With the heat breaking and rain due back on the daily, relax, take a break from all that energy expending and consider how to support your active life with your wallet.
By guest FGF host: Kevin ‘Fahzure’ Dwyer
With the summer school holidays upon us, it appears that no one in the bike industry wants to work or shop. They’re all too busy riding to produce and consume?!?! So it is, with Benji familybound, that our occasional USA-flavored [sic] contributor and nearly empty nester, Fahzure Freeride, has subbed in to bring you today’s smorgasbord of gear.
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Burgtec Shimano Crank Bolt
- Price: £9.99
- From: Burgtec
Let’s start with something small and affordable, but oh so satisfying. If you are the owner of Hollowtech cranks or a Shimano motorized e-bike, you may have had the frustration of dealing with the proprietary Shimano crank preload bolt. This little plastic doohickey has a unique wave interface, like nothing else in the mechanical world. Thus if you have ever had to deal with a creaky bottom bracket, you will need a special tool or bodge, perhaps with needle nose pliers, to accomplish the task, Burgtec eliminates all of this faff with a simple eight millimeter allen fitting on an anodized [sic] aluminium bolt that can nicely accent your bike in a choice of nine colors. Sorted and stylie for less than 10 quid!
Shimano SL-M8100 Right Hand Base 12s
- Price: £14.99
- From: Freewheel
Sometimes the hunt for a small part leads one on a journey that results in a full shopping cart and the end of summer seems to offer some particularly good bargains. So it was, that I was looking for a new shifter mount after having bent mine on a rut track OTB in the woods. I came across Spanish e-tailer BikeInn and its cornucopia of small parts, often at closeout prices. This Shimano shifter pod mount is XT specific so the bargain price made me a happy shopper and curious what else might lurk on the site.
Maxxis Minion DHR II DD 3C MaxxGrip
- Price: £79.99
- From: Freewheel
By now you may have heard that mountain bike tires are undergoing significant changes with radial plies, ply material, knob spacing/dimensions and construction revisions common for many brands. All of that has left me nostalgic for one of my favorite [sic] rear tire [sic] choices the venerable Maxxis DHR II. Just shy of downhill casing durability, the Double Down variety is a little more compliant while still offering substantial pinch flat and rim protection with a rubber insert from bead up through the lower sidewall. With fast rolling ramped knobs, I like running it in firmer soil conditions with an insert and can take it down to about 22 PSI.
ZEFAL Z Switch Connection
- Price: £11.00
- From: Chicken Cyclekit
Schrader valves have many advantages over Presta the valves, namely durability, volume and the ability to seat your tubeless tires at the local tyre shop. However, their main disadvantage in bicycle applications is the lack of reliable compatibility with bicycle pumps, especially of the floor for variety. If the floor pump head does work well with Presta and Schrader, it is likely a faff, quick to wear out or poor sealing. This Zefal Switch pump head and hose appears to be none of those, with a simple switch on the head dictating Presta to or Schrader and a secure thumb lock. I threaded it directly into a stub of the old hose and, so far, it works perfect at a fraction of the cost of a new pump.
POVEC C1 Performance Sunglasses
- Price: $249.00 (approximately £185.00)
- From: Povec Optics
I love photochromic glasses for riding in the UK where there is often darkness because of the forest overstory, which is punctuated by bright light in openings. And, there are many days with mixed cloud and sunshine. Standard sunglasses are too often a hindrance in the dark and techy sections which demand your best perceptions. So it is that Povec has electrified tint change through a rechargeable sunglasses that operate with a swipe on the right temple, alternating between a lighter or darker tint. In my initial use I have found the tint shift to be immediate, under one second, but the light transmission difference isn’t all that substantial and the practicality of removing one’s hand from the bar, on a mountain bike, to change the tint is questionable. The charge is supposed to last for weeks with daily use and they come with a 30 day money back guarantee, so if this fits your road/gravel AXS lifestyle and charging setup, maybe you should try them.
