It’s that mid-Feb kind of time of year where Hannah’s off to the States to see her hubby, Benji’s off somewhere secret to see something secret, and Mark is trapped under a giant spreadsheet. So it falls to me (Chipps) to jet in via the internet from Singletrack’s secret southern base and make up lots of words about these here freshest of fresh goodies.
So, read on and let’s see where this’ll get us…
First, some music. How about IDER? A London duo who’ve just announced a UK tour. Go and see them and check out those harmonies!
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Orbea Alma M-Pro
- Price: £4199 (base. £4823 as tested)
- From: Orbea
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Now this is a racy departure. Not seen something this speedy for a while. Here is the Orbea Alma M-Pro (with a couple of upgrades, namely the wheels and the dropper post). As you might be able to tell, it’s a no-nonsense XC race and (very) fast trail riding bike. Coming in at a smidge over 10kg, it is specced to go fast – which includes the ‘drawn on tread’ Scorpion tyres and the 110mm Rockshox SID SL forks. And what about that bar/stem combo?
And before you say ‘Ooh, there’s a bit of seat tube missing!’ – that is the Orbea X-Fader frame feature, which, as you’ll guess provides a tiny amount of vertical flex aimed at adding a bit of rider comfort. Numbers are 67/75.5 and 435mm reach on our medium. I’m going to be out trying to ride this very fast for the next few weeks and I’ll let you know how I get on.
SRAM Red XPLR Groupset
- Price: ££££
- From: SRAM
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Thirteen speeds! Count ’em! This is the XPLR gravel special version of SRAM’s top-end RED groupset. Only with one extra… Designed for gravel racing, this one-by groupset features (a massive!) AXS wireless derailleur that needs to be mounted to one of the increasing numbers of UDH/Transmission compatible gravel frames (we’ve got a Canyon Grail in for that purpose) and is the only SRAM road or mountain groupset to feature a 13 speed cassette. Apparently, with the derailleur hanger out of the way, SRAM’s engineers found room for a 13th speed.
And just how big is that mech? For fun we dug out a Shimano Ultegra road rear mech for laughs.
Shimano EX900 Boots
- Price: £269.99
- From: Freewheel
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This is Shimano’s wintriest mountain bike boot these days. Fully Goretex lined and featuring a bellows tongue for deep puddle work, two BOA dials (protected by bash guards to prevent accidental opening) and Shimano’s sticky Ultread rubber. This pair is off to James Vincent in the Lakes for all of those hours of hike-a-bike rides he loves to do there.
Shimano PD-M8100 XC Race SPD
- Price: £114.99
- From: Freewheel
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The SPD pedal was something that Shimano got nearly perfect on its first go, with every revision subtly chipping away the form and the weight while still taking the same cleat on the same two slot shoes. This XT level pedal is whittled away for lighter weight while still featuring fully serviceable ball bearings in the axle assembly.
Shimano SH56 Multi Release Cleat
- Price: £17.99
- From: Freewheel
While the basic SPD cleat hasn’t changed, Shimano did bring out the ‘M’ Multi-Release cleats for those scared of clipping in. These allow a greater range of unclipping over the standard cleats that only allow release by swinging the heel outward (or inward) – instead, the SH56 cleats allow you to just pull up and you’ll get out. Chipps knows them as ‘death cleats’ as they readily allow his reluctantly-common signature move of unclipping randomly at the top of a technical descent, so whenever he finds them, they go straight into the recycling bin.
ODI O-Grip
- Price: £12.49
- From: Freewheel
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Mushroom-flanged ODI grips that are mostly made of ribs. This makes them a) very comfy and squashy and b) pretty light too. No Lock-on collars to dig in to your hands and end plugs so you don’t core sample your thighs.
ODI Subliminal
- Price: £11.99
- From: Freewheel
Like rubber Sticklebacks for your hands, the ODI subliminal grips feature hundreds of little rubber nubbins that’ll deform under your palm and offer loads of comfy grip. Whether they’ll fill up with mud too, we’re going to find out!
OneUp Components EDC Threadless Carrier
- Price: £39.99
- From: OneUp Components
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Gone are the days of having to permanently cut a thread into your fork steerer in order to mount your EDC tool within it. No, the OneUP threadless EDC carrier (Every Day Carry, er, carrier) bolts in from the bottom of a steerer tube cap and the upper lipped part of the tool caddy does the job of adding tension to the headset bearings – curiously rather like a Pace RC100 fork and steerer/stem from 1992 or so… Anyway, many bolt lengths come with it, so it should fit any bike and you’ll be ready to deploy that tool.
OneUp Components EDC Tube Strap Mount
- Price: £19.99
- From: OneUp Components
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Mounts to a bottle cage mount and it’ll hold a tube in place for that get out of jail free moment.
OneUp Components EDC Inline Pump Mount
- Price: £19.99
- From: OneUp Components
- SQUIRREL_TEXT_13187423
It’s a mount for a pump. OneUp’s in particular. I think that’s me out of clever words now…
Forum Thread Of The Week
Thread of the week has to go to Wheelsonfire1’s entertaining warning about the ‘joys’ of narrowboating on a, er, narrow boat. Come for the amusing tale, stay for the pedantic criticism of the forum format TLDR hounds.
https://singletrackworld.com/forum/off-topic/narrowboat-holidays-relaxing/
STW Merch
Look at our merch. JUST LOOK AT IT!
Buying from us is a good thing to do. It helps us a lot.
Stale Goods Friday – 2014 Commencal Meta Hip Hop 2
- Price: £2,699.99
- From: Fresh Good Friday 178
“The 26in wheeled Hip Hop 2 is a 66° head-angled 140mm/120mm trail bike with braaaaaap written all over it. Fox 34’s up front and a SRAM X5 2 x 10 drivetrain.”
Weren’t bikes all teeny back in those days. Those days being a mere ten years ago. There was a time when this Commencal was the ultimate in squish, and in a must-have colour too! (Was that before or after the ‘white bars and stem’ trend we wonder?)
Podcast of the week
No super fresh epsiode this week due to Benji and Hannah being out of the country but here’s last week’s episode in video format so you can put it in your eyes at the same time as your ears.
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no link to FGF?
Granted. It’s a bit small. We’ll probably fix that.
It’s massive now! 🙂
Ahem. Those cleats are also useful for those whose ankles don’t work in the direction required to get out of other cleats. Please stop putting them in the bin and send them to me!
ODI Subliminals like rubber Sticklebacks? Should that be Sticklebricks!
Pet peeve of mine, shoe review or ad pics that don’t show a top down view. The most important elements of a shoe’s shape for me are the toe box and the ankle opening. Bloody annoying having to guess what these might be!
That obrea is gash looking.