This week we’ve got a big new e-mountain bike with a little boost, killer new upgrades for both road and mountain bikes, a surprisingly affordable titanium road bike, and more. Here’s the best new stuff this week:
- Trek Slash+
- Maxxis High Roller
- Race Face Chester
- State Titanium All-Road
- BH GravelX
- Canyon MACH874
- CarbonTi upgrades
- I9 Bronze
- Kask Nirvana
Trek Slash+ eMTB is a long-travel lightweight
Thus far, bikes with the lightweight, quiet TQ HPR50 motor have been ultralight, short-travel eMTBs aimed at XC and trail riders. The new Trek Slash+, um, slashes that concept by giving it a larger 580Wh battery and long-travel high-pivot suspension. It’s also Range Extender compatible, or remove the main battery entirely for a very normal-weight enduro bike.
It has 170mm rear travel with an oversized 19-tooth idler pulley, plus a lower chain guide pulley attached to a chainring bash guard. The adjustable leverage ratio flip chip lets you run air or coil shocks, and the +/-1º angle-adjust headset lets you fine tune geometry.
It has MX wheels and size-specific chainstay lengths, 170mm forks and comes in two builds from $7,999 to $11,999. Weights from 46lbs (20.88kg). (video here)
Maxxis High Roller III
Slotting in between the Assegai and Shorty, the freshly rebooted Maxxis High Roller has an open tread pattern with large, well-supported side knobs for good soil penetration. They say it’s the do-it-all DH tire for modern race courses and their steep, wet, mixed and blown-out tracks…and enduro, too.
Available in 29″ and 27.5″ in 2.4″ widths with 3C Maxx compound, EXO+, DoubleDown (2x120tpi), and DH (2x60tpi) casing options. For front or rear use. MSRP $105 (or $95 at BTD), weights from 1,299g to 1,400g. (video here)
Race Face Chester pedals
Basically, if you want a killer mountain bike pedal at a great price, get the new Race Face Chester. This version has more grip, two sizes, a better ride feel, fully serviceable internals, and a tough composite platform.
They have 11 pins per side, come in 8 colors, weigh 345-355g, and are just $55 with a Lifetime Warranty, crashes included.
State Titanium All-Road is the most affordable Ti bike ever
The new State Titanium All-Road takes their popular steel gravel/bikepacking/all-road frame and gives it a double-butted 3/2.5 titanium frame, finished with a PVD coating that enhances the natural ti color.
It has a carbon fork, fender & rack mounts, and fits 700×50 or 650B x 2.2″ tires. Frames start at just $1,299, complete bikes from $2,499 with their housebrand 1×11 drivetrain and alloy wheels & cockpit, plus Vittoria Terreno Dry gravel tires. Builds top out at just $4,400 but come with SRAM wireless shifting and ENVE Carbon Wheels!
BH GravelX R race-specific gravel bike
The new BH GravelX R eliminates the original’s downtube storage compartment and micro-suspension pivot and flex stays and revises the carbon layup to create a stiffer, lighter (-110g) version for racing. Dropped seatstays and a D-shaped seatpost maintain some compliance.
It keeps the full internal routing, stealth thru axles and double bottle cage mounts on the downtube, which lets you run their optional aero bottle+tool storage kit. The fork’s unique shape provides extra vibration damping, and it fits 700×45 tires. Four builds from €3,299 to €4,999. (video here)
Canyon MACH874 Olympic colorways
A nod to the speed of light (Mach 874,030), Canyon has specially painted bikes for their Olympic athletes. The design also plays on the “city of light” theme, honoring the host city of Paris. Each bike shares the design theme, but in unique colors celebrating each athlete’s home country. Check them all out here.
Carbon-Ti goes bigger & faster
The new Carbon-Ti X-CarboRing EVO chainrings (right) have added an extra tooth (55-teeth, 134g) to make the UAE Team Emirates riders just that little bit faster than the schmucks still riding a 54. And for the climbing stages, a new, smaller 38-tooth inner chainring (44g) lets them spin it out. Both have carbon fiber bodies with hardened alloy teeth. Available now for Shimano cranks, others coming.
For 1x aero setups, the new X-AeroRing (left) is full carbon, comes in 58/60/62-tooth options, and is also for Shimano’s asymmetric 4-bolt 110BCD.
When it’s time to slow down, their new X-Rotor Aero brake rotors have an aerodynamic carbon fiber carriers with steel braking surfaces connected by titanium rivets. Available in 140mm and 160mm diameters, with 6-bolt and Center Lock options.
Industry Nine’s Bronze is back for good
Industry Nine’s Bronze anodized color option was so popular they’ve brought it back for good. It’s available on everything they make – headsets, stems, spacers, hubs, and spokes. Check it all out here.
Kask Nirvana aero helmet covers your ears
Since your ears are little drag-inducing wing flaps sticking out of your head, Kask decided to cover the top of them with their new Nirvana Aero Helmet. It also has a slight teardrop shape, and they say it has 35% less drag than its competition and is still relatively light at just 270g.
Inside are air channels to keep you cool and 3D-printed padding that adds rotational impact protection, plus Merino wool pads on the front and side to keep it comfy and move sweat. Available in black, white, and three shiny new color fades. MSRP $400. (video here)
Small Bites
- Chrome has a new Midtown Messenger & Barrage Backpack
- Enter to win $10K+ of bike upgrades and gear from Loam Pass
- Silca is now official chain wax/lube of Team Visma/Lease a Bike
- Get Pogacar’s custom ENVE SES 4.5 wheels for a limited time
- Chris Akrigg’s latest video is full eMTB trials shredding
- Nix Biosensors’ sweat data now uploads to TrainingPeaks
- Check these sweet ltd ed Crank Bros Dunes Edition MTB shoes
- Knolly Delirium DH/park bike gets a modern update
- Ciclovation has shiny new Vapor Metallic bar tape
Hot Deals
- Silca’s Super Secret Semi-Annual Sale is on!
- Ari Bikes have 0% financing for 18 mo (ends 7/28)
- Use code LIDLTrek20 for 20% off Kogel ceramic upgrades
- MRP has 40-50% off suspension & drivetrain parts
- Massive discounts on BougeRV electric coolers & solar thru 7/28
- Voited’s awesome Change Wear is 40% off thru end of July
Parting Thoughts
I love that I’m equally excited about a set of plastic flat pedals and $300+ carbon fiber chainrings.
It shows that there’s a market for both very affordable things and things that are completely unnecessary but awesome.
The beautiful thing about Race Face’s new pedals is that they’ll probably last longer than most kids bikes. If you can convince your non-cycling friends to “splurge” for their kids and their own casual bikes, they’ll probably enjoy cycling more and also not keep sending generic $20 pedals to the landfill.
It’s parts like these that give us all an opportunity to introduce our “normal” friends to better bikes in an approachable way.
But it’s parts like the Carbon-Ti chainrings (and Race Face’s much higher end products) that allow the R&D and margins for them to develop lower-cost parts that are still high quality.
So, please keep buying the best stuff for yourself, and steer others to the affordable stuff.
It’s for our own good. 😉
Cheers, and have a great weekend!
The Lunch Ride is a weekly TL;DR recap of the best new cycling products and tech, written for Riders, not Algorithms. SUBSCRIBE HERE to get it in your inbox every Friday.
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