Fresh Goods Friday 775: The Steel Is Reel Edition

Do you reel? Not around the fountain. Reel on the socials medias. How do you feel about the reel?

On one hand, shortform video is ruining the whole world. On the other hand… er, sometimes there’s a funny one. It’s a tricky one.

While we ruminate upon such, here’s this week’s Fresh Goods Friday for y’all…

Vitus Sentier

• Price: £1,099.00
• From: Vitus Cycles

The return of Vitus. The first Vitus bike we’ve seen from the Frasers Group era (available via the group’s acquisitions: Evans Cycles, Wiggle and Chain Reaction Cycles). Anyways, the good news is that the marque’s hardtails appear to be as sound as ever. A nicely executed alloy frame with 130mm travel RockShox Judy Silver fork. 11-speed Shimano CUES drivetrain. Shimano MT-201 brakes. KS dropper (150mm travel on this Medium). Own brand wheels and cockpit kit. The tyres are Maxxis Minion DHF front and rear, in MaxxGrip compound. Which is a bit eyebrow-raising (we’ll probably swap out the rear for something less sticky and more overtly rear-wheel friendly).

DT Swiss DEG DF Upgrade Kit for Ratchet DEG hubs

• Price: £144.99 (inc. tool), £124.99 (not inc. tool)
• From: Freewheel

In case you missed last week’s DT Swiss’ new anti-pedal kickback ‘DF’ ratchet system story, here’s what one looks like in the flesh. What does it do? It gives you the option to introduce some etxra float into your DT DEG rear hub’s engagement. Or none. Confused? It’s to do with the theory of pedal kick-back. If you’re bothered, you’re bothered. If you’re not, move along.

DT Swiss XMC 1501 Wheels

• Price: £699.99 front, £849.99 rear
• From: Freewheel

The mullet flavour of these fancy hoops are set to be our testbed for the DEG DF kit above. The third generation DT’s Spline 1 range has gone carbon rim. The XMC 1501 wheels are designed “to be the perfect lightweight, sturdy companions for big days out in all terrains.” Ratchet DEG 240 hubs, with 90 tooth ratchets (the rear is now sporting the DEG DF Upgrade Kit). Swiss-made Comp Race spokes are butted down to 1.6 mm which aside from making them a bit lighter is claimed to “give a more forgiving and damped ride, offsetting the added stiffness the move to a carbon rim often brings”. 30mm depth. 30mm internal width. 36mm external width (yep maths fans, 3mm wall thickness). Weights: 27.5in rear 867g, 29in rear 775g (1,642g total).

Shimano XTR PD9200 XC Race 3mm Shorter Axle

• Price: £159.99
• From: Freewheel

The peak of clippy peggles? Forged alloy body with hollow chromoly axle. Lower profile platform height with larger platform contact area. Teflon coated open binding system with slim oval axle body housing to better sheds mud and reduces stiction. Sealed cartridge axle system. 316g for this short axle (the longer/regular axle weighs a whopping 3g more).

Hope Tech Evo Power & Control Levers

• Price: £28.00
• From: Hope Tech

Two different lever options for Hope’s Evo range of great grabbers. The longer lever is the Power lever: “A profile tailored for users that position the lever further away from the bars, allows for 5mm more outward adjustment than STD. Increased length generates more mechanical leverage and compensates for lever position further away from pivot point.” The shorter lever is the Control lever: “Optimised for running closer to the handlebars, allows the blade to be adjusted 5mm further inwards than STD. Slightly shorter length helps to maintain lever feel with the change in biomechanics.” Nicey niceness.

Elite Fly 550 Bottle

• Price: £5.99
• From: Freewheel

Continuing my worrying toe-dip into the world of weight weenies, this is a very light water bottle (51g). Thankfully, it’s also functionally a very good bottle. You don’t have to use it with kid gloves (metaphorically and/or literally). Its suppleness and decent nozzle make getting a decent gulp down very simple and quick. The textured finish does a great job of keeping in a bottle cage during Proper ATB Riding. Loads of colours available as well as this transparent grey.

Elite Leggero Carbon Fibre Cage

• Price: £29.99
• From: Freewheel

As above, this cage is not just shameless gram-counting (17g people!), it’s actually a decent cage. Elite: “The Leggero’s injection-moulded carbon is considerably stronger than the fibreglass infused resin used on our standad cages, allowing Elite to trim excess material, the result is a final weight roughly half that the equivalent resin version.” And unlike other similarly light cages that often require bespoke bidons, the Leggero Carbon still accepts regular bottles.

DMR VMAX Clip Pedals

• Price: £110.00
• From: Upgrade Bikes

Extruded, CNC machined, 6061 aluminium platform. Shimano SPD compatible cleat system. The VMAX has a relatively large platform, combined with a low profile, resulting in fewer pedal strikes, more support, better control and foot-feel. Weight: 467g. Platform dimensions: 80mm x 95mm x 18mm. Also available in Deep Black and RD Grey as well as these Light Bronze jobbers.

Velovaere Chamois Cream

• Price: $32.00
• From: Velovaere

Some pretty techno bum-cream this. Made up of seven certified organic ingredients: beeswax, shea butter, jojoba oil, calendula oil, lavender oil, tea tree oil and copaiba oil. No fillers. Smells lovely. Alex from Velovaere explains: “After years of racing and logging 20–30 hour weeks, I got frustrated with chamois creams that wore off halfway through long rides and tired of rubbing harsh chemicals on my skin. So, I created Velovaere: a seven-ingredient organic formula that provides over six hours of protection without fillers or synthetics.”

Tailfin Universal Thru Axle

• Price: £49.00
• From: Tailfin

“Take the guesswork out of choosing your axle and futureproof swapping bikes or indeed have different bikes with differing axles.” Four swappable threaded ends cover almost all axle thread pitch standards. This is destined for Heather and her latest Lauf Elja project.

Formula Selva V

• Price: £1,070.00
• From: Elro Distribution

About the fork then, it’s 160/170 or 180mm travel. It has a new dual-chamber air spring balanced with an automatic Concentric Balance Valve, baby. New lower-friction piston. Single inflation valve. New lowers. 35mm stanchions. PM7 brake mount. Integrated Mudguard. Also available in Ultraviolet purple if you have the confidence. This is destined for James Vincent’s NBD (watch this space).

Member Reward – 10% Off The Clermont

• Reward: 10% off The Clermont
• From: The Singletrack Members Rewards

About The Clermont Hotel: “Outstanding 4-star hotels in London – Clermont Hotels are a refreshing return to what every hotel stay should be; the very best service delivered with a warm distinctly human touch, every time.”

Forum Thread Of The Week

The winner this week is aggs for this thread:

‘Tis true: the winning TOTW in FGF gets a prize. Alors… aggs please email editorial@singletrackworld.com for a random prize. Don’t forget to include your postal address, as it really speeds up delivery logistics, init.

Stale Goods Friday – 2014 Devinci Dixon Carbon RXS

• Price: £3,999
• From: Fresh Goods Friday 178

Way back when we wrote this legend: “The carbon framed Dixon is a 160mm/145mm bike that features Dave Weagle’s Split Pivot suspension. With a SLX/XT drivetrain and SLX 180mm/160mm stoppers it’s a sensibly specced all mountain/enduro capable bike.”