New tyres! New hats! New surveillance techniques! New ways of making Cup-a-Soups! Everything you ever need in this week’s FGF!
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Continental Xynotal
- Price: £63.99 (Trail, Soft) £74.99 (Enduro, SuperSoft)
- From: Conti Tyres UK
Specifically, we have here a 27.5in Xynotal Trail Soft and a 29in Xynotal Enduro SuperSoft. I’m fairly sure I’ve never ridden a Continental Xynotal before, so this is all very exciting (to a rubber fetishist such as myself). The Xynotal can kinda be taken in two ways. You can think of it as a faster rolling Continental Kryptotal, or as Conti’s hardpack tyre. And since Continental’s recent revamp of its casing and compound combo availability, you can get the Xynotal (and pretty much all Conti’s MTB tyres) in more variations to suit your tastes. Which is what we’ve attempted here; a firmer rubber Xynotal with lighter casing for the rear (will be paired with an insert) and a softer rubber Xynotal in sturdier casing for the front (to better cope with the more dynamic and biggerer forces that front tyres need to deal with). Mmm… rubber.
Giro Montaro Pro helmet
- Price: £269.99
- From: Giro UK
Another Uber Premium helmet with an eye-catching price tag. Whilst it’s not quite as jaw-dropping as the £700 POC Barocon, asking £270 for an open-face helmet is a pretty big ask. Putting the pound signs to the side for now, what does this new Pro version of the existing Giro Montaro MIPS III bring to the table? Featurefest: Spherical Technology MIPS (in effect two helmets in one, connected by elastomers over a slip liner – think: ball and socket joint), AURA Ring II polycarbonate roll cage, 23 WindTunnel vents with internal channeling, DryCore sweat management browpad, Progressive Layering Nanobead EPS foam construction, Ionic+ anti-microbial padding, Roc Loc Trail Air, Fidlock, two-position visor, refined eyewear storage, custom webbing dividers. 453 grams.
GTechniq Fabric Proof
- Price: £15.95 (250ml), £29.95 (500ml)
- From: Freewheel
Proudly described in CAPS LOCK and everything as “NEXT-GENERATION PFAS-FREE DURABLE WATER REPELLENT”, this is a new product from the clean-and-protect techno fluid nerds over at GTechniq. Here’s the science bit: “Traditional DWR treatments can offer effective water repellency, but they come with several drawbacks, including the need for heat activation, cure times of 24 hours or more, and typical performance lasting for only 2?3 wash cycles. They can also require additional processing during application. In comparison, Fabric Proof offers a simpler and more efficient solution, requiring no heat activation and air curing in approximately three hours. It provides durable water repellency through up to 10 wash cycles, while maintaining fabric breathability and enhancing abrasion resistance, making it a more practical and longer-lasting alternative to traditional DWR treatments.” As someone who has a real bugbear with expensive jackets – and reproofers that don’t really work – I really want this stuff to do what it says. We shall see.
PAJ LED BICYCLE Finder 4G
- Price: £49.99
- From: PAJ GPS
This product basically acts as a rear LED light with a GPS Tracker concealed in it. The device provides live tracking and some other alert-type features. These alerts are only available via a monthly subscription (yep, eyeroll) but such is modern life. Thankfully, you can still use the live-tracking – via the Finder Portal app/webpage – for two years (after which it will cost you €2/month). If you are sufficiently poaranoid/wealthy, the extra alert features are: Motion Alarm (receive an alarm message as soon as the GPS tracker moves), Fall Alert (alert message as soon as the device detects a fall), Geofence Alert (receive an alarm message when the GPS tracker exits a defined area), Battery Alert (receive an alarm message when the battery level is low), Power Off Alert (alert message as soon as the GPS tracker is switched off), Speed Alert (receive an alarm message when the GPS tracker exceeds a certain speed).
