A selection of some of the new mountain bike goods that have landed on the MBR desks this month
Getting us hot under the collar this month is the new downcountry fork from Ohlins, Lazer’s new KinetiCore helmet, a clever energy watch that monitors your glucose level in real time, and loads more…
Latest news:
- How to ride your mountain bike in hot weather (and not overheat!)
- Trek launches new Fuel EXe mid-powered e-bike
- Shimano’s new eMTB groupsets include an auto gearbox for your e-bike
Inside is the new OTX18 damper the brand has developed off the back of the TTX18 shock, which claims to be light but effective
Ohlins RXF34 M.2 downcountry fork
Price: £1,185
Think Ohlins and you’ll probably picture Loic Bruni or Finn Iles coming across the finish line at a World Cup. Or perhaps a burly 38mm stanchioned enduro fork, or the yellow flash from a coil shock. But this is actually where it all started for Ohlins, at least on the MTB scene – when the Swedish brand released the RXF 34 back in 2016 it was the first time it had built a suspension fork from the ground up. And it blew us away with its smooth action and easy breakaway feel.
Now in 2022 it gets a complete rework, with new chassis, damper and air spring. Gone is the triple-chamber air spring we liked so much on the cool original, with its positive, negative and third independently adjustable bottom-out air spring. Ohlins has decided it’s overkill on a short-travel trail bike fork and that it can save weight with a positive, and self-adjusting negative chamber, much like RockShox and Fox use.
It won’t be as easy to adjust during a ride, where a shock pump was all you needed, but it could well have saved a ton of weight – the new fork came in at 1698g on our scales, in touch with the Fox 34.
Lightweight: the new fork came in at 1698g on our scales, in touch with the Fox 34
The new chassis gets a closed-end outer tube design with a claimed increase in stiffness and impact resistance. There’s also a greater air volume in the spring because of those new lower legs which should provide greater tuning opportunities. Ohlins also adds the floating axle design found in the RXF36 m.2 and RXF38 m.2 forks that aims to decrease friction and boost stiffness.
Finally, and most importantly, there’s the new OTX18 damper the brand has developed off the back of the TTX18 damper from its gravity suspension lineup. Ohlins says it shares plenty of the benefits, but weights 27% less and is “optimised for faster and more fluid trail riding, striking the optimal balance between traction, control, weight and stiffness.” We hope that doesn’t mean it’s built for pedalling efficiency.
It’s as adjustable a fork as ever, with fifteen clicks of low-speed compression and rebound adjustment, and three for high-speed. The old model had a crazy 24 and five-click range respectively, which really was overkill, so we’re happy to see the new fork reign it in some. The RXF34 is for 29ers only, it’s e-bike approved, uses a 44mm offset and you can spec it with 120 or 130mm travel.
Ohlins is this year’s must-have suspension, bike brands are falling over themselves to equip top end bikes with those yellow stickered forks and shocks. We’re hoping the RFX34 M2 is the fork where performance finally matches the hype.
YT Simple Sweater Crew Neck
Price: €49.90
YT does clobber now, like this Simple Sweater Crew Neck with a subtle 3D print YT flash logo. Made from cotton and polyester blend, with a french terry, 320g/m² lining. Comes in seven sizes.
Kids Ride Shotgun Pro Handlebar
Kids Ride Shotgun Pro HandlebarPrice: £70
Last year Kids Ride Shotgun released a new ridealong seat. Now there’s a Pro Handlebar to go with it, featuring custom, undersized 19mm grips to keep small hands away from your brakes, and a quick release mounting system.
Patagonia Dirt Roamer 3L Waist Pack
Price: £65
Patagonia’s Dirt Roamer mtb series features a new 3L Waist Pack, made from 100% recycled nylon it uses a mesh material on all contact points, there’s space for two water bottles, has an internal organiser divider, and three zipped pockets.
Supersapiens Energy Band
Price: €159
The Supersapiens real-time glucose watch lets you track how much glucose is in your bloodstream – interesting, and useful to observe how your body uses energy and reacts to different foods or energy drinks under different conditions, all letting you plan your racing and riding accordingly.
Evoc Terminal Bag 40+20
Price: £254.99
The Evoc Terminal Bag 40+20 is two packs in one, a 40l trolley for travelling, and a detachable 20l backpack for hand luggage. Zip and button them together for simplicity.
Trolley features wheels with bearings, backpack boasts laptop compartment, padded straps.
Abus MoDrop MIPS helmet
Price: £99.99
A smart looking helmet from Abus, the MoDrop MIPS uses EPS foam and a moulded upper and lower shell for protection, uses a height adjustable fit system, strap splitter for comfort, and can be upgraded to the QUIN auto-detect crash system. Three colour and size options.
Wolf Tooth Fat Paw Grips
Price: £28
Grandma, what big, Fat Paw Grips you have. All the better to reduce hand fatigue and finger numbness for big-handed riders, Wolf Tooth says. Yes, these handles are chunky at 36mm diameter when installed, thanks to 9mm thick foam. Nine colours, round profile, plugs included.
100% Teratec+ Knee Guards
Price: £74.99
The 100% Teratec+ Knee Guards use a pull on sleeve that’s super long for gap coverage, and a pre-curved knee pad tested to CE EN Level 1 for protection. It’s coated in Nylon for abrasion protection and the rear is fully vented to keep things cool.
Leatt 6.0 Clip V22
Price: £129.99
Leatt’s new trail shoe is called the 6.0 Clip V22, it weighs a claimed 920g and features a really long cleat channel for choice placement. The sole uses RideGrip compound rubber and chunky lugs, and retention is via Leatt’s ATOP ratchet dial. The colour? Malbec.
Lazer Jackal Kineticore
Price: £179.99
Lazer has an impressive new piece of helmet tech out, called KinetiCore it’s designed to better protect your head against rotational impacts. “KinetiCore is unlike any other helmet technology in existence,” Lazer says, but you’re probably already mouthing “MIPS” under your breath.
The difference here though is that MIPS is licensed out to pretty much every helmet manufacturer on the planet, while KinetiCore is Lazer-only and this means it’s better integrated into the design from the start, resulting in a lighter and airier helmet. So the Lazer theory goes.
There’s more going on that slip-plane technology too, with crumple zones on the inside of the new helmet that, just like on your car, are there to break under impact and dissipate energy away. Lazer has been working on this idea for a decade now, and the result is Controlled Crumple Zones – EPS foam blocks you’ll see inside the shell.
It’s not an add on, the brand says in a thinly veiled dig at MIPS, the helmet is designed around this and is therefore lighter and more breathable – we’ll let you know in due course if the latter is true. What we know for now is that it’s definitely light.