It is too soon after last Friday for it to be Friday again. In many respects this is a good thing: we can now take full advantage of the weekend and all that extra sundaylight that we have access to. But in the world of product based content creation (when did journalism or writing become content creation?) it is a bad thing, because there have been too few working days in which for cold hard products to make their way through the cold spring air to us. And so, we have turned to our agent across the pond for additional goods. As is well known, Americans spend 75% of their income on healthcare, 5% on guns, 10% on giant cups of coffee, and only get four days of annual leave a year. You nearly had my weekly Lidl shop as your Fresh Goods, but luckily for you, our American agent spends all his money on bike parts instead of guns, which, thanks to the near total absence of days off, have actually been delivered. Phew.
Demonstrating our endless creative skills, here we have Amanda and I managing to talk about stuff when there is no stuff.
You’ll be needing a tune. What didn’t make it into the video edit, is that I have discovered Add To Playlist on BBC Radio 4 and it’s probably one of the greatest things to be found on the radio. Music nerding to the max, all sorts of things you might never have heard of, and the hosts will make you understand the familiar in whole new ways.
Focus Jam2 SL 9.9
- Price: £7,999
- From: Focus Bikes
Not actually the same bike that we had in last week – this is the JAM2 not the VAM2. It’s not the one we had in last year either – which gave Benji fun times until it gave him error codes. So this is a re-run. The JAM2 has the same Fazua Ride60 (60Nm) motor as the VAM2, paired with a 430Wh battery. But more travel, with a 160mm fork and 150mm shock. It’s one of an increasingly rare breed of bike where you can take the battery off the bike to charge it.
Oury Single Compound Grips
- Price: £15
- From: Lizard Skins
Squishy McSquish grips with big chunky knobs on for minimum vibrations or maximum Da Vinci Code codex style. Made in the Yew Ess Ay, where everything is big.
FSA 42T Megatooth Road Chainring
- Price: £43
- From: FSA
Ermagerd, it’s a road thing. Not only that but it’s a road thing bought by Father Freeride to go on his gravel bike. Who even is he? Does he even Freeride? We can barely tell truth and reality from fake news any more. All part of the true ‘Merican experience. With Megatooth technology to stop the chain getting dropped when you’re putting the power down. Hoo-ya!
Sunrace 11-50T Cassette
- Price: £118
- From: SunRace
An 11 speed cassette, also destined for our American agent’s gravel bike. Both these upgrades are to deal with the fact that he listened to his wife and bought a 1x gravel by with a 11-44/40 drivetrain. Apparently the hills of Moab/the thighs of power require more range. 11-50/42 should do it – this SunRace cassette is nothing new, being a popular choice for many.
Bivo Insulated Water Bottles
- Price: $39 (17oz), $44 (21oz)
- From: Bivo
These insulated stainless steel bottles wrapped in silicone (to stop them rattling) fit in a standard bike cage and claim to be ‘the first insulated stainless-steel bottle with a flow-rate fit for astronauts’. Which means that despite the fact you can’t squeeze them, the water still comes out at a sensible pace. Currently only available in the USA, consider this a bit of a warm up for Sea Otter, where Bivo will be exhibiting. I (Hannah) am heading over there for a bike nerd’s holiday, but will be doing a spot of reporting from Sea Otter while I’m there. Is there anything in particular you want to hear about?
Thread of the Week
This week’s TOTW was started by @mjsmke and captures the zeitgeist of our current existence. Anyone from outside the UK reading it will have all their ideas about national stereotypes confirmed, and it’s entirely possible that we may face a cyber attack from the English Tourist Board in an effort to stop foreign tourists cancelling their holidays. Which has just prompted the thought: since we’re so often keen to go abroad in search of sunshine and warmth, do people who live in hot and dry countries ever come here to experience a week of endless drizzle or driving rain?
The winning TOTW in FGF gets a prize. So @mjsmke 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!
From The Archive
Speaking of holidays, we’ve noticed that when you book with Eurocamp having clicked a link here on STW, we get a little bit of a kick back. Nice. So, if you’re booking with Eurocamp anyway, have a click here first, thank you very much! And if you’re not sure why you’d want to, here’s Barney’s entertaining write up of combining a family holiday with a spot of mountain biking thanks to Eurocamp.
Time for another tune. In honour having finished Loudermilk on Netflix this week, have this deeply grim and depressing angry tune.
But flip, we can’t head into the weekend like that. Have something completely different and more cheerful to sign off. Byeee!
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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