Hello, hello, is this thing on? It’s been a while since I (Hannah) have done one of these. I’m usually quite busy on a Friday writing the Weekly Word and all my waffle engines are expended there. Will this end up like doing Further Maths at A-Level, where you end up getting Bs in four subjects instead of As in three? Decreased quality all round because you tried to be cleverer than you are? I shall make no pretence of clever. I will channel only stupidity. It’s a deep channel. Possibly canalised, so that no otters can climb in or out.
In other matters, I woke up angry. I dreamed that I had finished an enduro and got back to the event field only to discover that my teenage son had eaten all the sandwiches in the lunch box (there was meant to be one per person). I must have been hangry in my sleep because I got REALLY cross about it. If/when this actually happens, I must try to be a little more reasonable. I probably shouldn’t shout loudly enough that everyone at the race looks at me and Josh Bryceland decides I’m not fit to jiggle his baby. I mean his actual baby – not a baby I’ve dreamt I’m going to have with him or anything weird like that. He already has an actual baby, and it’s very cute and happy, and I got to jiggle it the other week at a bike launch. More bike launches should have babies at them in my opinion. Anyway. Let’s move swiftly on in the rapidly flowing river of random, to Fresh Goods Friday 693… dive on in!
Tune for no particular reason other than to appreciate the school show level craft schools of the set builder.
Canyon Spectral CF 9
- Price: £4,799
- From: Canyon
New 150/140 bike from Canyon, as tested by Benji. Designed by Canyon to be a versatile bike to suit ‘any trail, every rider’. It has had 10mm lopped off either end of its suspension; it’s now a 140mm rear travel trail bike with a 150mm travel fork up front. There are mullet and full-29 options, all in carbon only. Read his write up for all the details. Here, we will just highlight the fact that the bike comes with a downloadable 3D printing knitting pattern (we think that’s basically how it works?) for a tool holder for the bike. Which is kind of interesting – imagine how many bike bits we might find ourselves printing at home in future, instead of buying them. Or, just popping into your local 3D print shop to pick up a chain guide? Remember internet cafes? You got the idea for the 3D printer version of it here first. Except Mark says it’s already in a book by William Gibson called The Peripheral.
SRAM Maven Ultimate Expert Kit
- Price: £599
- From: SRAM
New brakes from SRAM, as tested by Ross. SRAM says:
“ALL POWER.
ALL CONTROL.
Maven is the absolute most powerful brake we’ve ever made. Usable power for efficiency and tunability. Extreme power for elevated speed and control on ever-more demanding terrain. Maven gives you the power to progress. The boundless power of confidence. The power of more endurance and less fatigue, letting you leverage subtlety and consistency to open the aperture of your abilities.”
Ross says:
“They’re good. Really good. I like the red bits” At least that’s what we could hear between bites of bacon sandwich. Read his review here for more insight.
Zefal Tubeless Tank
- Price: £88.99
- From: Chicken Cycle Kit
- SQUIRREL_TEXT_13020882
Use any standard pump to pump up this tank, then use the foot pedal to release all the air into your tubeless set up to seat the tyre. Holds a maximum pressure of 230psi.
Zefal MT Mini Pump
- Price: £39.99
- From: Chicken Cycle Kit
A mountain bike mini pump with hose connector – handy for less risk of valve bending. Reversible head for presta and Shraeder valves.
Middleburn RS8 Cranks
- Price: £199.50
- From: BETD
Available in 165mm, 170mm and 175mm lengths, and in black or silver, these rather attractive cranks have retained their retro chic while still keeping up with modern mountain bike standards. Made in the UK. Their website says ‘The colour of the cranks determines the colour of the Lock Ring but if you wish to have silver cranks and a black lock ring please leave a note on your order.’ It’s the details that count.
Repente Latus M Saddle
- Price: £195.72
- From: Repente
Super light with carbon rails, but also super wide, for wider sit bones. It promises ‘extreme comfort’, and Benji is excited to try it out as he likes a wide but stubby saddle. Even though it’s billed as a gravel saddle, he reckons it’s going to work OK on a mountain bike. What a rebel.
Decathlon Self Adhesive Repair Patches
- Price: £5.99
- From: Decathlon SQUIRREL_TEXT_13020889
Sticky waterproof patches in a variety of sizes for fixing your gear. Pre-sticky, no ironing needed. Handy for when you’ve ripped your down jacket, perhaps? Humph.
Restrap Repair Pack
- Price: £3.99
- From: Restrap
Supplied in a wallet made from off cuts from Restrap’s cutting process, these are iron-on waterproof repair patches for your bags. Handy for those spots where you’ve rubbed through on a bumpy descent, perhaps.
Barista & Co Strong Brew
- Price: £34.99 (39.95 with coffee bundle)
- From: Barista & Co
This coffee smells amazing. If you put it into this ‘Strong Brew’ coffee maker it’ll apparently make a super strong coffee with extra caffeine in it. Ideal perhaps for those getting up at 7am this Saturday to watch Red Bull Hardline. ‘Strong Brew’ has been bothering Hannah all week, she’s finally clocked why: ‘In my head it’s a conflation of Special Brew and Strongbow. Both of which might lead to a need for coffee made with this method’. Mark has made a whole video about this gizmo already:
Better still, Barista & Co have offered up a 10% discount off the Strong Brew just for you guys. Just use the code SINGLETRACK at checkout
One Up Aluminum Pedals
- Price: £149.99
- From: One Up
- SQUIRREL_TEXT_13020891
Thin pedals tapering between 8mm and 12mm in thicknesss, 115x105mm body, with 10 hexagonal pins on each side, with a few spares in the box. Chromoly steel axle, aluminium body, available in six colours. Largely unchanged (apart from the price) since they got the ST Recommended award in our 2018 One Up Aluminum Flat Pedal review, but now compatible with SRAM carbon cranks & cranksets with recessed pedal inserts.
One Up 100CC EDC Pump and EDC V2 Tool
- Price: Pump £64.99, EDC V2 Tool £69.99
- From: One Up
- SQUIRREL_TEXT_13019843
- SQUIRREL_TEXT_13019844
Thou shalt not steal Hannah’s pump! Currently available at over 20% off the RRP listed above, One Up’s EDC tools fit lots of usefulness into one tiny space. If you don’t want to store the EDC V2 in your steerer tube, you can pop it inside this pump and then keep your pump on your down tube. Ready and waiting to say ‘Tad dah! Let me help you there!’. This V2 version has a tyre lever, chain breaker tool, and 8-function multitool. Other iterations have chain pliers, CO2 canisters… whatever permutation you need.
Cannondale 10-in-1 mini tool
- Price: £20ish
- From: Cannondale
A teeny tiny multitool with a 20p for scale. Has Hex Keys 2 | 2.5 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 8mm | Torx T25 | Phillips #2 and a Valve Core Tool. Very handy indeed. So tiny, Hannah will probably have to paint it with bright nail varnish so as not to lose it.
Thread Of The Week
Congratulations this week go to @alan1977 for this thread. Basically seeking supporting arguments to help them be kept in a basement with no natural light or ventilation?
The winning TOTW in FGF gets a prize. So @alan19977 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!
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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