Sliverhook Clear Wax Spray
- Price: 2 for £22.99 with hose
- From: eBay
As a relative newcomer to the UK (this past winter was my first) I have come to realize [sic] that the greatest enemy to metal objects used outdoors is rust and corrosion. I decided to take the ounce of prevention approach and after lots of Internet worm holeing discovered that wax and lanolin products are the preferred preventative measure. With two cars and some bike frames that I wanted to seal up, I chose a variety of products, the most notable of which is the Silverhook Clear Wax. I bought it because it includes a long hose/wand with a three orifices tip that reaches deep into unibody frame cavities, body work, axles and bicycle frame tubes. The spray is powerful and the tip atomizes [sic] the liquid into a fine mist which coats as it settles. I’ll check back in five years and let you know how it’s gone.
Forum Thread Of The Week
This week’s lucky winner is StrangeLoop for the DIY garden trails thread:
The winning FTOTW in FGF gets a prize. With this at the forefront of your mind, StrangeLoop please email editorial@singletrackworld.com for a random prize. Don’t forget to include your postal address.
Singletrackworld Mountain Bike Magazine Issue 168
- Price: £15.00
- From: The Singletrack Shop
It’s here! Benji’s [the editor] difficult second album. It wasn’t so difficult really. In fact it was a total joy being the editor putting together this corker of an issue. Issue 168 The Racing Issue. In this one: life after racing with the Athertons, the state of local XC racing, women’s experiences in MTB racing and an interview with photography legend Sven Martin (who also took the belting cover shot).
Stale Goods Friday – 2018 Geometron G16
- Price: £5,400 (or £7,256.68 in today’s money)
- From: Fresh Goods Friday 423
Is 8 years ago a long enough time to include this bike as ‘Stale Goods’? Who knows? There are no rules here. Back then we wrote: “Here are some photos of the Geometron. This, length fans is the G16 in Extra Longest. That’s a 535mm reach, Head angle is 62.5°, according to the website, 77° SA. EXT Storia Lok shock, Lyrik in 160mm. Lots of Hope (cranks, brakes, headset, 83mm BB, wheels), XT (mech, shifters, cassette). Price for this XT build is £5,400.”
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The Geometron definitely still looks fresh, other than the Hope decals in the rims.
That looks like the Geometron I built 8 years ago and I destickered the rims on arrival.
I’d rather have that than any other bike from 2018.
It looks a lot like my current G1, which has a red Zeb up front right now. Just the proportions are weird.
I just recently bought a hammered old geometron, which turned out to be one of the UK press bikes, I found a picture of it on bikeradar. Still looks pretty bloody cool tbh.
“Is 8 years ago a long enough time to include this bike as ‘Stale Goods’?"
I’d say no. Might be stale to a bike journalist or a pro but not the rest of us particularly as it’s geometry was ahead of it’s time. Not even 26″ for proper staleness.
Isn’t the whole point of the proprietary HTII pre-load bolt that you can’t over-tighten the bearings as you can only use your fingers to cinch it up? Like the designers thought about the end user or something?
Yes, that Burgtec bolt has the torque written on it, but an 8mm hex normally means a great big torque, even when only meaning to apply a little bit (as the handle of the hex key will be longer).
It would have been better for them to have just put a small hex on it so you can’t heave on it and emphasise that it doesn’t need much.
It even mentions the minimal torque required on the page for the product, so they clearly considered it a potential problem.
Seems like a recipe for people to trash their BB bearings in the comfort of their own garage.
Holy fudge is that really what you pay for Maxxis tyres in the UK?!? That’s about 50 quid in Oz!
That’s what Maxxis wish we would pay.
I’ve never paid more than £50 for one.
Whoa, big spender! 😉
Whatever Banana Industries have on sale, so £25-ish.
I did pay £45 each for a pair of WTBs in ’97. They got torn to shreds on the first ride. Never again.
100%. the Shimano bolt is made of plastic, and the *tool* to tighten it up on some tools (eg Park BBT9) is plastic as well to stop you over tightening it. The torque on the Burgtec is marked as 0.7 -1.5. None of my torque wrenches go that low…
Before I understood that, I managed to crack/strip a standard plastic Shimano bolt by wrenching it tight with molegrips on the plastic tool. Oops.
Sometimes (often) Shimano just does the job perfectly well. Not bling obvs.
And the G16. I know it’s that old but it’s still a surprise to realise how many years that is in numbers. I worked my way from a G15 to G16 to current G1. Would’ve still be happily riding my G16 if I’d found a deal on a EXT Storia that I wanted, the geometry is still spot on now.