Songs. Puns. Songs and puns. That is the contents of my mind. Most of the time.
Take this week’s Fresh Goods Friday for instance. The appearance of a Thule product has had me singing ‘Thule To Apologise’ to the tune of ‘(Too Late To) Apologize‘. And although not featured this week (as it arrived ‘too late’) the arrival of the new Propain Hugene CF got me to remembering this tune…
You’re very welcome. On with Eff Jee Eff Seven Six Seven!
Shimano Deore XT M8250 Di2
- Price: Upgrade kit 649.99 (see below for individual prices)
- From: Freewheel
Here we have a bumper set of Shimano’s new 12 speed XT wireless shifting groupset. It’s already showing as being in stock on Freewheel, so you might already have beaten us to having a spin. We’ll be sure to let you know how it goes together.
An upgrade on the rest of the XT components here is a pair of XTR Enduro wheels. “Shimano’s beefiest full-carbon wheel offering yet.” Comes with a hookless 30mm internal carbon rim, all-new XTR cartridge bearing hubs and traditional 28H stainless steel J-Bend spokes.
Traditionally, XT components share a great many similarities with the top-end XTR groupset. The differences tend to be in the fit and finish, with XTR having a lot more polishing and tactile improvements, as well as material upgrades where it makes ‘cost no object’ sense, such as using titanium over steel where possible. Functionally, though, XT often has 98% of the performance of XTR, with little practical penalty in actual use over saving a few grams and being ‘clickier’ in a nice way. So, this is going to be the groupset to keep an eye on.
XT Cassette: £149.99
Wireless shifter: £159
Wireless XT M8250 Rear derailleur: £429.99
(Or, get the shifter, mech and a charger for £649.99)
Four XT pot disc brakes: £399.99 per bike (rotors extra). Interestingly, it’s 1p cheaper if you buy the front and rear brakes separately…
Cranks: £149 plus £64.99 for a chainring
Wheels – XTR M9220 enduro wheels. Carbon, hookless rims and a 30mm inner profile and XTR Microspline hub. £814.99 and £884.99.
DJI Osmo 360
- Price: from £409.99
- From: DJI Store
DJI’s first ever everything-everywhere-all-at-once panoramic video camera. Finally some competition for the much-loved Insta360. As with other DJI cameras, the operation is pleasingly straightforward and clear. Out of the box you’re soon au fait with how to use it and adjust between settings. Even the post-production editing doesn’t require much in the way of pondering or poring over PDF manuals. It’s this sort of UX that has made DJI’s cams our in-house go-to for POV action cam duties. One slight niggle so far is that the ball-and-socket handlebar mount isn’t quite up to the rigours of rough riding; it ‘droops’ during decent descents. The camera itself is pretty chunky (184g) and rather upright/top heavy, which contributes. That said, the nature of 360° shooting means it’s mostly fixable in the edit, but it is something to keep an eye on.
Thule EasyFold 3 Foldable Add-On 3rd/4th Bike Adaptor
- Price: £229.99
- From: Freewheel
It’s school holiday time and bikey road trips are in the offing, at Benji Towers at least. And these days the need is for four bicycles on the back of a vehicle. So to augment the sterling Thule Easyfold 3 rack there is this bolt-on (best to not say strap-on) +1 bike tray from the Swedish rackmeisters. The tray clicks into a pair of sockets behind the number plate bit and there’s a lockable ‘baton’ that attached the fourth bike to the third bike, if you know what we mean. It’s easy to remove/install (no tools required) and folds down to go back in the original box easily. The max load of this adapter is 17.5kg. Not cheap, but great function. As with pretty much everything from Thule.
Juice Lubes Tyre Juice
- Price: £6.99 (140ml), £19.99 (500ml)
- From: Juice Lubes
I don’t think I’ve used Juice sealant before. But I am always up for trying tyre sealant. This stuff is synthetic latex based, ammonia free, claims to not clump up, is water washable and says it should last 6-9 months in typical UK conditions. It’s one of those sealants that has little bits in it, for helping clog up cuts and slashes (up to 7mm claimed). Let’s see how it does. I’ll point my sidewalls at all the pointy rocks.
