This week’s recap includes a few more of the best things I found at Sea Otter Classic, plus the usual launches. There’s a few road & gravel goodies, and a lot of mountain bike stuff, like the revamped GT Sensor, Project 321’s clever new hubs, PUSH’s upside-down fork, three things for shorter riders (and kids), Vittoria’s wild ultralight tire insert, and a lot more. Here’s the best new stuff this week:
- GT Sensor Carbon
- Project 321 G3 hubs
- PUSH inverted fork
- Vittoria Air-Liner Light
- Shimano’s Bigger Rotors
- FiveTen Kestrel BOA
- YT Jeffsy Primus 27″
- MicroSHIFT Super Short
- OneUp kid’s pedals
- Lauf price drops
- Argon18 Krypton
- Fizik Aliante redesigned
- Cannondale Adventure NEO
GT Sensor trail bike gets lighter and shreddy-er
The all-new GT Sensor trail bike looks familiar and keeps the LTS Horst Link suspension, but gets 10mm more travel, longer reach, slightly slacker head angle, lower BB, and longer chainstays to make it more capable than ever (watch Ryder Bulfone shredding it in this video), and it drops a lot of weight.
It comes in carbon and alloy versions with 140mm and 130mm rear travel, respectively, with 150mm and 140mm forks, plus two carbon ST (Short Travel) versions with 120mm and 140mm forks. Alloy models get accessory mounts under the top tube, too. Complete bikes from $2,300 to $5,750.
Project 321 G3 hubs get faster, stronger & fit any rotor
The new Project 321 G3 hubs upgrade to four pairs of pawls (8 total) for a wicked fast 1.25º engagement, with a magnetic design that virtually eliminates pawl drag. They roll on an oversized axle with two double-row bearings in the middle for extra stiffness.
The hub shells directly fit Centerlock rotors, but include stainless steel collets plus color-matched sleeves to fit 6-bolt rotors. That sleeve, as well as the endcaps, are also sold separately in a wide range of colors so you can customize the look. Target is $650 when they ship in early summer, claimed weight is 155g/292g (F/R) plus 20g/wheel if you use the “6 Lock” adapters.
PUSH may finally make upside MTB forks a thing
PUSH Industries showed off a new inverted suspension fork without sharing any tech details, but did discuss the design. It’s based on moto forks, using a stiffer crown with deeper supports for the (potentially tapered) upper tubes. The crown is Cerakoted, uppers and sliders are anodized.
Based on the We Are One and Trek bikes it was mounted to, I’m guessing travel options between 150-170mm. The dropouts clamp around the slider and might be modular to fit 15mm and 20mm thru axles. It’s an air fork and has external compression and rebound knobs. No word on price, but they plan to release it in early summer.
Vittoria Air-Liner Light tire insert auto-inflates if you puncture
Vittoria’s Air-Liner Light weighs just 50g, which is less than half the weight of comparable XC-to-Trail mountain bike tire inserts, yet it performs better than any of them. The open-cell material acts like a closed-cell foam, so it compresses when you first inflate your tire, but over ~8 hours will equalize with your tire pressure.
Then, if you puncture, because it can’t equalize quickly, the rapid decrease in tire pressure makes the insert expand to fill the tire so you can keep riding or even finish a race!
The insert has progressive compression, giving your tire more support over rough terrain and hard cornering, and protecting against hard impacts. This lets you run lower tire pressure for more grip and a smoother ride, too! MSRP $60 per wheel w/ valve stem. (video here)
Shimano ICE TECH Freeza rotors add MTB sizes
Shimano has released 180mm and 203mm sizes of their RT-CL900 and RT-CL800 rotors. Stiffer, reshaped alloy carriers reduce heat deformation on long descents, so they stay quieter and more predictable.
The ICE TECH Freeza (stainless steel braking surface over alloy heat sink) design helps reduce overall heat buildup. The CL900 has black heat reduction paint on the radiator fins, the CL800 fins remain bare. Prices from $65 to $100. It’s technically a road product, so now you can run Dura-Ace on your Enduro bike.
FiveTen Kestrel BOA “downcountry” MTB shoe
FiveTen’s new shoe for people who pedal a lot is the new Kestrel BOA, which they call their first “downcountry” shoe, pairing XC performance with their signature gravity experience.
The very grippy STEALTH rubber treads cover a glass fiber outsole that’s efficient but not so stiff it’ll make your feet hurt. A reinforced toe box, abrasion-resistant upper, and raised tread rubber at heel and toe protect your foot, and the BOA Li2 dial provides micro adjustments. MSRP $230.
• Like this? Share it with a friend! •
YT Jeffsy Primus 27″ is a bigger youth trail bike
Upping the ante from the original Jeffsy 24″ (130mm) and 26″ (140mm), the new YT Jeffsy 27″ gets 150mm travel from a Rockshox Lyrik & Deluxe Select, with an SDG/e13/ODI cockpit, 125mm YT dropper post, and SRAM SX Eagle drivetrain with 165mm cranks. Sun Ringle Duroc 35 wheels and Maxxis DHF/DHR II tires round out the $2,399 package. It’s aimed at riders 4’5″ to 5’5″ tall.
