by Ben Haworth, Hannah Dobson and Amanda Wishart 2 days ago 22

As real life feels more and more like the opening fifteen minutes of Threads (sorry!), let’s console ourselves with a collective gawp at some products designed for the fantastically life-affirming frivolous activity of mountain biking.

This particular Diamond D1 has been travel-adjusted to give out 140mm (it be set anywhere between 130 and 160mm). It’s for our group test of 130-140mm trail forks.

What does this fork offer then? “Quick range low speed compression: With a quick turn of the knob, the low speed circuit is restricted providing a nice platform for climbing. High speed compression adjust: Loader style compression provides easy access to the piston & shims for serious tuning. OTT off the top: This exclusive & proven DVO design trickles down from the emerald to deliver precise air spring tuning with a turn of knob. Closed cartridge bladder system: Just like the jade rear shock, the bladder is compressed rather than expanded offering incredible small bump sensitivity.”

Speaking of Jade, here’s DVO’s coil shock. Another item for a fortchcoming group test (of coil shocks). The Jade X has T3 compression adjustment (open, supportive and firm settings essentially. Rejigged rebound circuitry. As with other DVO rear shocks, the Jade X uses a bladder rather than an IFP. Both systems are designed to reduce cavitation. The adjustable bladder is claimed to offer less stictiony switch betweeen compression and rebound movements of the shock. The shock also comes with LS (light steel) spring. Made of Japanese steel that claims to save nearly a pound over a trad steel spring.

Big unit. Shorter insertion length than previous Highlines (to fit more bikes). Trelleborg sealing. Igus LL-glide bearings. Jagwire cabling. Linear actuator for quicker return speed (always a niggle of previous Highlines). Remote sold separately, which is fair enough seeing as most folk have cable-remote for a dropper already.

3D printed Ti is becoming quite the ‘in’ thing in bikes at the moment, these are some cranks from Sturdy Cycles. Additively manufactured in 6/4 titanium alloy in 165mm but available in custom lengths. SRAM 8 bolt, boost spacing, 30t machined Ti chainring (available up to 36t), and pretty light. Pricing – not a typo.

106x110mm platform, 343 grams, CNCed from 6061-T6 aluminium in San Diego, 17-4 stainless steel axle. Available in loads of colours that aren’t just black, with pins that would make a shark’s dentist weep.

32mm length. 35mm clamp using a 1 piece, two bolt design that is able to take bars with up to 80mm rise. 133grams, machined from a 3lb lump of titanium.

Comes with a free cloth.

Sitting at the tippy top of the new Canyon Spectral:ON CFR range is this glittery shadow beast with 150mm travel fork and 155mm shock. If you ride a small, the cost comes in a little cheaper at a squeak under the £10k mark, but this is a medium. It’s a carbon everywhere – front and rear triangle, drivetrain, wheels, bars – and batteries everywhere – bike, gears, dropper, shock, fork, shifters – kinda build. That’s a 900Wh battery (though not on a small) with Shimano EP8 to keep you moving, plus the full set of SRAM AXS and Flight Attendant. Mullet wheels complete the Total Future Is Now set up. If you’ve not got the stomach or the wallet for quite so much electronics, there’s a non-LTD CFR version coming soon, with Fox Suspension and Shimano drivetrain. We’ll be putting the promises of long-range, low-weight playfulness to the test.

The wait is over, girls! Nukeproof has responded to demand and made a female specific cut of the Blackline trouser. Light enough to wear year-round, stretchy enough to be mega comfy, and the waist band comes flatteringly high up the back to keep mud out and stop us having a gap between jersey and trouser. Hannah is modelling a size medium.

Charlie says… Singletrack would be nothing without you lot, the Singletrack members. If it was not for you, we would not be able to write, read, crash, print, edit, spreadsheet, submit, create, shoot, crash again and proof our way through every issue, and pump out the online stuff. So, it is mega super important that we make ourselves attractive to new members.

We are giving new members an awesome Timber! Bell with every new annual membership, both print+ and digital. Print+ membership is only £39.00, and you now get a free £24.99 bell. Digital membership is £20… and you can still get a free £24.99 Timber! Bell. How about that? I told you it was a killer offer. Click here and use code “freebell02”.

Yep, I know this is a bit of a bummer. I used to buy new bikes when they were launched, and then see them discounted at the end of the summer. However, I did get a whole summer of kick arse mountain biking fun, so I was cool to reluctantly roll with the dramas of special offers. But because we are jolly nice folk here at Singletrack, we are doing a killer member price on the bell. Click here, and you will see full members get a great price on our Timber! Bell. No code required, just damned good prices for members. And don’t forget the world is better with more bell.

Three bright new designs for the Blackline jersey have arrived to complete the new women’s outfit. Hannah is wearing a size small here.

Charlie says… The SplashMaps Aid for Ukraine Map Toob of Kyiv raises funds for Ukrainian refugees and those internally displaced within Ukraine.

