A lot of gear comes across our desks here at Pinkbike. Check Out is a monthly round-up of everything our tech editors have gotten their hands on. Sometimes it's products we're doing long-term tests on, other times it's stuff we're stoked on but don't have time to fully review. And, sometimes it's crazy shit someone sent us unsolicited and we're having a laugh.
Fabric Magic Grips
The packaging is inspired by 50to01's wacky adventures.
The bulged profile should fit the contours of your hands.
Features
• 31mm diameter • 135mm long • 108g / pair • One-ended lock-on ring • 30a durometer compound
• Nylon bar-end plug • Mushroom texture for good grip and comfort • 4 colour options (black, red, blue & green) • £16.99 • fabric.cc
Designed in collaboration with the 50to01 crew, the mushroom-inspired Magic Grip feels soft to touch and textured enough to help combat even the moistest of palms. From the carpark test, it's hard to tell if they'll topple Renthal's ultra-tacky lock-on grips, but they're in with a fighting chance.—Alex Evans
100% Speedtrap Sunglasses
The lenses can easily be swapped by pulling on the top and bottom portion of the Speedtrap's frame.
Vents in the frame and lens are intended to keep fog at bay.
• Shatterproof and lightweight Grilamid TR90 frame • 6 frame color options • Comes with hard case, clear replacement lens • $165 - $205 USD
Want to channel your inner Peter Sagan, or pretend you're a cyclist from outer space? The 100% Speedtrap sunglasses could be just the ticket. Designed for road or mountain biking, there's plenty of coverage to keep flying objects out of your eyes, and multiple lens tints and frame colors to choose from. There are also air scoops on the bottom and side of the frame, along with cutouts in the lens to keep things from steaming over when you're in the middle of a hill interval workout.— Mike Kazimer
Prologo Dimension NDR Saddle
Available with Nack (carbon), Tirox (ti), or chromoly rails.
The NDR ("enduro") version of Prologo's Dimension saddle gets some additional padding.
Features
• Shorter and wider than traditional saddles • 143mm wide • 153g with Nack (carbon) rails • 182g with Tirox (ti) rails • 205g with chromoly rails
• Wide "PAS" channel along its central axis is designed to reduce compression of soft tissues • Pricing hasn't been officially announced but we expect to see them in the $135-$195 USD range • prologotouch.com
The theory behind Prologo's Dimension lineup comes from road/TT, and is designed for an aggressive position that exposes your sit bones to a wider saddle with a shorter nose. They've adapted it to the needs of trail riders with added padding, a more rounded profile, and a bit of side protection. On first impression it still has a few sharper edges that I'm not keen feeling during unscheduled offs, but for riders that like to slam their stem this could be an interesting option.—Brian Park
Bontrager SE2 Team Issue Tire
Features
• Designed for loose-over-hardpack and firm conditions • Tubeless ready • Core Strength sidewall and sub-tread protection • www.trekbikes.com/bontrager
It's officially summer in the Northern Hemisphere, which hopefully means it's time to break out the speed demons, the tires you wouldn't want to run when the trails are mucky and muddy, but that provide tons of fast-rolling fun on those dry and dusty summer days. Bontrager's new 2.6" SE2 tires have a low profile tread pattern for reduced rolling resistance, but the extra width should help keep them gripping in the corners. Pair it with a meatier tire like the SE5 or SE4 up front and you've got a recipe for a good time.— Mike Kazimer
It is well worth the investment depending on what you do with them. If they were mine, I wouldn't wear them for cycling. Oh no. I'd wear them on the dancing night. They match my questionable outfit perfectly. And the shatterproof lenses come handy when I go steal the macho guys' ladies. They really need to be able to take a beating.
I'm working on my moves right now.
I picked up a new "used" set pretty cheap and I really like them. Nice snug fit, excellent field of vision, and they don't have the same fogging problems my last pair of glasses did. I wouldn't pay $200 for them, but I'm pretty happy for what I paid.
@WAKIdesigns: Don't worry. Whenever I enter the dancefloor, the girls will come. Ah well, experience taught me when I start moshing they usually leave. But when I put on these glasses... oh boy. I won't be moshing. Oh no I won't. I'll be doing smooooth breakdance moves. See, these are magic glasses. They make you breakdance. Exactly the reason I won't be wearing those while riding the bike. See, even on a straight section of trail, if I execute a perfect breakdance move I'll be taken out by that tree right next to me. So kids, listen carefully. Don't breakdance and ride. I knows.
