Kudos to everyone out there who is still mountain biking. Don’t hang up your boots yet! December is a difficult month to keep on keeping on.
Partly because of the general state of the terrain and weather out there. Partly because there’s a whole lot of other temptations this month. Mainly the temptation to be indoors eating and drinking stuff!
But before you put down that mince pie and go mountain biking, pre-stoke yourself up with this week’s Fresh Goods Friday!
Pivot Shuttle SL Pro Spec X01
- Price: £11,250
- From: Saddleback
Coming in at the “How much?!” end of the pricing spectrum, the Pivot Shuttle SL created quite the stir when it launched last year. Offering 132mm of DW Link travel at the back courtesy of a Fox Float X Factory shop coupled with a 150mm Fox 36 Factory GRIP 2 fork out front, this sub 19kg lightweight carbon E bike is destined to have the veritable bejesus ridden out of it by our resident technophobe Sanny for a 12 month long term test.
Power comes courtesy of Fazua’s Ride 60 motor matched with an integrated 430Wh battery. Shifting duties are taken care of by SRAM X01 while brakes are 4 pot Shimano XT. In typical Sanny manner, he has already ridden it and hike a biked it over a fair number of fells and mountains hence the hastily washed off dirt you eagle-eyed readers will spot in a couple of the images.
You can read about his initial impressions in the first of five planned online articles on what it is like to live with an e bike as your only bike for a year when it lands before Christmas but in the meantime, all he has told us is that “it rides just like a proper (non E) bike” and that he has “singularly failed to break anything….yet!” Watch this space.
Hope Tapered Headset
- Price: £105.00
- From: Hope Tech
Good old Hope. You know where you are with Hope. The things will work. And they’ll suit just about any bike. And you’ll be able to get spare bits for them for the next three thousand years or so. This is ‘just’ a bog standard headset for the tapered head tube. Split crown race. Cartridge bearings. Comporession ring thing. Some thin take-up washers. Rubber seals. Job’s a good ‘un. And most importantly, silver.
Ergon Grips
- Price: £34.99
- From: Extra UK
Those of you with a keen rubbery eye and an obsession with World Cup DH vloggers may have spotted these grips on a certain Mr Brosnan’s bike this past season. That’s right, the Troymeister uses these grips. Ergon: “The culmination of over 10 years of World Cup Gravity experience with GE, GD and GFR series grips. This new Team grip meets all the requirements of Gravity: Multi-level damping on top, maximum pronounced finger grip zone on the bottom and intuitive positioning thanks to an inner and outer stop to give you that locked-in feeling. Deep involvement with the best Enduro and DH athletes in the world: Vali Höll, Troy Brosnan and Luca Shaw.” Ross and Benji are fighting over these currently, so we’ll do the right thing and give them one grip each. Fair’s fair.
Orbea beers
- Price: £N/A
- From: Orbea
‘Tis the season. The season where all the absolute bestest ever in the world bike brands send us prezzies because of Jesus themed holiday imminence. Orbea have sent us a biker’s dozen of beers. Although they all say “Lager” on the label, we’re pretty sure that there’s a mix of beer styles on this bunch of bottles. What beer for gravelpacking though..?
Advent Calendar & Christmas Tree
- Price: £TOO MUCH
- From: Tony’s Chocolonely
More Xmassy tings. Have you got an advent calendar this year? If so, what is it? Have you got – and successfully erected – a Christmas tree yet? If so, how did manage to not murder your significant other and/or child(ren) and/or pet(s)? Comment your advice below.
Singletrack Skateboard Griptape
- Price: £16.99
- From: The SingletrackWorld Shop
Very limited edition and yes it’s a bit weird us doing grip tape, but here we are. There’s a few skaters out there – we see you on the forum pretending to be asking on behalf of your kids. Anyway, if you think your ‘child’ might love a new super grippy deck to stand on then take a look at these. Grip tape is 9 inches wide and 33 inches long. Skating is never metric.
Be warned: there’s only 10 available and we won’t be getting any more in.
Canyon Endurace CF SLX 8 Di2
- Price: £3,999
- From: Canyon
CF SLX 8 Di2? Catchy name, eh? and, WAIT, what’s an actual road bike doing in the hallowed halls of Fresh Goods Friday? You’ve got to have a hobby, right? And this is what Chipps has treated himself to for a bit of roadie suffering when he’s not bustin’ rocks.
However, just because it has a diamond frame and skinny wheels doesn’t mean it doesn’t have some bonkers tech. For a start, there’s a neoprene snake of tools inside the top tube that features tyre levers, CO2 cartridge and then… a ratchet tool, CO2 chuck and Dynaplug stabber – all in the same tool! If that wasn’t enough, it has a two-piece S15 VCLS 2.0 suspension seatpost and three-piece handlebars that bolt together. All in an 8.2kg weight.
And, being an endurance road bike, meant for cobbles, Strade Bianchi and general all-road fun, it comes with 32mm slicks and clearance for 35mm tyres. Chipps plans to see just how ‘all-road’ he can get away with…
Singletrack World Magazine Issue 152
- Price: £10.00
- From: The SIngletrack World Shop
The new issue has landed, complete with lysergic cover photography courtesy of Amanda. Want to know what’s actually in Singletrack World Issue 152? Read our recent Get Your December Issue of Singletrack Magazine Here! story then. Go on. Have at it.
A Longer Shoe Horn
- Price: £various
- From: The Internet
I’m [ Benji ] have been a big believer in shoe horns for quite a while now. I think there’s only so many times I could bear having good riding shoes that ended up having their heel cup backs mashed-down to the point of the shoe not fitting/working properly anymore. Five Ten Impacts were the worst offenders. But any winter-friendly hi-top and/or boots really benefit from a shoe horn. Honestly, these shoe horn things have been a game changer. And the longer they are, the less you have to bend over in your mid- to late-forties (and beyond). Win win.
Thread Of The Week
Congratulations go to munrobiker for this week’s winning forum thread. It involves bikes. And Munros.
The winning TOTW in FGF gets a prize. So @munrobiker please email editorial@singletrackworld.com for your random prize (it will probably be a Singletrack Forum Bottle Opener). Don’t forget to include your postal address, as it really speeds up delivery logistics like. K thx bye!
Megasack Giveaway Day 6
- Price: £449.96
- From: Megasack Giveaway Day 6 – Madison DTE Clothing Bundle
It’s the sixth day of our Megasack giveaway. Maybe you’re planning a mid-winter escape from the sofa? This is the day for you!
New Subscriber Discounts!
- Price: Free with all Singletrack World subscriptions
- From: Singletrack Subscriber Perks
Singletrack Subscribers get a huge array of discounts with various online shops (as well as access to all our content, ad free web browsing, double entries to the Megasack, and more). This week a whole stack of new discounts has been added:
- Dryworld 30% off
- MuscleFood up to 25% off
- Berghaus Men up to 50%
- Berghaus Women up to 50%
- Nike Kids up to 50%
- Reebok up to 60%
- UK Cycling Events up to £15 off
- Ass Saver 15% off
- Rawvelo 15% off
- Troy Lee designs up to 60%
- Footasylum up to 60%
- Castelli up to 50%
- Oakley EXTRA 5% off (Was 10% now 15%)
- Ray Ban EXTRA 5% off
- Sunglasses Hut EXTRA 5%
- Cycloc 15% off
It’s Singletrack’s long running, weekly roundup of all of the new products that have been sent in to the magazine.
They’re sent in by bike companies and marketing agencies
They’re featured and then some are reviewed down the line in either Singletrack Magazine or in online reviews and photoshoots.
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.
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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