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Fresh Goods

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Welcome to this week’s Fresh Goods. It’s been a good week; our tenth anniversary issue of the magazine (Issue 64) has been sent to the printers, we’ve had our first proper spring day in our little corner of valley and as ever, we’ve got loads of shiny bike related things to get out and test.

GT Distortion 2.0

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Fresh Goods Friday 692 - The Farmer...
Latest Singletrack Videos

First up we’ve got in the genre bending GT Distortion 2.0. Jon first rode it at the GT Press Launch in Les Deux Alpes (also see HERE and HERE) and although the UK importers weren’t sure about bringing it to the UK, it was so well received by everyone there that they decided to change their minds. Designed as a short travel freeride bike, there’s 112mm of rear wheel travel via the Independent Drivetrain system, a 12mm Maxle rear axle and it runs tapered 140mm Rock Shox Sektors up front. Best of all, it’s got a 66.5 degree head angle, which should mean it’s calm and confident on the technical stuff. We look forward to testing it…

Price: £2,250

From: CSG

 

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X-Fusion dropper post as standard. We’ve just finished testing uppy-downy posts in Issue 64 and this one stood out…

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The Independent Drivetrain setup up close –  a floating BB connected to the frame via the ‘dog bone’ link.

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Good looking little bike…

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Tapered headtube moves on to the gusseted monocoque frame.

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The dropouts are nicely future proof too – these ones are running the 135x12mm Maxle…

Sun Ringle Charger Pro wheelset

 

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More wheels now, with the Sun Ringle Charger Pro wheelset. Weighing in at a claimed 1,699g, they’re designed as an all-mountain wheelset, using 24 straight pull Wheelsmith spokes per wheel onto the rather funky looking sealed cartridge hubs. The rims are 28mm wide and use the Stan’s tubeless rimstrip system to provide tubeless capability. All of the all mountain standards are available, with 135 QR, 12×135, 12x142mm rears and your pick of QR, 15QR or 20mm fronts with adaptors.

Price: £449.95

From: Hotlines UK

 

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Groovy…

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White spokes indicate where the valve is for speedy changes – and look sweet.

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You get the adaptors, skewers and some wheel milk included…

The Mountain Bike Skills Manual: Fitness and Skills For Every Rider

 

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Bike skills coach and racer Clive Forth has been around for as long as anyone dares remember and he’s decided to pass on his knowledge with this book, The Mountain Bike Skills Manual: Fitness and Skills For Every Rider. The 208 page tome is filled with the history of mountain biking, as well as being packed with information for all abilities on bike choice, setup, training, core fitness, skills and loads of pictures. Jon was mesmerised by the flick-book corner too….

Price: £16.99

From: All good bookshops

Truvativ Noir Team seatpost

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The Truvativ Noir Team seatpost uses a filament wound graphite (or carbon fibre to the layman) post and unidirectional finish along with added reinforcement to keep itself strong and light. The head is a twin bolt, micro adjust design and they’re available in a load of different lengths, widths and laybacks too.

Price: £119.99

From: Fisher Outdoor

Charge Oven gloves

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Nick Larsen dropped off these Charge Oven gloves when he dropped by to show us his new 29er, the Cooker, the other week. They’ve got a perforated leather backing, a padding and stitching-free clarino palm for maximum comfort and grip, plus a bit of terry towelling for snot wiping duties.

Price: £29.99

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Combined with the Giro Surface helmets from last week, we’ve almost got the motorcycle cop from the Village People look down.

Surface socks

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SOCKS! The Surface socks are set to blow your eyeballs out the back of your head with stripy radness. Long, stretchy and perfect for playing dinosaurs with as well as keeping your feet warm.

Price: £8.99

From: Surface

More Fresh Goods on the next page…


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OFFER ENDS 31st MARCH