Fresh Goods Friday 724: The Elastomeric Edition

Welcome one and all to this week’s Fresh Goods Friday, so much better than Old News Monday. This edition brings you full circle.

All will be revealed. On with the show!

Bontrager G-Spike Team Issue Tyre

• Price: £69.99
• From: Trek Bikes

‘Tis the season. The Season Of Spike. Mud spike tyres that is. Not all folk’s terrain/riding is suited to spikes but if your muck is wet and soft and steep and camber, spikes are a joy. These specific tyres we have here, were requested after Trek’s racing performances at the recent Loudenvielle enduro and downhill mudbaths. Hattie Harnden and Reece Wilson respectively put down great performances and both were seemingly running Bontrager G-Spikes. As with a lot of spikes they’re relatively tall casing but they’re not as narrow as, say, a Maxxis Wet Scream. The G-Spikes kinda look like a Spoecialized Hillbilly (or Maxxis High Roller 3?) on steroids. Not light. Not subtle. Laugh out loud capable though.

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Fresh Goods Friday 724: D’Movie

The final frontier?

Columbia Arctic Crest Women’s Jacket

• Price: £300
• From: Columbia Sportswear
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Strictly speaking this is designed with hiking in mind, but this cosy down jacket would be great after a chilly ride. With responsible down (it’s terrible when irresponsible down lowers the tone of your neighbourhood, right?), drizzle-proof outer and Omni-Heat Arctic liner, this is one toasty jacket. Omni-Heat Arctic is apparently inspired by how polar bears stay warm, with this insulation system absorbing solar heat for ‘advanced, high-efficiency warmth in cold conditions’. It packs down neatly into its own pocket, and is available in a men’s cut as well as this women’s option.

Skinners 2.0 Compression… Shoes?

• Price: £62.90
• From: Wildbounds
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The official word is that ‘Skinners serve as a portable yet protective solution that respects and adapts to the needs of your feet. Liberated of the bulk, restriction and weight of regular shoes and with a generous toe box, Skinners allow the tendons and muscles in the feet to be activated, providing a natural and grounding feel and second skin sensation. Lightweight, functional and sustainably made in Europe’. We say they’re like shoes from the future, or socks from space. Very Star Trek. Hannah has barely taken them off since they arrived. Beam her up.

Polar Vantage V3 Premium Multisport GPS Watch

• Price: £519
• From: Polar
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This watch has more functions than a Star Trek transponder. As well as telling the time and counting your steps, it has mapping, skin temperature, heart rate, sleep monitoring, blood oxygen levels… it might have a function to remind you to fee the cat too, we just haven’t found it yet. In the box you get an extra strap, plus a H10 Heart Rate monitor. It’s got a variety of built in fitness tests too. Despite all the extra functions, its a little lighter and smaller than the Polar Grit X we previously tested.

Ultimate USE Vybe Suspension Seatpost

• Price: £180.00
• From: Ultimate USE
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We had a collective Proustian moment upon unveiling of this item. Specifically the elastomers themselves. We were transported back to the early 90s and having a USE Shokpost(?) in our hardtails. Back then the saddle clamp was different (the Vybe GR actually looks like old 90s post clamp). Anyway, as with a lot of gravel stuff, it is very much early MTB inspired. Up to 50mm of travel. Available in 30.9 and 31.6 diameters as well as this 27.2mm. Three different firmness of elastomers available (soft, medium, hard). A bit of preload adjustment via a 6mm Allen up the bottom (of the post).

Ultimate USE Seatpost Shim

• Price: £10.00
• From: Ultimate USE
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Seatpost shims ain’t exactly glam but they can bring a lot of joy. And in our experience, USE make the best ones. Cheaper alternatives seems to get bent or buckled in storage (maybe that’s just us?) These 27.2 ID ones (for the Vybe post above) are made from some sort of plastic. USE also make a chunky 30.9 to 34.9mm shim out of aluminium, which we find ourselves using more and more these days, usually in ebikes with their chunky seat tubes.

Ultimate USE Vybe Suspension Stem

• Price: £180.00
• From: Ultimate USE

More retro futurist gravelling! Commence the “IT’S A GIRVIN FLEXSTEM!” comments. 20mm of travel. Four different firmness of colour coded elastomers. Available in 70mm as well as this 90mm version. 31.8mm bar diameter only. Perhaps the most intriguing things here are the pair of dinky Allen key windows: one marked ‘Rebound’ and one marked, er… ‘Damping’. We shall see what these pokey portals actually do.

Skratch Labs Hydration Everyday & Sport Drink Mixes

• Price: £21.95 (Everyday 120g), £15.95 (Sport 440g)
• From: Silverfish UK

Techno powders. The ‘everyday’ stuff is a bit niche; it’s designed for if/when you require some electrolytes but don’t want any sugars. The ‘sport’ drink is a bit more familiar. We like Skratch Labs stuff usually. If for no other real reason than that it generally tastes decent. And for us mere mortal non-athletes, that is all that matters. Of all the hundreds of pounds you can spend on your bike, if you’re not fuelling yourself properly (or at all) then that’s money down the drain. It’s not even about performance, proper fuel just leads to having more fun.

Peaty’s Link Lube Wet

• Price: £12.99 (120ml)
• From: Silverfish UK
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Time to try a new wet lube. LinkLube Wet is “a higher viscosity blend of waxes and oils with a higher concentration of waxes and corrosion inhibitors” than Peaty’s All Weather stuff. Biodegradable. Irish coffee scented(!) Designed for long rides in wet, filthy conditions. Which is what we’ll be doing for the next four months. First thoughts: the nozzle is really excellent. Good flow, accurate, mess-free, easy to operate, integrated.

SRAM Butter Grease

• Price: £12.00 (1oz)
• From: SRAM
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We sometimes use SRAM Butter for the reasons it was intended (suspension servicing stuff) but arguably most of our Butter goes into dropper posts. And now is the time of year for us all (yes, including you) to take a few minutes to undo our dropper seatpost collars and give everything a good ol’ clean out and lube up.

Featured Member Reward of the Week

• From: Singletrack Members Rewards
• Reward: 15% off Endura

About Endura: “Endura was founded in Scotland in 1993 with a no-nonsense commitment to advancing the performance and function of cycle apparel for all. We never take the easy route, never complacent, we are always thinking about the next part of the journey.”

Instagram Readers Ride of the Week

• Price: using #stwreadersrides hashtag
• From: Instagram

Congratulations go to andy_beirne for this week’s winning entry.

Whether you’ve got a special new bike or just a bike that’s special to you, this is how you get to tell everyone about it! You can either tag the bike pic with #stwreadersrides on Instagram or you can send us your submissions via this form.

Check out last Sunday’s Reader’s Ride: Luke B’s Scott Spark. Who will be this Sunday’s pick? It could be you…

Heather O

• Job Title: Useful Office Person
• From: Up The Valley

Say HELLO! to Singletrack World’s newest staff member: Heather O. You’ve heard of Karen O (see below). Our O is earlier in the alphabet, thus better. She also rides bikes, thus well betterer. She is here to handle all things subscription. Please be gentle with her. For a bit at least.