@nohyphens: they understand their demographics, and know people buying douchy sunglasses will only look at them if they are expensive, quite genius actually.
@employee7 If I manage to get them on a sale how exactly would I let people know im wearing them ironically?
@fercho25: this kind of “ironic” behavior has been well explained by one of favorite sociopaths Slavoj Zizek as a Gangnam Style effect. It has to do with performing a parody of something in a chaotic, often obscene and unskillful manner so that audience can easily recognize that you are trying to act funny. There is a problem with that, since it is hard to say what exactly are you trying to ridicule, it takes no comedic or artistic skill to perform such thing, any idiot can do that, which brings us to conclusion that you try to laugh at douches by looking like a douche and the only thing that makes you not an actual douche is supposed to be your comedic intent. However if we remove that intention, you basically remain... a douche... so you hope that somehow laughing at sht makes what you do not a part of that sht. The returning gaze of the void
@WAKIdesigns: so kinda like a soldier paradox you have to become the bad guy to get rid of the bad guys wich at the end of the day makes you the bad guy.
@fercho25: yes. But here you use poor comedy to ridicule someone to come out great yourself. There’s good and bad comedy... let’s take Sagan, I love the guy, but he is a hillbilly, you get that when you hear him speaking in his native language. Got a contract with 100% and he looks like a dickhead in those glasses. The only reason I like that is that he is the opposite of the pretentious elitist roadie bullsht. And he os fast, so they havenothing on him
@mixmastamikal: just go with psilocybin, less common but also less vomit. And yes there are many things in this world that were inspired by mushrooms... like Teletubbies, although screenwriters for that must be taking near lethal dosages...
These grips are inspirational. They made me look up this tune from a group from where I grew up. They may not be known elsewhere as you could only buy their cd in one single store in town.
So sorry if my comments don't make any sense anymore. Blame it on these grips. Ratboy reportedly saw funny stuff too. So yeah definitely, blame it on the grips. Or well, don't blame. It is good stuff, really. It means well. Let's just chill, ok?
I like the anti fog glasses, but my problem with glasses isnt the fogging, its the sweat dripping down my lenses from my forehead.... Need helmets with a sweat trough directing it from the forehead to the side.... or way thicker eyebrows to act as a chamois!!!
I've tried everything. How can my scalp even push the volume of water out of it is insane. I bring multiple buffs to swap out as they get drenched and I tie the previous to my bag to dry. It fits under my helmets. Otherwise I have to wear a hat and that only works for an hour or so. A good head towel/buff that wicks enough can maintain mostly dry from the helmet vents while the back hangs over back of my neck and reaches my eyes when needed and when the main part is drenched rotate. Just need to find a place that sells self confidence now to balance out biking with a towel.
They make a product that is basically snug fitting glasses with a soft seal around it, keeping things like sweat out. Check em out, they’re calling em goggles.
This is a major problem for me too. As a bald guy that also runs hot, I can only wear glasses while descending. At the top of the climb I drain my helmet, shake it out, put on glasses , rip down. It grosses out everyone I ride with...
Shave eyebrows, do eyebrow lifts with 10kg weights attached to each one for a month, grow mighty eyebrow muscles, grow pubes instead of eyebrows because huge amount of testosterone. congrats now you have eyebrows so thick and over the glasses, that the manly sweat drips onto your front wheel.
So basically they're just copying the old ODI Mushrooms from the late 80's and making them 'all new'. How long till bell bottom race pants are the new thing???
I'm just off to buy a pair of Stanley smoked work glasses from Tool station . Good for cycling , chain sawing , driving ,sitting in the garden and when they get scratched , £ 2.99 for a new pair . Maybe I am missing something but I just don't get expensive sun glasses . Please don't go on about lens clarity \ quality safety work glasses have iso
Would sell this look much better.
@employee7 If I manage to get them on a sale how exactly would I let people know im wearing them ironically?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=mp1iIz5t6sw
So sorry if my comments don't make any sense anymore. Blame it on these grips. Ratboy reportedly saw funny stuff too. So yeah definitely, blame it on the grips. Or well, don't blame. It is good stuff, really. It means well. Let's just chill, ok?
www.uvex-sports.com/de/eyewear/sportbrillen/uvex-sportstyle-309-black-mat
www.uvex-sports.com/de/eyewear/sportbrillen/uvex-sportstyle-309-white
Maybe I am missing something but I just don't get expensive sun glasses . Please don't go on about lens clarity \ quality safety work glasses have iso