Dangerholm’s latest creation is an ultralight flat bar gravel racer, plus a slick new trail bike from YT, Ventum’s first e-bike, a ti fat bike for adventuring, and tons of colorful new options from Chris King, Cane Creek & Industry Nine!
I also found two interesting inflation products, new bike storage solutions, and Zwift launched some new Mayan-inspired island routes! Here’s the best new stuff this week:
- Dangerholm Super Gravel
- YT Jeffsey MK3
- Ventum ES1-G
- Otso Arctodus
- Campy Hyperon
- Chris King x Robert Axle Project
- Cane Creek Chroma Studio
- Industry Nine Bronze
- Paul Component 6-bolt Boxcar
- Koo Alibi shades
- FLO Air Gauge
- Byktek pocket compressor
- UWS Base bike stand
- 1UP bike storage
- Zwift goes Mayan
Dangerholm’s “Super Gravel” Scott Scale RC
Starting with a Scott Scale RC World Cup frame w/ rigid fork, Dangerholm’s Super Gravel build is painted in Porsche’s Forest Green Metallic paint w/ gold accents.
Spec highlights include METI ti thru axles and pedal spindles, Sturdy Cycles 3D-printed ti derailleur hanger, crankset & rotor lock rings; Schmolke carbon seatpost w/ Berk Composites saddle; CeramicSpeed hanger with 3D-printed ti pulleys; Carbon-Ti derailleur limit screws; Kenda Rush Pro TR 29×2.4 tires on Syncros Silverton SL wheels; Trickstuff Piccola Carbon brakes, and e13 Race Gravel 9-45t cassette.
Complete weight with pedals is 7.67kg (16.87lb), add 650g for the ti bottle cages and Moonlight Mountaingear light.
YT Jeffsey MK3 refines its big trail experience
The YT Jeffsey was their first 29er when it debuted in 2016. Now, this 3rd gen Jeffsey gets a little slacker (65º head angle) and longer (+5mm reach), and it gets their first-ever “stash tube” integrated downtube storage bucket…on the carbon models (there’s also an alloy frameset). It does it differently, though, by placing it above the bottle cage rather than under it, with two satchels inside.
It keeps the size-specific chainstays across five sizes, has a flip chip to adjust BB height, and gets 145mm rear travel with 150mm forks. Five models from to $6,499. (video here, watch ’til the end. Like, the end end.) (here’s the actual bike video, also solid)
Ventum ES1-G massively overpowered e-gravel bike
For a lightweight road bike brand, Ventum sure didn’t hold back with the new ES1-G. e-gravel bike. The full carbon frame and fork has a Class-3 Shimano EP801 motor with 85Nm torque and 504Wh battery. Claimed range is 100+ miles.
It fits 700×50 tires and has numerous frame and fork mounts, making it bikepacking ready. Just one build is offered, with Ultegra Di2 shifters & brakes and XT Di2 rear mech & wide range cassette. All for $6,699. (video here)
Otso Arctodus Ti Expedition Fat Bike
Named after an Ice Age bear that was the largest to ever walk the earth, the new Otso Arctodus titanum fat bike is designed to handle any adventure in any conditions. External routing makes field service easy, and tons of mounts on the frame and fork make it easy to load for bikepacking.
It’s optimized for 26×4.8″ tires, but adjustable rear axle spacing lets you fit larger 26×5″ and 27.5×4.5″ tires for maximum floatation. The rear wheel is left offset 5mm to maintain a narrow-ish BB while still cleaning modern 12-speed MTB groups with those huge tires. It fits Wolf Tooth’s adjustable angle headsets for more geo options, and its suspension corrected. Frames $3,545, bikes from $4,695.
Campagnolo Hyperon road wheels bring top tech at lower price
The new Campagnolo Hyperon wheels borrow all of the design tech from the Ultras – high-tech asymmetric carbon rims with mirror polish straight out of the molds – but switch to external nipples and standard cup-and-cone bearings rather than CULT ceramic.
