This is a warm and fuzzy Fresh Goods Friday – good vibes all round, as you lot kindly donated over £1000 to World Bicycle Relief last weekend, which w …

By charliedontsurf

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Fresh Goods Friday 575 – Tah Dah! All the Fuzzy Feels

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I need those socks just for walking around the house.

Hmmmmm. I need a new pair of commuting SPDs and those Spec ones look like they might even be useable as normal shoes when I go to the office without normal shoes.

Has that Specialized helmet got MIPS? I couldn’t tell 😀

Can anyone comment on whether they have found the Wera Hex Plus to be any better than a decent set of regular ones?

Also what actually makes the EVOC bag ‘E-bike specific’?

Specialized 2FO Cliplite
Price: £175.00

Mental

Also what actually makes the EVOC bag ‘E-bike specific’?

The price.

I fully appreciate that this will come across as a miserable-middle-aged-man-moan, but the cost of this stuff is just crazy.

Can anyone comment on whether they have found the Wera Hex Plus to be any better than a decent set of regular ones?

From 4mm upwards, yes. The smaller ones are worse than normal though (in my experience). I’d just buy 4, 5 & 6mm stainless Wera, and stick to your normal ones for sizes above and below.

Oh look, more “things were cheaper than I were a lad” comments. Never gets old (I lie, it has).

EDIT : that Wera little set in the wallet looks lovely though… drop Xmas present hints.

Was the designer of those Spesh shoes looking at an old transistor radio for inspiration?

Also what actually makes the EVOC bag ‘E-bike specific’?

I did some research on this, by which I mean I read the article. It has a shaped pocket to fit ebike batteries in.

What a tune by the pumpkins

So it’s a bag that will carry stuff? That’s pretty groundbreaking.

Also what actually makes the EVOC bag ‘E-bike specific’?

GF got one of those Evoc bags bundled with her Merida ebike – it’s just the internal compartment (that takes her spare battery she also got with the bike) that makes it “ebike specific”.

One issue is the bag only comes in one size – unlike the normal FR bags with the back protector.

As above comments, I also found the smaller Wera Hex plus to be a loose fit in the smaller sizes, the bigger are OK but overall, disappointing. The large ones live in the car for doing no more than fitting and removing front wheel axles now.

So it’s a bag that will carry stuff? That’s pretty groundbreaking.

If I’m carrying a bag with say, 6kg of stuff in it, I’d prefer a bag that kept the oddly shaped, 4kg lump in a fixed position, which this claims to. Others don’t. YMMV.

I kind of miss the 90’s…

So it’s a bag with an internal compartment? As IHN said, ground breaking.

So it’s a bag with an internal compartment? As IHN said, ground breaking.

Has anyone else made one where the compartment is designed for ebike batteries? I’m not saying it’s ground breaking, but it is better than not having one no?

but it is better than not having one no?

Yeah, probably, although I’m pretty sure you could just put the battery in the bottom of a ‘normal’ bag, and it wouldn’t move around much as it’s 4kg. £200 does seem steep though, and I fully admit that I’m getting increasingly intolerant of marketing horseshit, and it was the price of the Spesh pumps that initially raised my ire.

On the latter point, I do get the feeling that STW Towers is accepting it more blindly than it used to. I remember back in the day that Chipps’ review of a Rapha jacket was, essentially, “come on Rapha, you’re just taking the piss”, I can’t imagine anything like that being done now.

“This one is designed for Trail and Enduro riders but with a big nod to the potentially higher impact speeds for those riding e-bikes.” ?!?!?

so I’ll need one on my pedal power only cross bike the next time I overtake an e-bike on the flat ??? or doing 40mph plus downhill on the road bike ???

only time I see e-bikes going faster is uphill……

“come on Rapha, you’re just talking the piss”

Wasn’t that the rubbish bin bag gilet? And a long time ago. Things cost more now. We don’t live back then. Today things cost more than many years ago non-shocker.

Most integrated batteries are the length of a downtube so wouldn’t sit flat at the bottom of a rucksack, hence the need to have them in upright, where they would flop from side to side if not restrained.

Nice to have rather than essential, but still worth doing, and very much ebike specific.

Most integrated batteries are the length of a downtube so wouldn’t sit flat at the bottom of a rucksack, hence the need to have them in upright, where they would flop from side to side if not restrained.

Ah, fair enough.

