reverse Base Flat Pedals

• Price: £79.99
• From: Cyclorise

We’re always interested in a new flat pedal here at STW HQ. Vital stats: 116 x 104 x 20mm. Slightly concave shape with added CNC work. 16 x 11mm pins per pedal (9 and 13mm pins optionally available). The relatively chonky body is due to the bushing design: 1 x industrial bearing and 1 x Reverse Baurillium bushing. Baurillium you say? Reserve: “Our newly developed ‘Baurillium’ bushing ensures a long-lasting and low-maintenance pedal. The bushing replaces plastic or Teflon bushings with a special metal alloy with particularly effective sliding and lubricating properties. This bushing is significantly more resilient and has a long service life. A permanent lubrication is generated by the metal alloy with micro pores.”

Gardinól Plant Based Garden Lubricant

• Price: from £11.00 on Kickstarter
• From: Green Oil

Green Oil are branching(!) out into the gardening world. Their new Gardinól brand launched oin Kickstarter this week and we received these items in the post a few days beforehand. “Green Oil needs your help to get Gardinól off the ground. The plan is to displace not just water from your metal parts, but GT-85 and WD-40 with all the pollution they cause from the market place. Gardinól can be used on almost anything. Great for garden sheers, locks, hinges, bed springs, nearly anything with moving parts. Whilst other brands use PTFE which is bad for the environment and the production of which is carcinogenic, Gardinól is superior. It utilizes plant based ingredients and eco-graphite, a friction modifier which is totally biodegradable.”

SRAM Powertrain

• Price: N/A
• From: Yesterday

SRAM finally officially revealed their e-bike motor/system this week. You can read all about it – and our first ride impressions of it – by checking out yesterday’s story: SRAM Powertrain motor is a gamechanger.

Thread Of The Week

This week’s prize-winning Fourm post was kicked off by bonzodog. Do you have any ano crimes you need to confess?

The winning TOTW in FGF gets a prize. So @bonzodog please email editorial@singletrackworld.com for your random prize. Don’t forget to include your postal address, as it really speeds up delivery logistics like. Ta!

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