Fresh Goods Friday 617: End of an Era Edition

Congrats Charlie!

Also, how loooong are those Abus peaks? Unless it's just the photo's that make it look that way.

Congratulations to Charlie and Tanya.

Can I do the general moan this week? £1100 forks, £180 helmet, £200 bike shoes to go with your £260 pedals ...and a £9k+ bike.

It's like looking on Hypebeast occasionally for a bit of otherworldly entertainment that generally has zero relevance to me but there's the odd bit of creative interest.

I get that some find the high end as interesting as I find it uninteresting and it's what's sent in not what STW request. And it's not always like this. Does it get filtered, is what FGF represents considered?

Brass band - yup, War Pigs - Check...

Happy wedding day.

There is gusset stuff in there too, which is not at the high end cost wise. So I think you’re being a bit selective there., I do get the moan, I’m generally trying to find the middle ground with stuff, but innovation/development happens in the main at the high end and if it’s any good filters down. Cheap stuff is rarely new or interesting except when it breaks then it gets interesting.

It’s fresh goods, not tired rebadged goods Friday after all. More than that it’s about what they get sent, and the manufactures send their flagship products not the boring stuff mortals buy..

Good selection of stuff this week!

I was hoping to see some new EXT forks 🤷‍♂️

There is gusset stuff in there too

That 30mm stem looks neat. On the list.

I think you’re being a bit selective there

I am, yes. It's just the general impression of FGF I get and FGF reflects the industry to an extent.

innovation/development happens in the main at the high end and if it’s any good filters down.

It does generally happen that way but it's marketing needs that make it happen at the high end imo. If you can filter it down you could have made it there in the first place? High end products are price-positioners. I'm not saying don't have the real high-end, that would be a bit Commie. More about the space that these products get relative to actual sales/use. I can't say it'd be good to see more development at a lower RRP level, look at how good Advent 10 or Deore etc is these days.

the manufactures send their flagship products not the boring stuff mortals buy..

Hence my *Partidge shrug*. To be fair I expect they send a mix of kit and I've never really been into bike bling anyway. This is a shouting at clouds topic from me : )

James
Hence my *Partidge shrug*. To be fair I expect they send a mix of kit and I’ve never really been into bike bling anyway. This is a shouting at clouds topic from me : )

Anyone using the Partridge shrug GIF is OK with me. I'm lucky to be reasonably well off and those prices make me laugh, its not a hobby any more its an arms race. OK I have been doing it since the late 80's and I'm sure my Saracen traverse hydrotech comp I bought in 91 for £600 seemed like a stupid amount after buying a Marin Mount Vision the year before for much the same amount. I have searched around and it says today that £600 should be about £1500 these days?
Anyone with a better grasp of all this stuff tell me if this is wrong? Inflation

Congratulations Charlie and Tanya. Hope you have a great day.

Shouldn't the price of the first helmet have been put at the end of the article? 🙂

I really like the Gusset "road to our pedal" thing, would love to see more of that. Especially showing the failures!

Keep an eye on those XC8s, I had a set of XC2s and a set of XC4s self destruct on me out on the trail 🙄

I picked up some if the Julien Absolon editions on eBay and they're now my 'fir race only' CX pedals as they clear so much better than Shimano or Look

Cheaper Time pedals are available, I have broken one of the plastic ones but very happy with the smaller & cheaper 8-Enduro pedals - and all options are cheaper than new knees, which is a serious consideration in my family

Interested to hear how you get on with the 34. I bought one in December and have been massively impressed with it, the new chassis think its enough of an imporvement that i reckon theres a lot of people riding 36's who would be better served with this new 34 (I have owned the old 34 and 36 to compare too).

Why would anyone run a chain guide without an integrated bash plate underneath? 1 quick bang of a rock and it's ride over without one (bent chainring teeth can't be fixed). Maybe I should stop trying to hop up rocks...

Top only guides are fantastic tbh. Chain retention is pretty much 100% with one of those and a narrow/wide ring. (you can still backpedal it off, or have it fall off in a crash etc but I've literally never had a single chain drop since I started using them,including dh and enduro racing, the mega, etc etc) The narrow wide does all of the heavy lifting but the guide is what makes it perfect.

And they weigh almost nothing, are cheap, and very very easy to fit so there's almost no downside. IMO if you've got ISCG mounts and 1x you should probably fit one, whereas bash plates are definitely a thing that most people don't need.

Single ring makes bending chainring teeth pretty hard since they're protected by the chain. Course, you can scrape and damage a chain enough to cause problems but I've never had it happen. Stopped using bash protection except on the dh bike when I went 1x, since back then I might bash the ring while in the granny.