Jetboil Flash 1.0L
- Price: £159.99
- From: Jetboil
The latest “fastest ever” Jetboil claims to boil water in 100 seconds. I shall be testing out this claim at this weekend’s Malverns Classic. Feel free to track me down in you really need your Cup-a-Soup in a hurry. The Jetboil Flash features: 1 Litre FluxRing cook pot with insulating cosy, thermochromatic colour-change heat indicator, push-button igniter, bottom cover doubles as a measuring cup and bowl. It’s also compatible accessories include coffee press. Well TFFT. Oh, it weighs 371g. #bikepacking
Bimbo Agitprop by Raquelle Jac
- Price: £31.99
- From: GOSH London
“Bimbo Agitprop captures growing up in West Texas in the early 21st century, through Satanic Panics, Y2K, a recession, abusive parents, identity-centric politics, and woke/anti-woke pendulum swings. Reflective of the author’s era (born in the late 1990s) of hyperindividualist over-sharing of late 2010s internet, while being firmly grounded in the unfiltered, handmade, radically anti-establishment art of the 1960s underground comix. At turns explicit, hilarious, profane, and defiant, Bimbo Agitprop is both an act of self-preservation and a call to arms. Her dense, obsessive pages read like a manifesto, announcing the arrival of an arresting new voice in comics.” @raquellejac. Yay for print.
Singletrack World Padded Jacket
- Price:
£98.33£73.75 - From: The Singletrack Shop
A seriously lightweight and totally snuggly padded jacket. This is premium gear and 100% recycled and sustainably produced. Tested by Singletrack staff and we wouldn’t put our logo on it if we didn’t love it.
Forum Thread Of The Week
The winner this week is dogbone for the What’s the wrongest you’ve been? Time to fess-up.. thread:
The winning FTOTW in FGF gets a prize. Sooo, dogbone please email editorial@singletrackworld.com for a random prize. Don’t forget to include your postal address please.
STWrava Club
Come on in! The water’s lovely…
Stale Goods Friday – 2011 Transition Covert
- Price: £1,399 frame only (or about £2,137 in today’s money)
- From: Fresh Goods Friday 99
Back in the day we typed the following into our white MacBook’s keyboard: “Transition say that the Covert is their ‘quiver killing all mountain bike’ which we don’t really understand. However, with 150mm of linkage driven single pivot travel at the rear and 160mm of Fox 36 up front, we reckon it’ll make a superb do-it-all bike with an emphasis on the harder hitting side of riding. The orange colour it comes in is also the same as Irn Bru, which makes it instantly ace in our book. A white finish is available if you’re a bit boring.”
Covered by the crew
Insurance handled by people who ride, wrench and understand mountain bikes.
When something goes wrong, your claim is handled by people who genuinely understand how mountain bikes are ridden, repaired and put back together after a bad day on the trails.
From blown suspension to cracked frames, decisions are made by cycling specialists – not general insurers.
We also keep key bike parts in-house and work directly with trusted bike workshops, helping reduce delays and get riders back on the trails sooner.
What this means for you
- Cyclist-first decisions focused on getting you back on the trails
- Claims handled by people who ride and work with bikes
- Experience with real mountain bike damage, including off-road riding
- Repair-first approach using specialist cycle workshops
Save 15% on Home & Bike Insurance with code SINGLETRACK15*
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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On the Xynotal wheel – is that an ABS ring built into the brake disk rotor? Looks just like a motorbike one.
More than likely a speed sensor for an ebike, same funtionality (hall effect sensor and reluctor ring).
Believe that’s an Avinox rotor, as per what @snotrag says
Ah, as an e-bike luddite, I didn’t think of that as a ‘thing’. Cheers.
Let us know how you get on with the GTechniq Fabric Proof
Also, the Transition looks like a less filing cabinety Orange.
Very interested in that reproofer, please do a full review! I’m just too lazy to do it properly. I mean I’d blame the fact I don’t have a dryer but no, it’s the laziness.
My wife had a Covert, she thought it was pretty good until she replaced it with a YT Capra which absolutely blew it out of the water in pretty much every way (up and down).