Juice Lubes Hand Juice
- Price: £9.99 (500ml)
- From: Juice Lubes
I’ve definitely used this stuff before. And loved it. Not just because it’s got walnuts in it (which is definitely on the international podium of nuts) but because it’s the best gunk I’ve encountered thus far that removes grime from your hands but doesn’t leave them feeling like Skeletor’s after you’ve rinsed and dried them off. And it’s a nice colour. And and it smells nice.
CopyTrans
- Price: $19.99
- From: CopyTrans
Tangent alert! If you are of a certain age, you probably have a Classic iPod in a drawer somewhere. And it probably no longer likes to communicate with your vehicle or speaker etc. Even the headphone port may have given up the ghost. Anyway, this software sucked all the music from my old iPod and stuck it on to my computer. Which much to my childrens’ fears, means I can play loads of great music in the car during the lonnng drive to holiday town.
Singletrack Organic Snug Hoodie
- Price: £47.99
- From: The Singletrack Shop
So snug – this hoodie is like a warm hug from Pedro Pascal. 80% organic cotton/20% recycled polyester. Drop shoulder style. Soft cotton faced fabric. Double fabric hood with self colour drawcord. Ribbed cuffs and hem. Twin needle stitching. WRAP Certified Production. Weight:280 gsm.
Member Reward of the Week: 20% off OLED, QNED & NanoCell TVs
- Discount: 20% off OLED, QNED & NanoCell TVs
- From: Singletrack Member Rewards
About LG: “LG Electronics UK designs products that are intuitive, responsive and smart, so you can spend wisely and be more productive. We’re committed to providing home electronics that work best for the way you live and to keeping you updated with the latest technological advances. After all, life’s better when you’re prepared.”
Forum Thread of the Week
This week’s FTOTW winner is bikesandboots for this thread:
As before, the winning TOTW in FGF gets a prize. Sobikesandbootsplease email editorial@singletrackworld.comfor a random prize. Don’t forget to include your postal address, as it really speeds up delivery logistics, dude.
Stale Goods Friday – 2013 BH Bikes Lynx 4.8 29er Carbon
- Price: N/A
- From: Fresh Goods Friday 167
Back in the previous decade we wrote: “Fast and light? The BH Bikes Lynx 4.8 29er Carbon is pimped to the max with an XTR 2×10 drivetrain, DT Swiss Spline One wheels and Magura MT8 stoppers. The carbon frame has a Dave Weagle designed split pivot rear triangle and the bike weighs in at a claimed 11.5kg.”
Re brake prices – the FT+RR kits come with a wee bottle of the new required fluid and spare pads, whereas the individuals don’t as far as I’m aware?
Is it just me who hates the 360 angles? Completely distorts everything & looks gopping.
Also – the price of that wireless XT is mad, just to lose a cable.
Right I now feel reet old & am off to shout at some clouds.
No, I think stuff filmed on those 360* cameras look terrible as well
I’d imagine that a very large percentage of Shimano’s output goes to the bike manufacturers and to those guys not having to factor cable routing into frame design and the reduction in labour for assembly really does matter. Not that I’ll be rushing out to buy this.
i know i dont need wireless shifting but its easy to think im being priced out of mtb, , especially as ebikes seem to be more prevalent than ever, im going feel like that guy on a rigid old old gary fisher with cantis, lycra , fingerless string backed gloves and a peakless xc lid that i used to see at trail centres when i first started mtb
Regarding the 360 camera, I’m much more interested in the rubber handlebars used in the video above.
That “CopyTrans" bit takes me back to family holidays in France with my Dad. Long peage stretches four-up in a black car in the summer and before the days of ubiquitous air-con. He used to have a jazz sax instrumental version of “Careless Whisper" which he loved and kept playing on repeat one year. My sister and I would almost certainly have mutinied were it not for prospect of a forbiddingly long walk home.
CopyTrans, Price: $19.99 – pretty sure it’s free to copy to-from iPods. Been using it for years and never come across a paid version. They do have a suite of software that does a lot more than the iPod transfers, so maybe that’s the 20bucks version?