Greetings one and all, and welcome to another fun-time First Look Friday, where we recap the week's content highlights and unveil the latest tech goodies to arrive in the BikeRadar postroom.
Monday saw Oscar Huckle deliver his verdict on the wallet-friendly Microshift Sword gravel groupset, while Ashley Quinlan enlightened us with his findings from an extensive period of testing sub-£1,000 carbon road bike wheelsets.
Rob Weaver was next up, running the rule over the new Pivot Shuttle LT Pro, which sports Bosch's Performance Line CX Race Limited Edition motor. Barely two hours later, Nick Clark's keyboard was white hot as he rattled out details of the return of Calibre's £1,499 Bossnut trail bike after a four-year hiatus.
Simon von Bromley rounded out a super Tuesday on the site with a story on the new Wahoo Element Ace – quite possibly the world's first bike computer with an integrated aero sensor.
Gravel fans were well served on Wednesday. First, managing editor Gary Walker dropped the latest instalment of his Temple Adventure Disc 2 long-term review before Oscar Huckle brought us up to speed on his Niner RLT 9 RDO – the latest in our ever-popular BikeRadar Builds series.
Our Nick was at it again on Thursday, finding time to reel off a news story and first-ride review of the new Mondraker Crafty.
And finally, with winter closing in on the Northern Hemisphere, don't forget to update yourself on our guides to the best bike lights, best budget bike lights and best mountain bike lights.
Right, tech… go!
Le Col ARC Gravel Collection
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Le Col's brand ARC Gravel Collection is a luxurious take on riding kit that – according to the brand at least – isn't pigeonholed into one specific discipline.
Whether you're riding road, gravel or 'beyond', this kit – as long as you can afford it – should be for you.
Drilling down, you can see why they float such lofty claims; the range features baggy and Lycra fits, and each garment is available in a choice of earthy, muted tones designed to blend in rather than stand out.
With materials such as Merino wool, Pertex Shield waterproofing, and taped seams, befitting the price tags, you're almost guaranteed to feel a million dollars when donning Le Col's ARC collection.
The rain jacket retails for £280 / $375, a Merino short-sleeve jersey is £160 / $215, overshorts £110 / $150, and a long-sleeve T-shirt £80 / $110.
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WTB SG1 Tough tyres
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WTB's mountain bike tyres tend to fly under the radar compared to Maxxis and Schwalbe, but the brand's new SG1 ultra-tough construction is intended to change that.
The new SG1 tech adds puncture protection underneath the tyre's tread, reducing the likelihood of the carcass getting slashed by hidden rocks and your ride being ruined.
Also new is something called IP+ technology. This increases the height of the Apex bead protection by no less than three-fold (or 15mm), and is designed to reduce the chanches of the tyre's bead getting damaged, while boosting the sidewall's strength.
But there's no denying that these changes have upped the weights on equipped tyres.
I got my hands on the brand's full range (Judge, Trail Boss, Verdict, Vigilante) of IP+ and SG1-equipped tyres, with the popular Vigilante Tough High Grip 29x2.5in model tipping the scales at a whopping 1,570g, up on the equivalent's 1,285g from the previous generation. Wowzers!
Likewise, the Judge Tough High Grip 29x2.5in model now weighs 1,631g, up from the previous generation's 1,352g. Double wowzers!
Although those headline weights might be scary for some, as a certified tyre killer, they're music to my ears and I can't wait to put WTB's latest rubber through its paces.
- From £80 / $89.95 / €74.50
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100% ARmatic goggles
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Claimed to boost visual fidelity to the next dimension, ARmatic's 3D-moulded stiff lens should be distortion-free, an issue 'floppy' or malleable lenses can suffer from.
Based on the Armega goggles, the new ARmatic shares its lens shape and quick-release lens-removal system. Two large clips flanking the frame pull open to release the lens. It's all very slick.
Elsewhere, there's plenty of foam to ensure a secure fit with your face; it feels voluptuously soft and luxurious, and should help reduce sweat dripping into your eyes.
A 48mm-wide strap is backed with a silicone strip to help it keep in place on your helmet and the outriggers have tear-off posts.
On my scales, the goggles weighed 180g, which is 19g lighter than the Armega. It's impressive stuff.
- £84.99 / $94.90
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Rimpact Chain Damper
Mountain biking is increasingly becoming a sport of marginal gains, mostly thanks to massive leaps and bounds in frame, suspension and component technology.
Epitomising the search for improvements in all domains is Rimpact's all-new Chain Damper.
The idea of a chain damper is to absorb movement and energy generated by the chain from entering the pedal cranks.
This energy can be created by the suspension's movement causing the chain to 'slap' up and down, or from the suspension's compression and extension extending the distance between the rear wheel axle and the bottom bracket.
This is known as chain growth and has been linked to pedal kickback, whereby the chain's extension 'pulls' rearwards on the chainring causing the cranks to rotate anti-clockwise as you're riding. This can also stiffen a bike's suspension, which is something no rider wants.
The damper should help reduce these negative inputs.
Its chainring is sandwiched in the middle of a hub and floats on two springs. These springs give the chainring 8.6 degrees of damped rearward movement, hopefully doing enough to 'decouple' the drivetrain and suspension.
The holy grail here is to make the bike feel as if it has no chain.
But all this tech comes at a weight and monetary penalty, tipping the scales at 245g (SRAM Transmission fitment, 32t chainring).
It's available with 30t to 36t chainrings and can currently fit Shimano direct-mount cranks and SRAM direct-mount systems for Eagle drivetrain cranks and Transmission cranks (three and eight-bolt respectively). More fitment options are in the pipeline.
- £279.99 / $374.99 / €324.99
