Welcome to this week’s edition of Fresh Goods. After we all escaped the office to go to Fort William World Cup last week, we’ve got a massive backlog of shiny biking related things for you to check out. Best get cracking then…
Charge Bikes Cleaver
It would seem that hardcore hardtails are going to be a part of the British rider’s diet for the forseeable future. They may not be the fastest or the smartest but a good example gets you right down to the visceral pleasures of riding the bikes of your youth, although with a bit more margin for error thans to modern suspension. Although most of the office seems to be bouncing along on big-ish trail bikes, Issue 67 of Singletrack Magazine is going to feature a trio of moderately big forked hardtails for getting back to uncomplicated thrills.
The Charge Cleaver has got a 120mm travel Rock Shox Recon TK Solo Air fork with a 15mm Maxle. The frame is Tange CroMo tubing and has a rather nice sparkly red paintjob.
There’s a selection of Truvativ finishing kit along with Elixir brakes and a SRAM X9 2×10 drivetrain.
Charge hubs, grips, post and saddle finish off the build as well as the strange Onza Porcupine-like Charge Splashback tyres…
Nice perforated faux-leather chainstay protector too.
Price: £1,599
From: Charge Bikes
Ragley Piglet
Weeeeee! Hopefully the Ragley Piglet will make us squeal with joy rather than fear. It’s a slightly less slack (but still a pleasing 66.6° static HA) and less weighty version of the new skool Blue Pig hardcore hardtail. It’s got a RS Sektor R up front with 130mm of travel and 15mm Maxle, a 2×10 X9 drivetrain, Elixir brakes and Ragley finishing kit. The Maxxis High Roller tyres are a nice touch too.
The frame is triple butted CroMo with a standard 1.125″ headset up front. Out at the back there’s more clearance than a retail park full of sofa shops thanks to the investment cast ‘three finger’ chainstay bridge. It’s also got a 30.9mm seatpost so it’s compatible with all the modern dropper posts.
Price: £1,499
From: Ragley
Genesis Core 50
This is the range topping Core hardtail and standing apart from the other two its got a 6069 ALX-9 6 triple-butted aluminium frame with heavily shaped stays and a tapered headtube. It also sports a RS Recon fork, a 120mm travel Gold RL version with a 20mm axle and lockout. There’s a full Shimano SLX group on there, save the cranks which do have a full complement of three rings up front for a mid boggling 30spds.
Price: £1,399.99
From: Genesis Bikes
Hope Hoops Pro II Evo SP/Stans ZTR Crest 29 wheels
Issue 67 is going to be wheely good – ‘cos we’ve got a roundup of the best wheels out there in it. Hitting the spot for the wagon wheelers we have these custom built 29er hoops, handbuilt in Barnoldswick. The hubs are the straight pull versions of their classic Pro II hubs, now updated as the Evo to ensure compatibility with all the many ‘standards’ out there by swapping out just the end caps.
Rims are the NoTubes compatible trail friendly ZTR Crests, with a 24.4mm external and 21mm internal width. They’re built up on 32 Sapim Race spokes with brass nipples for longevity.
Price: £TBC
From: Hope Technology
Mavic Deemax Ultimate wheelset
Mavic say the Deemax Ultimate wheelset is the lightest pure downhill racing package out there. At a claimed 1,965g for the 20mm front and 12x150mm rear, fully UST tubeless wheelset it put a few trail builds to shame. The rims have been machined between the spokes to reduce weight but with a vertical spine to keep strength and stiffness. The spokes are lightweight bladed items and vertical compliance has been increased to help prevent pinch punctures.
Price: £850
From: Mavic
Slickskin anti-chafing spray
This is a aerosol spray-on anti-chafing cream to keep your bits and pieces free from sores and other long-distance cycling related unpleasantness. The formula was originally used by doctors to protect the skin of bed ridden patients but they’ve developed it to make it stand up to the rigours of your chamois.
Price: TBC
From: SlickSkin
Rapp Watch
It’s a one-size-fits-all watch that wraps round your arm. The interchangeable strap is made from soft touch silicone and the watch bit pops out if you decide you need a different colour. A good idea if you don’t want to risk your proper watch when you’re out riding…
If rap isn’t your thing then it also fits to your forehead for that old skool hip-hopper look.
