Fresh Goods Friday 817: The Minty Helmets Edition

Yes, it’s gripped. Yes, it’s sorted. Yes, let’s off-road! And to help us head off-road here’s a bunch of stuff that arrived at STW HQ this past week or so.

Yes, it’s Fresh Goods Friday!

Fresh Goods Friday is Sponsored by Pedal Cover – The better route for cyclists

*Discount available subject to our business terms and conditions: pedalcover.co.uk/business-terms

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Orbea Oiz M10 AXS

• Price: £6,199 ish (tweaked build)
• From: Orbea

Oof. Fix up, look sharp etc. This bike looks like a bit of a weapon. A cross-country racing weapon to be precise. The Oiz sports 120mm of travel at both ends, all controlled by RockShox Flight Attendant auto-twiddling doohickies. Of more interest (to me at least) is Orbea’s continuing use of a regressive suspension action. Basically speaking this is the opposite of the progressive kinematic we’re more used to hearing about with trail-enduro bikes; it’s firmer at the start of the travel and more leveragey deeper into the travel. I think, if done well, regressive kinematics can be excellent for XC bikes. It’s something that Cannondale used to do on its marathon bikes to great effect (Cannondale Rush anyone?). Initial riding of this particular Oiz has been dominated by that one-piece -18° cockpit stem-bar. It is quite… committing shall we say! Other things of note: the alloy bracing plate (see last pic) may look a bit agricultural compared to the rest of the carbon oooh-la-la but it’s a really good engineering solution. And you can’t really see it unless the bike is upside-down.

ESI x Singletrack Chunky Silicone Grips

• Price: £18.00 (TBC)
• From: Lyon

To commemorate ESI landing a new UK distributor (Lyon) we’ve been sent a bespoke STW logo-d set of ESI Chunky Silicone grips. These grips are also in the latest colour option from ESI: forest green. Which is nice. As well as the STW logo looking mighty fine, the etching may also add a welcome bit of extra traction and feel to the otherwise smooth AF finish of ESI’s silicone grips.

Kali Kru Helmet

• Price: £299.99
• From: Oxford

That front framework is titanium. Now this is bound to be something of a polarising product. I would assume that the majority of people are not really going to get past the rather… striking aesthetics of the Kali Kru. But I’m kinda warming to it. Mainly because it should avoid the excess warming that comes with full face helmets. Say what you want about the styling, there’s no arguing that this is going to be a very airy full-facer. It also weighs a scant 650g. And, perhaps most importantly of all, it reminds riders of a certain age of Rollerball. This lid should totally have been called the Kali Jonathan E.

Madison Crypto Hypershift Photochromic Sunglasses

• Price: £79.99
• From: Freewheel

Madison makes some of the bestest riding eyewear out there. As fans of the original Crypto we’re very interested in seeing (literally) how the new lenses behave on the trail. These purple-framed Crypto glasses feature Madison’s new “Faster Blue-tint photochromic technology enhances depth perception while reducing eye fatigue on long cycling sessions. As light conditions change, the lens automatically adjusts from a light tint (Cat 1) to dark (Cat 3) … High-Definition (HD) lens delivers sharper clarity, vibrant colours, and enhanced detail”. The glasses still feature the excellent adjustable nosepiece and arm tips.

Oxford Mint Tubeless Sealant

• Price: £34.99 (1L)
• From: Oxford

STW Towers is very much like the oil refinery stronghold in Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior. Outside the Singletrack office are marauding gangs of violent ne’er-do-wells, whilst inside the office we are always guarding our precious fluids. The principal prize fluid being tubeless tyre sealant. And lo, here is some precious fluid from Oxford Mint. Features: synthetic latex formula, CO2 inflater friendly, should seal holes up to 7mm, 6+ months puncture protection, non-hazardous formula, cleans with water. Also, can confirm, it does smell minty!

Oxford Mint Cleaning Stuff

• Price: £9.99 chain cleaner, £14.99 bike wash concentrate, £19.99 snow foam bottle, £9.99 brake cleaner
• From: Oxford

As the name suggests, Mint cleaning stuff smells a bit minty. The cleaners themselves are pretty much the same sort of thing as any other brand’s cleaners (disc brake cleaner, chain cleaner, general bike wash etc). The more interesting item here is the Snow Foam Bottle. The keen horticulturists amongst you may think it looks a bit like one of those pump-it-to-pressurise-it garden weed spray thingies. And you’d be right. Although this is a bit more bike/motorbike/car cleaning-centric. It comes supplied with two nozzles: one emits ‘snow foam’, the other is just a ‘water sprayer’. Yes, there is a very pleasing pressure release valve to depressurise the inside when you’ve had your foamy fun. This could also double-up a portable mini jetwash thing too. Maybe. Well, we’ll give it a go and let you know how we get on.

Mint Helmet Cleaners

• Price: £11.99 sanitiser, £8.99 cleaner
• From: Oxford

Whilst the ‘helmet cleaner’ belies Oxford’s other (main?) area of distribution (motorbikes), as it’s main use is cleaning visors apparently, the ‘helmet sanitiser’ is very much useful for cyclists. Especially cyclists who have full face helmets. Or those that wear shoes. The build-up of dirt in the lining of your helmet is invisible for the most-part. The formulation in Mint Helmet Sanitiser is specifically designed to clean and safely sanitise the interior fabric so that you have a nicer experience every time to put it on. It can also be used on boots, gloves and other clothing items that are worn for extended periods.” Biodegradable.

Singletrack Rookie in association with DMR Bikes

• Price: N/A
• From: Singletrack World Mountain Bike Magazine & DMR Bikes

We’re looking for photographers and writers. Or photographers who can write. Or writers who can take good photographs. You get the idea. In conjunction with DMR Bikes we’re going to shine a light on new talent. And we’re going to pay them. Imagine that? Paying creative people for printed work.

You’ll submit two pieces of work. Either two written pieces. Or two photographic pieces. Or one of each if you’re multi-talented.
Written piece: 1000 words
Photographic piece: 6 photos

Email your pieces to editorial@singletrackworld.com (keep the total filesize below 10MB)
Subject line: Singletrack Rookie
Include: your name and phone number (so we can contact you)

Singletrack Magazine LBS Sub & Point Of Sale Display

• Price: TBC
• From: subs@singletrackworld.com

An early insight into our forthcoming sales drive (is that what you call such things?) and getting back into more retail spaces. Bike shops, fancy ‘zine stores and trail centres in other words. We’ll be doing something more ‘official’ about this plan to take over the world at some point next week. Stay tuned. Or if you already want to know more, email us via subs@singletrackworld.com

Forum Thread Of The Week

Congrats to flyingmonkeycorps for being the winner for the lastminutetastic Ard Rock ‘elp thread:

The winning FTOTW in FGF gets a prize. So, flyingmonkeycorps please email editorial@singletrackworld.com for a random prize. Don’t forget to include your postal address please. Oh, and good luck with the race!

Stale Goods Friday – 2009 Yeti ASR 7

• Price: £1,899 frame only (or £3,122.46 in today’s money)
• From: Fresh Goods Friday 25

I still quite like the look of the Fox forks of the late noughties. The rest of this bike? Hmm… Anyway. Back then we wrote: “This Yeti ASR 7 came in for Tom who’s going to be playing about on it this weekend. It’s 7inches of travel front (well 6.29in) and rear with Fox Float 36 and RP23 rear shock and has a tapered headtube to give a lower, stiffer front end.”

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