They have the same 21mm inner width & 37mm depth, weight is 1340g. That’s 100g more than the Ultra, but they’re $1,000 less. MSRP $2,790
Chris King x Robert Axle Project anodized thru axles
Chris King has partnered with Robert Axle Project to offer color-matched thru axles, with five of the most popular sizes each for drop bar and mountain bikes (boost and super boost). Initially available in Black, 3D Violet & Matte Turquoise for $65 each, more colors to come.
Cane Creek Chroma Studio
Cane Creek’s new Chroma Studio collection matches ano colors across their Hellbender headsets and bottom brackets, bar-end plugs, steerer caps, crankset preloaded, and Helm MKII suspension fork hardware and decals.
Available in Red, Blue, Gold & Silver. All parts are available separately, forks sold as complete fork. We’ll be giving away a set of these in November, stay tuned!
Industry Nine Bronze is super limited
Order by November 14th to get this Bronze anodized color on Industry Nine’s Torch and Hydra hubs, Irix headset & spacers, and MTB stems. It’s also available in their custom wheel builder for spokes, so you can mix it into a multi-color build or go full bronze.
Paul Component 6-bolt Boxcar stem
They say there’s something about having a reinforced riser bar that makes you want to ride extra hard (and, possibly, do stupid rad things). So Paul Components made a wider version of their Boxcar stem for 22.2 handlebars and added two more stainless steel bolts. Available in 5 colors and 35/50mm lengths, from $147.50 to $166.50.
KOO Alibi sunglasses fit anyone, any helmet
With 3 distinct lenses for mountain biking/gravel and 5 for road riding, the new KOO Alibi offer high quality cylindrical Zeiss lenses for distortion-free visibility. And they claim they fit any face and work with every helmet, too, which would be quite the feat. Mirrored lens pairs are $190, photochromic are $235.
FLO precision air gauge works with any pump, even minis
Maybe you’ve got a great floor pump at home, but FLO suggests their tire pressure gauge is better with 1% accuracy across a 120psi span (maximum +/-1.2psi discrepancy). And it attaches to any pump, including handheld mini pumps and that well-worn loaner pump in the pits. It’s $199, but includes their $49 Locking Presta chuck with bleed valve to help you set an exact tire pressure.
Byktek Travel Pump is a pocket-sized compressor
The Byktek Travel Pump is rechargeable, fits in a jersey pocket or saddle bag, and can inflate two 700×28 tires to 100psi on a single charge. It’s Presta & Schrader compatible, measures 2.5×2.2×1.1 inches, weighs 99g, and is $99.95.
Urban Wood Systems Base bike stand
The U.W.S. Base stand uses a simple two-piece, split-pole design with a padded pass-thru rod to hold two bikes (or one bike and gear, with an add-on table that mounts lower).
Slide the two halves of the pole to approximately the height of your ceiling, pass the rod through to lock it into place, then adjust the base to wedge it in place. It’s elegant and simple, perfect if you don’t want to screw racks into your wall. But if you do…
1UP USA adds sliding bike storage
Hitch rack brand 1UP USA has added indoor storage options for your bikes, gear, and hitch racks. A sliding rail system lets you hang bikes and easily move them side to side to get the one you want in or out.
Wall-mounted hitch receivers let you stow your rack out of the way, and a rolling floor-stand makes it easy to get heavier upright racks to and from your vehicle. A shelf with optional hook plate holds shoes, helmets, etc.