Price: £15
From: Rapp Watch
Camping Gaz Party Grill
The superbly named Party Grill could be the answer to your group-camping woes if barbeques take too long and normal gas stoves are too small. It uses re-sealable gas canisters and you’ll get about 4.5 hours from the larger 470g items pictured. The cooking surface is non-stick (and has a little egg frying zone) and it comes with a cute little spatula and carry case.
Chipps is taking this one off to Mountain Mayhem and we’re sure he’ll enjoy not getting an evil stomach upset from badly cooked sausages…
Price: £59.99
From: Camping Gaz
The Bluebeards Revenge shaving foam
This product is aimed at manly, manly men with roughty toughty facial hair. It’s got hair reducing Decelerine in it to tame facial hair growth to enable them to get to the afternoon without growing a full beard. The Paraben free formula should keep manly cheeks all soft and smooth, but still in a totally rugged (and manly) way. A 180ml tub lasts around six months – does it work? Well, Jon was hairier than Ed Oxley* before using this stuff and look at his baby-smooth face now…
Price: £14.99 for 180ml
From: The Bluebeards Revenge
*not even vaguely true.
Polaris Coolmax Socks
Socks! These are some low cut trainer socks made from Coolmax material and with Elastane mid and ankle sections. They come in black or white with green, grey or pink highlights. They’ve got neat little heel pull tabs and a flat seam toe to keep everything comfy.
Price: £11.99 for pack of three
From: Polaris Bikewear
Catlike D’Lux glasses
Catlike might be best know for their differently styled helmets, but they do glasses too and these are their top end offerings. The lightweight frames use an interchangeable one piece lense with rubber coated arms and an adjustable nose bridge to get the fit spot on. Three options are available, the Basic, with a clear and smoked lense; the Technical Photochromatic with a clear and light sensitive lense; and the Blue Blocker, which comes with a clear lense and a red or silver ‘blue blocker’.
Price: Basic £99.99, Technical Photochromatic £139.99, Blue Blocker £129.99.
From: Catlike
SKS Mountain Suspension Pump
This is a rather nicely made suspension pump from German brand SKS. The removable hose is covered in durable steel mesh and the CNC’d alloy body feels nice and sturdy. It’ll pump up to 20 Bar and there’s a pressure gauge and bleed valve for fine tuning pressures.
Price: £39.99
From: SKS
Amazon Kindle
Apples are not the only fruit for reading digital media – the Amazon Kindle offers a pleasingly book-like experience and thanks to the ‘electric ink’ black and white display it’s also incredibly economical on power. It uses WiFi to download books and media and the 3G version will kep you connect globally. Keep your eyes peeled for interesting Kindle based developments from Singletrack Magazine soon…
Price: £152.00
From: Amazon
Shimano PD-M530 MTB SPD Trail pedal
These are the cheaper versions of the XT Trail SPD, using a similarly styled cage to provide support. Despite being heavier than the XT models, they still use sealed cartridge bearings and feature a similar mud shedding designs.
Price: £39.99
From: Madison
Squier John5 Telecaster
In keeping with odd, non-bike related things showing up in Fresh Goods, here is Chipps’ new Telecaster. It’s a Squier version of Fender’s John5 Telecaster. Two humbuckers, two volumes and a three-way selector, lots of shiny black and chrome. John5 was Marilyn Manson’s guitarist for years and can now be seen with Rob Zombie. This is his more affordable signature guitar, based on his original model that was built for him by Fender Custom Shop’s Alex Perez (who happens to ride a Santa Cruz Blur LTc…) You’ll be able to see Chipps rocking out on this one at the Calderdale Pride festival in Halifax next Saturday.
Price: £419
From: Squier Guitars
Polaris Splinter shoes
Derbyshire based Polaris have just taken delivery of their brand new range of shoes. As well as road and triathlon models, they’re doing a range for off-road use and these Splinter shoes use a SPD compatible Vibram sole with chunky, mud shedding tread. The toe box and sides are reinforced with PU panels and the synthetic suede uppers have reflective detail for night-time use. They use a lace and velcro strap closure and there’s a convenient heel loop too.
Price: £94.99
From: Polaris Bikewear
Comments (37)
Leave Reply
Post Comment
Oo! More about STW on a Kindle please!
The welding on that Geneis core looks ugly!
Those spuds look too “cheap” not to try a pair out (compared to buying XT/XTR and then finding you can’t get on with them). Maybe on the shopping list after next pay day (assuming they are close to hitting the shops)?