Wasn’t that the rubbish bin bag gilet? And a long time ago. Things cost more now. We don’t live back then. Today things cost more than many years ago non-shocker.

That was it, yeah. And I get things cost more now, and I get that, to a point, you get what you pay for. But it’s still possible to take the piss price-wise like, for example, a pair of pumps that are definitely in no way groundbreaking, for £175.

I bought a pair of walking boots for £195 last year.
The Vans I’m wearing now cost £100 2 years ago.
£175 for a pair of technical riding shoes is indeed a lot of cash but it’s a pair of shoes designed for a dedicated purpose, with specialist sole and twin Boa fastenings.

Also, I remember reviewing shoes 20 years ago that cost £200.

technical riding shoes…designed for a dedicated purpose

Are they though? Let’s unpack..

micro-adjustable BOA Li2 dials

BOA’s not exactly bleeding edge, it’s been around for ages, so they can’t claim the ‘new, expensive tooling” angle (unlike, possibly, the £200 pair from 20 years ago that possibly had it)

a welded upper

and

cushioned EVA foam

Absolutely bog-standard outdoor-type shoe stuff, as featured on, for example, my Decathlon approach shoes that cost a third of the price

SlipNot™ FG rubber sole.

Come on now, it’s a rubber sole.

Also what actually makes the EVOC bag ‘E-bike specific’?

It has a waterproof side pocket to carry 20 fags and a lighter.

So where does the pork pie go?

Great Musical Interlude by the Pumpkins. Today from Siamese Dream.
The Video owes an Artistic Debt to Antonioni’s Zabriskie Point

B

I’ve had a few pairs of Specialized 2FO’s over the years, great shoes and last well, but they’re not as nice looking/ value for money as they once were (is anything?!). Shame.

And masterdabber, hope you’re in reasonably good health, and kudos to the guys that helped out. The world needs more people like that.

Massively ironic that a concept such as trail clearing, with the environment in mind, produces more consumerism in the form of a posh plastic bag to clean up the mess.

So IHN lets take this from another angle… What would you say would be a reasonable price for those shoes?

Or alternatively… yes Decathlon make cheaper shoes… should Singletrack only cover cheaper shoes from retailers like them, or also more expensive ones from other brands that you might see in your bike shop?

£200 for a backpack is excessive to me personally, but seemingly not uncommon in the world of e-bike backpacks:
group test
I was more surprised at the cost of some fancy hex keys 🙂

So IHN lets take this from another angle… What would you say would be a reasonable price for those shoes?

Well, if they were about £100 quid, like the Ion ones, I’d be less of a miserable get.

But to take it from another, another angle, what is it about those shoes that means they cost £100 more than these shoes? (I know they’re not cycling shoes, but using it as an example of a ‘specialist’ shoe from a known, quality, brand, with a similar amount of techno-waffle so one would assuming similar production costs)

Decathlon shoes are great value. More expensive shoes should still appear in FGF… why shouldn’t they?

The ones I linked to are Merrells, but yeah, Decathlon’s own would cost even less (and probably be better quality).

More expensive shoes should still appear in FGF… why shouldn’t they?

I’m not saying they shouldn’t, people can obviously spend their money how they wish, but the reason people look to sites/magazines like STW is for honest, knowledgeable, advice and reviews.

So, if Spesh want to charge £175 for shoes by spinning the line that they’re “technical riding shoes … designed for a dedicated purpose”, whereas, really, they’re pretty obviously a fairly bog-standard trainer with a mounting plate in the sole, why are STW buying the spin?

What’s your price limit for shoes that Singletrack should feature in FGF? Perhaps you could supply them with a list of max prices for all items.

[ also remember that FGF features the RRP of new products, so not really fair to compare with shop prices for old products ]

As above, I don’t care if FGF has £2000 shoes, my beef is the lack of critical appraisal by STW of whether they’re worth it. If they are, great. If they’re not, say so.

FGF isn’t reviews, it’s new stuff that that’s just landed with them to start trying out.

I suppose that’s fair enough, although if I can just look at them and think “blimey, £175 is a bit punchy”, I don’t see why they can’t, and say so.

that they’re “technical riding shoes … designed for a dedicated purpose”, whereas, really, they’re pretty obviously a fairly bog-standard trainer with a mounting plate in the sole, why are STW buying the spin?

I thought that any sensible debate would have finished after that got posted. A trainer made to look like a bike shoe? 😀