Hey there gang! How are you all doing? We trust you’re are acceptably radical and primed for another supremely stoke-filled weekend. That’s stoke. Not Stoke. There is a difference.
We usually waffle on a bit in this intro but it appears to have stopped raining. So we’re off out riding. Goodbye! Enjoy this week’s Fresh Goods Friday…
Deviate Highlander II
- Price: £3,333 frame only (complete builds from £5,999)
- From: Deviate Cycles
We were fans of the longer travel enduro flavoured Deviate Claymore, so we’re looking forward to having a rag around on the new Deviate Highlander II trail bike. Will it be quickening [sic] around a standard trail ride than the bruisy Claymore? Well, it claims to be “dialled for adventure” and it certainly looks pretty flipping rad to us, so here’s hoping it lives up to our hype! The Highlander II has 145mm of rear travel deliverd by that eye-catching idler-tastic high-pivot arrangement. 65° head angle. 160mm fork. 510mm reach on this XL test bike. 441mm chain stays. Standover is approximately HUGE. That’s a 240mm travel OneUp dropper in there.
p.s. if you own a Deviate Highlander II and want to upgrade to a UDH compatible rear triangle, get in touch with Deviate.
Fresh Goods Friday 701 – The Quickening
Audio visual gold!
Ortlieb Fuel Pack, Handlebar Pack and Seat Pack QR
- Price: £62.50 Fuel Pack, £120.00 Handlebar Pack, £168.50 Seat Pack QR
- From: Lyon Equipment
Bags. For a thing we’re plotting. First up, the Fuel Bag. Easy-reach positioning on the top tube and a magnetic lid closure. Also features an integrated cable outlet for charging (via a battery bank etc) a device on the handlebars. Next up, the Handlebar Pack. Waterproof, stiffened interior, compression belts, comes with four hooks to enable the attachment of Accessory-Pack for storage. The spacers-and-Velcro mounting system ensures secure attachment to pretty much handlebar shape. Lastly, the Seat Pack QR. We did a deep dive into the Ortlieb Seat Pack QR a year or so ago, suffice to say we think it’s arguably still the best example of its kind.
Ortlieb Atrack & Atrack Bike Backpacks
- Price: £220.00 Atrack, £120.00 Atrack Bike
- From: Lyon Equipment
The standard Atrack claims to be “the first waterproof backpack that opens like a travel bag” ie. there’s a full length zip down the front. Four zipped inside pockets, adjustable height back panel to accommodate different heights, padded hip belt with zipped side mesh pockets, two outside net pockets, “daisy chains” allow you to attach additional stuff, four compression belts, hermetically sealed baldder tube port. The Atrack Bike version is designed for bikepacking: the hip wings are eliminated, a more slender shape, helmet fixing and comes in Ortlieb’s black-and-range colourway that is assocaited with its other bikepacking items. Matchy matchy.
Troy Lee Designs Ruckus Cargo Trouser
- Price: £179.99
- From: Saddleback
These won’t be for everyone; they’re kinda a bit overkill for normal riding around in. Troy Lee bills them as “tough trousers designed with trail building, enduro and bike park laps in mind”. Made from woven bi-stretch fabric (90% polyester, 10% Lycra) with stretch reinforcement panels at seat, knees and cargo zones. Rrubber chainguard protection panel. Perforations at gusset and rear panel allow air to circulate. Duraflex cinch buckle, nylon webbing and dual press-stub closure system. And a total of five zipped pockets.
Hope Tech 4 X2
- Price: £195.00 per end
- From: Hope Tech
The bigger sibling of these stopppers (the Hope Tech 4 V4) is very probably our favourite disc brake of all time. So we thought it’d be a good idea to test the X2 caliper version. The Tech 4 lever is the same, as is the hosing and stuff. It should be interesting to find out how they compare to the 4-pot V4 caliper version.
Grayle UltraPress Water Purifier
- Price: £90.00 (500ml)
- From: Unicorn Inc.
Grayle states that this purifier “Requires zero setup, and makes safe, great tasting drinking water in a mere 10 seconds (3L/min).” We partly got this product in to review as an answer to the strong desire a lot of us have to never wear a backpack (or indeed hip-pack) during a mountain bike for the rest of our flipping lives. Can we do a proper epic ride with just one bottle on a bike (refilling it from streams as we go etc)? We shall find out. The replaceable purifier cartridge is rated for 300 cycles (150L); “as ‘press time reaches ~25 seconds (or three years have elapsed since first use) it’s time to replace your purifier cartridge”. Dimensions: 75mm diameter, 247mm height.
502 Club Raffle x Cannondale Habit Carbon LT 1
- 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
This week’s winner is kayak23 for this compellingly crispy thread:
The winning TOTW in FGF gets a prize. So @kayak23 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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