That Genesis must have been welded by a blind monkey! The same blind monkey must have chosen the awful graphics and colour on the Ragley too. Quite like the Charge.
What is it about that Cleaver that I like so much? It looks so right. Mmmmmmmmm.
is the cleaver just a blender with 120mm forks and a guide for a front mech? looks like it from here, check out the angle of the dangle on the seat tube – CRIKEY!
That Cleaver looks Crap IMHO..
Sorry.
It just looks like it should cost £89 and come from ASDA. 🙁
With the forks on backwards, of course…
Funny, I think the same about the Ragley. the rubbish cartoon graphics, the ugly brace etc
What size Piglet is that please?
>What size Piglet is that please?
Piglet is a 16in
Is that cleaver a kid’s bike?
Also, what’s with the dirty great metal plate behind the head tube on the Ragley?
Think the £1500, 120mm travel hardtails test is missing an obvious candidate in the Whyte 905? Fastest hardtail I’ve ridden in a long time…
(new owner bias of course)
The Cleaver looks like a bike form years gone by, but without the right-ness of the Skinny Duster.
And the shaving nonsense – Decelerine? Please! It’s like cod-science shampoo technology to make it seem interesting.
That Charge is one seriously ugly bike….
Charge love their retro-stuff – those tyres aren’t like that by accident, and neither is that seat angle. Good shapes and colours. Nice work.
The Genesis is hoopty too because it’s alloy which is a great material for a taught trail hardtail, but UK trail people seem to have an aversion to unless it’s a very very good price.
Our Piglets is bright and poppy and fun, and we’re sure lots of people will hate it. It’s not a plate, it’s a box back there – for front end torsional stiffness, impact strength and to annoy fans of clean lines.
Should be a lovely review.
after another look at the Charge, I still think it looks cool but also as if its an early 90s non-suspension corrected frame with some ‘big’ forks on it.
I’d have a set of the Deemaxes though.
is no one going to mention the abundance of weeds in the Piglet and Core images?
The Genesis graphics team seriously need sacking! How boring!!
Wow that charge is nasty looking, but then I rather like the Piglet. Still the proof will be in the riding so looking forward to the test
I think the piglet looks ace, if it had been released the same time as the original blue pig i think i would have got the piglet.
That Rapp watch looks just the thing! Showerproof but not waterproof though – even though they sponsor a surfer!
deemax wheels seriously fugly. Sick inducing in fact.
that back yard needs a sort out !!
Looking forward to the Kindle-track news.
I do like the brown tyres on the cleaver though, anyone tried them?
I think they already sacked the genesis graphics department after the mess they made of the top tube sticker on the 2009 Abyss (still a great bike though.
Can I get a piglet frame as styled by charge?
🙂 there’s an element of truth in that ^
Charge tyres are great, roll nice plenty grip in the corners, not recommended for muddy days though. Cleaver is much nicer in the flesh than the pictures. It loves going quick @ trail centres & eats technical natural trails also. Different bikes for different blokes, choose one & ride it.
If they are a 10 i’ll try those polaris shoes for you, they look rather tasty
Chipps – do yourself a favour. I bought a Party Grill for outdoor cooking on a van trip round Europe, and you can do a round of Cannock in the time it takes to cook some snags.
“Rock Shox Recon TK Solo Air fork with a 15mm Maxle”
“a RS Recon fork, a 120mm travel Gold RL version with a 20mm”
I thought I had my head around the current rockshox range, but these two baffle me once more. Surely they should be a sector? (Or do all sectors have motion control?)
“120mm travel hardtails test is missing an obvious candidate in the Whyte 905?”
I think they tested that or the other in alu/steel whichever the 905 isn’t in about issue 60?
I’ve just started using the 29er Hope Hoops and very, very impressed indeed, feel as taught as any 26″ wheel and no more expensive than 26″ versions too, well done Hope!
I’m trying really hard to ignore that piglet. Go away go away go away I don’t want one…..
Could they possibly have created an uglier headtube
brace on the Piglet? I doubt it.
The Cleaver would look much better if the saddle was at a proper height.
Charge looks slaaaaaaack, whats the HA?
Skinwall tyres are starting to look cool again, I kinda like charge’s retro look.
Hope hoops, I know the freehubs aren’t made for use with cheap steel cassettes but I just tried a quick run up and down the back street to test brakes etc and it deformed the splines! XT cassette on now.
Id agree with that Mister P