Get ready, jump out of your office chair and stretch those sleepy muscles because it's Friday and that means two sweet days of riding. Here are some of the tech that the postman has delivered to BikeRadar HQ this week.
- Specialized Venge ViAS Disc joins the aero range
- How to adjust the rebound and compression settings on your mountain bike
- How to pack your road bike for a trip abroad
New Mountain Bike Gear
Suomy Scrambler
By now you’ve likely seen the Lampre-Merida team riding in their unique Suomy Gun Wind road helmets, and the Italian brand has just sent over the Scrambler mountain bike helmet.
Weighing in at 310g in medium size (AU/NZ 2063 standard) this trail focused helmet sees a matte finished polycarbonate outer shell that wraps underneath the brow to protect the EPS liner from dings and knicks.
With 23 vents and internal channeling to boot, the Scrambler should breath well. It also gets an adjustable peak using Suomy’s Biaxial retention system. The styling of our Desert White/Red Fulro Matte sample lid remains close to Suomy’s heritage in motorsport helmets.
£TBC / US$N/A / AU$239
www.suomysport.com / www.firstendurance.com.au
Astute Mud Line
Designed with Enduro riders in mind, the Mud Line is Italian saddle maker Astute’s newest off-road saddle. Weighing in at 247g, the Mud Line saddle sees a carbon reinforced nylon base, pressure relieving center channel and titanium rails.
As with all of Astute’s saddles the Mud Line features tri-density memory foam padding, which the brand says is the same used in the seats of the latest luxury sports cars. The Mud Line perch also gets the Bumper D-System which sees the rails attach to an elastomer type structure for additional vibration dampening.
£160 / US$N/A / AU$355
www.astuteitalia.com / www.firstendurance.com.au
Goal Zero Yeti 400
In a world of ever growing cycling tech, having the power to charge all of our gadgets is becoming increasingly important because, you know, if it’s not on Strava then it didn’t happen. Thankfully for those epic weekend mountain bike trips away in your VW T5 Transporter campervan, Goal Zero has your power woes sorted with the Yeti 400.
The 400Wh capacity battery can charge your smartphone 30+ times, a GoPro 70+ or a laptop 3-5 times so it has decent capacity. It’s a hefty beast at 13kg, but it’s not designed to be lugged around too much. If you’re a total power fiend, Goal Zero does supersize the Yeti with a 1200Wh version.
£460 / US$550 / AU$N/A
Hiplok FLX
Now we’re in the throngs of a glorious/not so glorious summer, you need a lock for securing your bike outside the pub garden. Thankfully Hiplok has you covered with its FLX lock.
It’s a slim, lightweight design for when you only want to carry the essentials. But if you do end up staying out a bit late it also works as a clip-on light to help get you home safe and sound.
£30 / US$N/A / AU$N/A
Alpinestars Velocity Gloves
Alpinestars makes gloves for people who like to fall off motorbikes at 200mph, so the quality of their Velocity MTB mitts is top notch. They have all the things you’d expect from a summer glove including a thin palm and well ventilated upper.
This colourway is called Spicy Orange Black and should help you stand out when loitering outside the trail centre café.
£40 / US$N/A / AU$N/A
New Road Bike Gear
Specialized Expert Road shoe
Benefiting greatly from trickle down tech, the Specialized's Expert Road is the brand's cheapest model to receive a FACT carbon sole ― rated 8.5 on their own stiffness scale. The shoe also receives the Body Geometry treatment through the sole and stock footbed.
With perforations throughout and a vent under the toes the Expert should breath well, and the Boa IP1 Snap dial closer and velcro strap over the toe box should provide a snug fit.
There’s also a replaceable heel bumper and reflective panel at the back, and the shoes weigh 570g for the pair in a size 45.
£160 / US$200 / AU$249.95
Maap Micro Dot Sock
Melbourne outfit Maap has a massive catalogue of socks that come in just about every colour and design imaginable. Made with a nylon cotton blend the six inch socks are comfy and just the right height. At first glance the they appear to be polka dotted, however if you look closely the dots are actually little Ms.
Cool designs and sock height aside, our favourite part about these socks is they are made in Australia.
£17 / US$23 / AU$30
Altura Podium Elite jersey and bibs
Altura’s premium offerings for the 2016 season come in the form of their Podium Elite jersey and bib shorts.
Awash in trademarked technology, including Altura’s own DryTM fabrics, ErgoFitTM 3D patterning and Draft VentingTM cooling zones, the Podium Elite range is clearly tailored to the racing market. The Podium jersey features no less than five pockets, ensuring you’ll have a hard time deciding where to put things.
The bibs have silicon grippers to guarantee no embarrassing thigh exposures and the chamois comes with more TMs in Altura’s ProGel padding.
Safety features come courtesy of reflective trimmings on both the jersey and shorts for those speedy early morning commutes.
Jersey – £75 / US$TBC / AU$TBC
Bibs – £100 / US$TBC / AU$TBC
Specialized Road Bandit
Integrated storage solutions have picked up steam in recent years and Specialized seem to be leading the way with their SWAT system, which stands for Storage, Water, Air and Tools.
The Road Bandit, pictured here on a Power saddle, has been designed to hold an inner tube (up to 80mm valve), a tyre lever (just one, sadly), CO2 cartridge and inflator, all neatly tucked away under your saddle.
On-bike and clothing solutions have allowed Specialized to apply SWAT across their range so riders have to worry less about where to keep spares.
£TBC / US$40 / AU$TBC
Bell Gage MIPS
Worn by Steven Kruijswijk who came agonisingly close to Maglia Rosa glory back in May, the Bell Gage MIPS is Bell’s top-of-the-line road helmet.
The 26 vents ensure maximum ventilation, while reflective detailing provides additional visibility. The Gage MIPS comes in three colours: matt black, white and black/red (pictured here).
The advertised weight is 243g (on the scales our size M weighed in at 239g) putting it at a comparable weight with other top-of-the-line MIPS helmets, but at a more wallet friendly price tag.
£150 / US$195 / AU$N/A
Cateye Padrone Smart+
If carrying a smartphone and a GPS bike computer feels too much like carrying the same device twice, then keep reading as the Cateye Padrone Smart+ utilises the power of your phone in its lightweight package.
At only 41g (without mount) the Padrone Smart+ comes with route navigation, wireless ride uploads with call, text and emails alerts, and matches functionality of some other computers but at a much more wallet-friendly cost.
If your bike is already kitted out in full Bluetooth sensors then you can use the Padrone Smart+ in what Cateye calls Sensor Direct mode. This means no GPS data but, in a race for example, you probably know where you're going anyway.
£80 / US$N/S / AU$N/A