Mountain Bike Online

Although summer is upon us, its never too early to kit yourself out for the early morning autumn rides with a bit of a nip in the air.  Thermal ¾ short liners designed to be worn under a pair of baggy shorts, made from fleece lined fabric, perfect  for spring/autumn rides and even through the winter if you’re one of those riders who doesn’t mind showing a bit of leg and prefers shorts even when its 5 degrees below.

Good quality Fox Evo-M chamois and grippers to waist and legs to keep them put when you’re pedalling.  Sizing can be a bit tricky, so we suggest you try them out for size.

Inspired by the dowhnhill riders long-time trick for extreme conditions during racing; gluing strips of tyre tread to their saddles for riding in wet and muddy conditions to provide more traction and grip. SDG have expanded the concept and come up with the Storm Saddles,  a saddle you can depend on to keep you seated in whatever weather condition you use it for.

Both the Extreme and All Weather come with two set of seat clamps to make it compatible with regular posts.

K9 Industries have some tasty new products out. These include bars, stems, springs, pedals and more.

Springs: The spring sets are available in titanium, lightweight or standard spec

Stems: The direct mount stem weighs 115g, has titanium bolts and has an increased clearance around the steerer tube.

Bars: Available in two versions – called Switch and Static.

Pedals: New Clutch pedals are being launched also.

Check them out: www.k9industries.co.uk

2011 sees a massive new range of products from North Face – who make some great kit for mountain biking.

Jerseys

North Face jerseys are made from a variety of quick drying and sweat wicking materials. The Dort Track Jacket features a mixture of Gore Windstopper and Aper-Aerobic softshell materials. These also feature zip off sleeves and elesticated cuffs. What more would the budding biker need?

Shorts

North Face Shorts for 2011 such as the baggy Levada versions are made from stretchy rip-stop material which has a comfy inner mesh. The cut is generous and there are loads of colours to choose from – a great riding short for sure.

More information: See North Face at Wiggle.co.uk

The WHITE BROTHERS Loop Fork is a brand new fork from White Brothers, and is the first for quite some time. It has been in development for a while now…

32mm stanchions with a forged crown and cast magnesium legs and uses White Brothers QTapeR 15mm dropout though axle. It clamps both sides so it’s mega stiff.

It is available in a few sizes:

• 80-120mm
• 130-150mm
• 29er version

All WHITE BROTHERS Loop Forks have tapered steerer options.

Cost is around £600

The FOX V3R Full Face Helmet is basically a motocross helmet, reworked for use by the mountain biker.

It was originally launched in 2010 and has been worn by rider Danny Hart. It’s been relaunched in 2011 with some fresh colour schemes.

It’s made from carbon and Kevlar, there are 14 vents and the vents even have shutters so if you are riding through winter, you can close them off. The FOX V3R Full Face Helmet has a Coolmax liner, which is removable for washing.

Costs £290 from ChainReactionCycles.com

The TOPEAK Bikamper Tent is a clever way to camp using your bike as a tent pole. It has recently won a Red Dot Design award for being rather clever and the main advantage is that the tent rolls down into a very small pack, to make transporting it easy. It weighs 4lb, is 3 season proof and features mesh panels to aid ventilation.

If you go camping with your bike, and fancy using it as a tent pole, then the TOPEAK Bikamper Tent might just be your thing.

£165 from Wiggle.co.uk

The Magura MT8 Disc Brakes have been in development for a while, and Magura has some serious development time invested in the MT8′s so they best be good.

The MT8 is the first brake from Magura with their Carbolay lever blade and new Carbotecture master cylinder which is constructed using their Carbofolow process, phew!

The callipers have a double arched design which Magura say give them the best strength to weight ratio. The MT8′s also feature an EPR (easy pad replacement) system which allows you to see the wear level from above.

They retail at £300 per brake, so are expensive, but stand as the most advanced brakes on the market currently.

Helmet cams are so last year – now you can record the best trails with a pair of video sunglasses!

The Zebra Video Recording Sunglasses feature a 1.3 mega pixel video camera which is hidden in the nose piece and stores the fottage in a 2GB micro-SD card slot which is in the legs of the glasses.

Only downside is some wind noise, but you could edit it out.

• RRP around £80 from Halfords.com

Transition’s new bike the Bandit is a 130mm trail bike and is made from hydroformed 6061 aluminium. The Washington-based firm is currently revamping all it’s mountain bikes and the Bandit is the first to be relaunched.

The new frame uses the same linkage as the Bottlerocket model with the shock positioned below the top tube.

Transition says: “the Bandit gets you the best of both worlds without compromising and will put a smile on your face whether you are going uphill or down”

See: www.transitionbikes.com