Zwift adds Mayan-inspired southern coast maps
Zwift has added 19km of new roads along Watopia’s southern coast. Roll through a fishing village, dense forests set against a rocky coastline, and multiple Spanish-themed communities leading to a Mayan Jungle. How can real life compete with that? (video here)
Small Bites
Soooo much cool stuff this week, so I broke it up into categories:
- Videos
- Ritual Films 2024 MTB movie trailer
- Here’s a recap of the 2024 Big Sugar gravel race
- And here’s the Leadville 100 recap if you missed it
- Restrap goes bikepacking in Tesekkür, Turkey (routes in description)
- Watch Brice Shirback shred Norway in Sight Unseen
- Advocacy
- Support AMBC Knoxville’s trail dev & you could win a Transition MTB
- Vote in November for almost $2B in cycling infrastructure funding
- Join the Philly Bike Expo Squad to promote inclusivity in cycling
- PBE’s Inclusivity Scholarship applications are open now, too
- Gear & Things
- These Handup x Squid glove are sweet, in bright & dark hues
- Here’s Black Magic Paint’s MADE show custom paint gallery
- Fezzari Timp Peak & Le Sal Peak get Vivid Air shock upgrades
- Handlebar Jack’s v3 “bike stands” are longer and stronger
- Merlin adds new logo finishes for their road & gravel bikes
- Athletic Brewing’s First Ride dark NA brew is on tap
- Cyclist Mackenzie Myatt’s book of poems just dropped
- If you haven’t heard L’Enterloup yet, make a Pandora station now
- Aaron Gwin buys Wind Rock bike park in Tennessee
- Events
- 10th Annual Sedona MTB Festival tickets are on sale now
- HERO Dolomites is a weekend MTB race & festival in Italy
- Registration is open for the 2024 Lost & Found gravel fest
Hot Deals
- BikeTiresDirect’s Spooky Sale has stuff up to 40% off
- JensonUSA’s 20th Anniversary Sale has all the things
- Evo’s Anniversary Sale has everything up to 50% off
- Pactimo’s Black Friday Sale is on, up to 65% off sitewide
- Velocio’s prior season kits are up to 50% off
- Search & State’s S1-J jacket is 15% w/code Quickrelease15
Parting Thoughts
You may have heard that Wiggle, one of the UK’s largest online cycling retailers, is basically bankrupt. Technically, they’re “entering administration”, which is equivalent to bankruptcy and is when someone takes over the company, checks its finances, and advises on how (or if) they should proceed by negotiating with creditors & suppliers. (here’s a long story on it)
What it means in the short term is that a lot of brands are probably going to get paid pennies on the dollar (if anything) for orders they’ve shipped.
Brands that probably don’t want the product back because they likely have overstock themselves, especially complete bikes and prior-season drivetrains.
A couple of things will probably happen:
- Wiggle will blowout their inventory online, or it’ll get sold in bulk to another online outlet who’ll blow it out.
- Brands won’t get paid much and some smaller ones who were already struggling might go out of business.
- Lots of cool people will lose their jobs.
Wiggle’s parent company also owns Chain Reaction Cycles (another retailer), and the brands Nukeproof, Vitus, and Ragley, plus the distributor Hotlines. So, yeah, a LOT of people might be out of work.
And Nukeproof might go away, which would suck, but likely someone will buy the IP like Wiggle/CRC did from the original founder. In the meantime, Nukeproof’s US staff and athletes have all been let go.
What does all this mean for you and I?
As a consumer, probably nothing bad in the short term. There are crazy deals to be had, pretty much every bike brand is discounting.
But behind the scenes, new models and technology are being delayed. Some new models have been cancelled altogether. So as long as there’s a glut of inventory, prices will be low, but we’re not getting all the newest stuff.
My hunch is that it’s not our fault. Optimistic but unrealistic sales forecasting coming off of a surge in pandemic sales means a lot of brands have too much inventory and aren’t going to make it obsolete by pumping out something new.
Long term, I’m a little worried that once the current fire sale has ended and inventory levels and demand stabilize, things are going to get a lot more expensive.
Because everything’s getting more expensive. A burger/fries/drink at Five Guys is $20. Twenty F*cking Dollars! A not-really-16-ounce “pint” of beer is $7-8 in at small-town breweries.
It won’t be long before bike stuff catches up with that inflation, too.
Enjoy the industry’s pain while you can.
Also, 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.
Disclosure: Some links are affiliate links for which we may receive a small commission if you buy something. All photos are copyrighted by and used courtesy of their respective brands unless otherwise noted.