That is the important bit. It really doesn’t matter if you want a neck tube or not. However it will also keep big hair under control, keep your neck warm, and allow you walk into shops should Covid return.

Personally, this is a prompt for a semi-retirement adventure. There is an off-road motorcycle trail that goes past my front door in Yorkshire, and then across Ukraine (via a wee loop around Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Hungary and Bulgaria). I would like to ride my dirt bike to Ukraine, and then explore the city with this map. My Toob is pinned above my Singletrack desk as a daily reminder. A reminder to not only retire and ride bikes, but also of how fortunate we are.

If you thought Hannah was looking a bit bulky in those Nukeproof pics, it’s because she has this kit on underneath. Foam pads protect thighs and tailbones, while removable D30 pads protect the hips. These are part of SixSixOne’s women’s specific protection range, and come with a built in chamois. It’s not just the chamois that’s made for women’s anatomy – the position and proportions of the pads are also made to fit women. Pad Lok poppers mean you can attach the shorts to knee pads and also, this…

…this jacket gives D30 protection to shoulders, back and elbows, all in one suit, plus EVA foam hip and chest protection. There’s room to slot a bladder in the back if you want to ride packless – or with a hip pack. The protection areas are proportionate across the sizes, to make sure you get those vital bits covered without restricting your movement. Hannah will be rocking her new power ranger suit at Peaty’s Steel City DH this weekend, and hoping she doesn’t do too much testing of its protective properties. She is glad not to have to worry about whether her elbow pads are going to stay up. She’s already known for dungarees…how long before she’s gone full onesie?

If you wonder why you’ve not heard much from Chipps recently, our Editor At Large has been getting his pinny on and spring-cleaning the self-catering gîtes that he runs with (his now wife) Beate in the south eastern French Pyrenees. You can have a look at the links below for more details, but for now, just think – small French village in the mountains, prime mountain bike, road and gravelle trails out the door, bakery and bar a short ride away. Oh, and 300 days of sunshine a year. Form an orderly queue. (There’s a romantic double, a double with two singles, plus a third with a double (or two singles) plus a triple room. Bike parking is obviously available. Here ends the giant plug…)

Kudos to the-muffin-man for this heartening post…

Every week we run a competition over on that there Instagram to win a Singletrack Forum Bottle Opener. Yes, they are metal and evz.

Simply tag your riding pics with #STWFGF on Instagram and… that’s it.

A post shared by Do North Adventure (@do_north_adventure)

Congratulations to @do_north_adventure for this pic of rugged inspiration.

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Jeepers Benji. I had not seen Threads because I didn’t get to watch TV until about 1991. And there I was thinking Years and Years was terrifying. Are you available for motivational speeches, pre-concert warm ups, and other uplifting scenarios? Jeez.

Quite an expensive FGF me thinks

I’ve forgotten everything else now I’ve seen Chipp’s AirBnB(Y) Wanna go 😀

May I be the first to say, “How much for a chainset?” You could get a bike for that.

Next ST team meeting… I will find a 8 dozen puppies, and we will bury Benji in cute puppies. That will cheer him up.

“at-least-we-made-it-this-far-edition” shoulda been called the “how-f-ing-much-edition”

Hannah must have pretty powerful pits, they’ve burned a hole right through that top.

Lovely crankset, but a bit pricey for me…..

Why is Hannah having a poop outside no 23?

Despite the cost stopping me from ever experiencing them in the real world, them cranks don’t alf look stunning! (As do the pedals and stem, and much other expensive things….)

How well does sintered titanium hold up to the rigours of drivetrain use?

Is the spring included with the Jade X shock now?

@footflaps it’s been a long week. @IHN I’m on a water meter, I try not to wash too often.

May I be the first to say, “How much for a chainset?” You could get a bike for that.

£1440 for just one additive-Ti component doesn’t seem like great vaue compared to an Atherton frame whcih has multiple lugs and linkages all made using the same method, and a load of carbon tubes chucked in.

The airbnb looks ace, definitely a possibility for early summer 2023.

I watched Threads as a teenager, totally terrifying. Apparently after it was shown across Europe (and a similar film in the States) it led to treatys etc to stop it happening. A few world leaders need to watch it now.

Bloody changing towels for £90!!! It isn’t a fashion accessory, put it on, get changed, take it off. Don’t continue to wear it afterwards, no you shouldn’t be walking to the shops in one.

I got a boggo changing towel off ebay for £15, it’s job is to stop people seeing my arse crack whilst getting out of my riding kit and into a pair of jeans.

Could Kid Jensen have been any cooler? LoL! Good to see some classy miming from Magazine there on “Sharks from both sides” as one of my mates once thought the lyrics were. Oh and bike stuff.

I’d put a 15 quid steely NX ring on that crankset cos it would last longer.

edit, I am talking bollocks as usual..

oh wow, the magnificent Magazine on FGF

@Chipps’ place is just down the road from Mas Forge, where I spent many a childhood summer holiday. It’s a lovely area and one I’m definitely planning on returning to.

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