Fresh Goods Friday 700 – The Padding It Out Edition

What are you lot talking about? Assuming it’s neither football nor shopping, dare we guess that you’re currently thinking about this coming weekend’s cycling adventures?

Wherever you go and whatever you get up to on your fine velocipedes, may we wish you the very best of times.

To get you increasingly amped – nay, stoked – for the weekend, here is this week’s roundup of stuff that has arrived at Singletrack World HQ since the last time we did this. That’s right – it’s time for Fresh Goods Friday!

We hope you like knee pads.

G-Form Terra Knee & Elbow Guards

• Price: £94.99 (knee), £84.99 (elbow)
• From: Oxford Products

Purple is the new orange. Instead of the more established and brand-recognisable orange D30 material, G-Form is going with something purple called ‘RE ZRO’. Here’s what G-Form proclaims: “RE ZRO is the world’s first 100% recyclable, fully biodegradable impact protection technology. Landfill microbes break down the carbon of RE ZRO plastic, leaving only biogas and biomass behind, returning to ZRO in just 3-5 years. This RE ZRO® pad contains materials that have been independently tested for biodegradability. RE ZRO® TPE material achieves the biodegradability of 14.14% over 90 days in accordance with ASTMD5511-18 & ISO 1598.”

In terms of how RE ZRO performs before biodegrading: “During an impact, the force exerted on the material fractures the supermolecules to consume large amounts of energy, resulting in powerful shock absorption. Immediately after impact these supermolecules recombine returning to their ZRO STATE ready for the next impact.”

These knee and elbow sleeves-with-a-bit-more feature: pre-curved pad, perforated foam pocket, mesh cut-out backs, abrasion-resistant covering for increased durability, silicone-printed wide top grippers.

Fresh Goods Friday: D’Movie

BAFTA Award-losing content

G-Form Mesa Knee & Elbow Guards

• Price: £119.99 (knee), £109.99 (elbow)
• From: Oxford Products

These Mesa guards from G-Form are a step up from the Terra sleeve-style pads above. As you can no doubt see from the purple things, the Mesa guards also feature the RE ZRO inserts. They are very much fully featured set of pads: ‘Active Airflow’ 4-layer protection system, firm but flexible hard shell gives protection and ability to slide on hard surfaces, tear-resistant DuraTx fabric, RE ZRO pre-curved pads, soft inner foam keeps pads, adjustable Velcro fit-straps, locking zips on knee guard “won’t slide down and allows for easy on and off without removing shoes”, technical mesh backs and flatlock stitching throughout.

G-Form MX Spike Chest & Back Protector

• Price: £219.99
• From: Oxford Products

Mo’ RE ZRO. The MX Spike chest and back pad is rated for all levels of push-biking and can even be used for motocross if you fancy. Features: ventilated RE ZRO chest and back pad is flexible and removable, CE 1621-2 Level 2 back, CE 1621-3 Level 1 chest, full-length front locking zip with reinforced seams, moisture wicking fabric, side elastic straps provide customisation and integrated elastics to secure neck brace.

G-Form Mid-Calf Socks

• Price: TBC
• From: Oxford Products

Socks for Going to the Next Level with. They also feature Jimmy Cricket’s welly-style ‘L’ and ‘R’ indicators for those who struggle with such things. Available in S/M (in black above) and L/XL sizings (the white ones).

YT Trail Knee Protection

• Price: £59.90
• From: YT Industries

What’s that you say? You want even more bendy body protection items in this week’s FGF? Say no more! Here is the latest item in YT’s relatively recent move into apparel and accessories. Some D30 knee sleeves. Features: D3O Ghost Knee Protector “same level of protection as competitors in a thinner profile, certified at CE Level 1 standard”, removable for washing, available in 4 sizes (S,M,L,XL), grippers top ‘n’ bottom, cinch adjust at the bottom.

Rab Women’s Cinder Downpour Light Jacket

• Price: £160.00
• From: Rab Equipment

Shameless cut-and-paste because (ironically) we need to get out on a test bike ASAP while it’s not raining: “Tailored bike fit with articulation for optimal performance and comfort. Reduced volume, under helmet hood with stiffened peak and elasticated face closure. Single handed hood cinch reduces volume around lower crown. Precurved YKK AquaGuard front zip is shaped for on bike positioning. Extended cuffs with stretch binding to optimise hand warmth during exposed rides. Dropped rear hem with branded silicone grip helps keep jacket in place while riding. Lightweight single sided rear hem adjustment with anti snag tether. Two external hand pockets with YKK AquaGuard zips. One YKK AquaGuard zipped lumbar pocket, allows for increased storage and doubles as a stash pocket.”

TruTune tease

• Price: TBA
• From: Trutune

We’re not allowed to tell about this. We’re probably not even really supposed to show you this photo. But we just have done. So there. Something new from the winners of 2023’s Most Innovative Product Of The Year. But yeah. Shush now.

New Saracen Ariel 30 Elite

• Price: £3,999 Ariel 30 Elite
• From: Saracen

As of today, Saracen has introduced a new Ariel. The Saracen Ariel 30 Elite. And it looks ace. It’s a new top-spec short travel trail bike (don’t say “downcountry”). Saracen has also been busy updating the specs and paintjobs of all the other Ariels too, including one of my [Benji] favourite bikes of recent times, the Saracen Ariel 60 Pro. Back to the Ariel 30 Elite pictured above, the bike sticks with the brand’s signature TRL suspension design and 6013 alloy frame, the idea behind the Elite is apparently to be a “brand new model taking performance up another notch with a killer spec that’s built for fun but still has glimmers of XC in its DNA.” We’ll hopefully be taking delivery of one of these shortly to put that to the test.

Static Shred-E Frame

• Price: £3,695
• From: Static Bikes

Hailing but from two hills over yonder from Singletrack HQ, Blackburn to be exact, Static is a new brand starting out. E-bikes only. It’s offering a complete of complete bikes – one that holds two battieries (630 + 504 = 1,134wh!) – but arguably the most interesting thing is that Static is selling an e-bike frame-only. Well, you get a bit more than just the bare frame. For £3,695 you get: Shimano EP801 motor, Shimano 630wh battery, internal battery bracket, display screen, mode/power control, wiring, speed sensor, rear axle, headset, 165mm crank arms, bottom bracket and chain device.

Singletrack World Magazine Issue 154

• Price: from £7.99
• From: Singletrack World Shop

Rattle, thunk, slap. For some lucky people, the print magazine has already landed, and for a few more it’s in the post. Click here to read what’s inside this wonderfully aromatic offering. Clue: loadsa bikey stuff.

The Singletrack 502 Raffle

• Price: £5.00
• From: Raffall

Help us build an even better website! Enter into a raffle to win a Cannondale Habit Carbon LT 1 worth £4,750. Money raised through this raffle will be ring-fenced and used to upgrade our website servers. You can find out why we are doing this by clicking here.

Thread Of The Week

Winner = Merak. For this vital thread:

The winning TOTW in FGF gets a prize. So @Merak 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!

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