Fresh Goods Friday 754: The Hell To Skelta Edition

Fresh Goods

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Apparently this was a four day week. Could have fooled us; it’s felt much longer than that. Probably because time goes verrry sloooooowlyyyyyy when you’\re looking at blue skies and sunshine through office windows.

And with that, out work here is done. On to biycles! We leave you with these week’s Fresh Goods delivery…

Cotic Cascade

  • Price: £2,249
  • From: Cotic

Yet more steely rightness from the house of Cotic. The Cascade is another of those bikes that to my (Benji) eyes just looks like aroad bike that’s been designed properly ie. has a front end height that won’t give you early onset arthritis. Anyway, because it’s good a non-lethal whelebase and bar ehight the Cascade is intended for a bit of off-roadying. Which is what our Hannah did with it last week. All we be revealed. At some point. On paper.

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Ringo should have worn gloves

Manitou Mattoc Pro 29

Yeah baby! At this point I should probably excise some facade of professional impartiality and calmness. But the fact is I am a massive Manitou fanboi. The venerable brand’s IRT (infinite rate tune) was a totally pioneering concept and one that arguably went over too many people’s heads when it came out. Essentially a system with two positive air chambers that offers the ability to isolate how you want different parts of the stroke to behave. And that’s besidses/before the damping circuits come into play. Manitou forks are also typically way stiffer than other forks with the same stanchion diameter (34mm in this case). And the reverse arch and angular crown looks rad. Which is nice. The Mattoc can be fairly easily changed to different travels by a home mechanic too, this one is now set to 150mm.

Halo Skelta MT2 Wheels

We listed these in our recent Best Bits of Core Bike Show. The new Skelta wheelset is built using 6069 T6 heat-treated aluminium with a seamless welded join, shot-peened surface, 30mm internal width, hooked rim, triple butted J-bend spokes and the rear has the MT Supadrive hub with 120 points of engagement AKA 3°. We weighed ’em: 2,240g.

Ortlieb-a-go-go

  • Price: £various
  • From: Lyon

Okay so, I [Benji] have lost the delivery note for this stuff. And it’s not my usual sorta thang so i’m not actually sure what these bags are. What I do know is that they freature heavily in the next (next) issue of Singletrack Magazine. Ortlieb: “Our bikepacking gear combines ORTLIEB’s proven waterproof design with the lightweight and flexibility you need for your off-road trips. From compact saddle bags to versatile frame bags and practical handlebar bags, you’ll find everything you need for your next bikepacking adventure.”

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PRO Lock On Sport Grips

Some promising looking grips from Shimano PRO. Not a million pounds either. Featuring a missing section inside that makes them more squishy under the outside of your palm. Pretty thin at 30mm diameter. Nice bar plugs uncluded. Tapered collars are a nice touch. 97g all in apaz.

Featured Subscriber Reward of the Week

Garmin: “We make products that are engineered on the inside for life on the outside. We do this so our customers can make the most of the time they spend pursuing their passions. Garmin brings GPS navigation and wearable technology to the automotive, aviation, marine, outdoor and fitness markets. We think every day is an opportunity to innovate — and a chance to beat yesterday.”

Forum Thread Of The Week

The winner this week istomhowardforthis thread:

As before, the winning TOTW in FGF gets a prize. So tomhoward please email editorial@singletrackworld.comfor your random prize (possibly a mini cowbell). Don’t forget to include your postal address, as it really speeds up delivery logistics, like. Keep it real fam.

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Stale Goods Friday – 2013 Turner Burner

Back in the day we wrote this: “We’ve only just unpacked from Garda and now we’res off to Finale, for another gelato fuelled bike trip. This time we’ll be riding this stealthed up 140mm and 27.5 Turner Burner. The 44mm headtube and gusseting makes for a stiff front end with the option to run a zero stack headset to keep everything nice and low. Traction and anti bob courtesy of the dw link back end. Refined using maths by Dave Weagle for optimum pivot placement.”

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185cm tall. 73kg weight. Orange Switch 6er. Saracen Ariel Eeber. Schwalbe Magic Mary. Maxxis DHR II. Coil fan.

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