MicroSHIFT Super Short brings wide gearing to kid’s bikes
The challenge with modern wide-range cassettes is that they require a longer derailleur cage, making them impractical if not impossible to put on 20″-24″ wheel bikes.
MicroSHIFT’s Super Short derailleurs solve this by moving the pivot of the pulley cage to increase the articulation while shortening the cage to fit a 9-speed 11-38 cassette on a 20″ bike, with a clutch for solid chain retention.
Shifter levers sit closer to the bar and have 43% less throw, so smaller hands can reach and push them more easily. Available on their solidly built Advent and Acolyte tiers, offering a high-quality group for little shredders.
OneUp Small Composite Pedal fits smaller feet
Designed for shoe sizes up to Women’s 8 / Men’s 6.5 (US), the new OneUp Small nylon composite platform pedals measure 97.5x92mm (compared to their standard pedal’s 115x105mm).
They come with new “Friendly Pins” preinstalled, which are simply sleeves threaded over regular adjustable height pins, so you can remove them as your (or your kids’) riding progresses. They come in 7 colors, weigh 330g/pair, are 18mm thick, and MRSP is $49.50 ($64.50 CAD / €59.50)
Lauf drops prices by moving all bike assembly to US
A few years ago, Lauf went consumer direct dropped prices. In March, they improved shipping efficiency and dropped prices again. Now, they’ve finished their new US headquarters in Harrisonburg, VA, where they’ll do all bicycle assembly and shipping.
Building each bike to order domestically cuts inventory, shipping & handling costs, so they’re decreasing prices again, by $400 to $1000 depending on spec for the Seigla with or w/o their suspension fork.
Argon18 Krypton Pro all-road bike
The new Argon18 Krypton Pro all-road bike boosts tire clearance to 40mm on a sub-900g frame that’s both responsive and resilient, with aero shaping, race-ready power transfer, and low-set seatstays that flex along with the seat tube, seatpost, and top tube to improve comfort over cobbles and gravel.
The downtube hides an internal storage compartment under the bottle cage. Their multi-height 3D headset caps keep the front end clean by eliminating spacers, and now they work with internal cable routing. One model only, spec’d with SRAM Force and a T47 bottom bracket for $9k.
Fizik Tempo Aliante endurance road bike saddle
The new Fizik Tempo Aliante is designed for long distance riding with dual density foam, firmer at the rear to support sit bones, and softer up front with a reshaped cutout to reduce pressure on the sensitive bits.
Its “wave profile” curves the sides and edges, but has a flatter top from side-to-side for more even pressure distribution, but a subtle curve and dip front to back. Available in 145mm & 155mm widths with carbon (R1), titanium (R3), and steel (R5), prices from $129 to $225.
Cannondale Adventure NEO Allroad e-bike
The Cannondale Adventure NEO is their newer e-bike line with a hub motor, bringing most of their tech along but at a much lower price point compared to mid-motor e-bikes. This new Allroad version adds bigger, more rugged tires and a suspension fork (some models) to get you off the beaten path
Standard and Step-Thru versions, Class 1/2/3 motors, and multiple battery sizes avaialble for range from 44 to 71 miles. The EQ (Equipped) version shown here includes front and rear racks and full fenders. MSRP $1,675 to $2,025.
Appleman 2XR Fit rentals help you find your ideal crank length
Appleman is now renting their multi-length 2XR Fit crankset, which has pedal positions at 100/130/145/155/165/175mm so you can try different length crank arms on your own bike (and ideally with a power meter to see which is more efficient for you.
Prices start at $50 plus deposit (they’re $585 if you want to buy them for your fit studio), and their online crank length calculator and info will almost certainly suggest that your current cranks are too long.
On Stage
Netflix’s Unchained Tour de France documentary teaser trailer is out.
Small Bites
- Astronaut Ice Cream is back.
- NOCS adds larger Field Issue waterproof binoculars
- Pactimo’s new Torrent rain jacket adds 37.5’s temp regulation
- L39ION’s Justin Williams launches CRIT racing series
- The Engine Inside trailer is live, and it’s voiced by Phil Liggett
- Vandoit is now making custom commercial Ford Transit vans
- Check out Transition Bikes’ 2023 demo schedule
- Kogel has a new Aero Kolossos pulley cage
- I’ve heard this Reel “goes hard”, I just love the creativity.
Deals
- Alchemy bikes with the 2022 Force are $700 off w/code FORCE2022
- PoCampo has Mother’s Day goodies 15% off w/code 4MOM23
- BikeTiresDirect has everything on sale sitewide this Sunday
- Get an extra 20% off discounted gear at Backcountry.com
- Garmin’s Mother’s Day Sale is on thru May 14th.
Big welcome to all the new subscribers coming in from our Unbound contest with Kogel and others! If this is your first Lunch Ride newsletter, hit reply and lemme know what you think!
This issue was big on MTB stuff, but sometimes it’s gravel, sometimes it’s road, and most of the time it’s a solid mix of all three. We’ve got some more great contests and giveaways coming up, too…stay tuned!
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.