A tyre lever with a hidden tool, Mission Workshop kit, a fancy bar bag/box, Adidas sunnies and vegan nutrition

Plus all the best news and views from the past week

This competition is now closed

By Tom Marvin

Published: August 4, 2023 at 7:00 am

By the time you read this, the World Championships will be in full swing up in bonnie Scotland.

Our deputy editor, Jack Luke, has already made his way up to his home country with camera and microphone in hand, ready to get the biggest scoops from the event. Keep an eye on BikeRadar for all the juicy tech news.

Outside of the racing, this week has been busy.

Tuesday saw a whole host of bike launches – all within one minute of each other at 8am.

The hottest was arguably the Cervelo ZFS-5 XC race bike. This was hugely anticipated, with plenty of early sightings, including one with a metal replacement for the shock. We have a bike here, and guess who’s the lucky one who’ll be swinging a leg over it? Yep, that’ll be me.

I also bought you news (and a review) of the new Pivot Shuttle AM, a mid-travel, full-fat eMTB ready to tackle any trail you dare, with a limited-edition top-spec model.

Curly bar fans who like a bit of dirt will also want to check out the new Santa Cruz Stigmata.

There have been multiple other launches this week too, including DJI’s new action camera, Canyon’s new track bike and Campagnolo’s new track wheel. We also brought you a review of the new RockShox BoXXer Ultimate fork. The news broke a couple of weeks ago, but we’re finally allowed to tell you exactly how good it is.

In non-new tech news, our writers have told us all about the top five ways your bike is different from the pros’, and Jack Evans has been topping up his sodium bicarbonate levels to see if it’ll supercharge his performance.

I love a nice bit of integration – combining various tools into one package makes life so much easier.

e*thirteen clearly agrees because this pair of brightly coloured, nice and long tyre levers hide a hidden (related) talent.

Split them apart and a tubeless plug kit is revealed.

The barb has a curved hook design, which in my experience helps reduce the risk of pulling the plug out by mistake, while the base of the tool holds a number of spoke key widths. A serrated edge is there so you can trim the plug before you set off.

Tubeless plugs come included in the kit, too, fortunately.

The levers are long, and have been designed to remove the toughest of DH rubber, while there are spoke hooks to keep them in place.

Mission Workshop kit is unashamedly towards the top end of the clothing spectrum, and the Baja SS jersey and Traverse XC shorts I have here certainly have that premium feel.

The Baja SS jersey is simple and understated, with a three-tone finish inspired by the ‘golden age of moto and off-road adventure’, apparently.

The mesh fabric has differential yarns for enhanced wicking, and is light in feel.

The dropped rear should keep your lower back free from dirt.

The Traverse XC shorts are a little more involved, with a slimline cut designed for XC, trail and gravel riders who want the additional coverage of baggy shorts, without the bagginess.

The waist belt is highly adjustable, with aluminium hardware, while there are YKK zips and Prym snaps.

A pair of cargo pockets, secured with a zip, sit on each thigh for your valuables.

The fabric has a four-way stretch and DWR coating, which should hold up well in all but a downpour. Some readers will appreciate its US construction.

This has to be one of the most advanced handlebar storage systems on the market.

The Handlebar Bag has a 3.2-litre storage volume, which should be ample for long days in the saddle, all accessible via a hinged, hard plastic lid that has an integrated GPS/phone mount moulded into the top.

The bag is held in place by a quick-release lever mechanism that clamps onto a metal bracket, bolted to your bars. With a shoulder strap integrated into the bag, it’s easy on, easy off and ready to pop over your shoulder if you need to go in search of extra calories in a shop.

Inside the bag are a number of pockets, which have poppers to keep them closed, while there’s a range of elasticated strings around the bag, into which soft items can easily be stashed.

The top pops with a small clasp near your bars, so you can flip the lid while you pedal.

Off for a shorter ride? Route Werks has an out-front GPS mount ready to clamp to the bar bracket. Bar Fly, K-Edge, Wahoo, Garmin and Quad Lock compatible mounts are available for both the bag and the out-front mount.

Need your bars to carry lights? No fear, bar stubs (not photographed) can be mounted to the side of the bag, so you can still mount your lights in a visible position.

BACX’s energy drink sachets are designed to provide ample carbohydrates, along with amino acids and electrolytes, in an easy-to-digest and easy-to-control manner.

Each sachet contains 20g of carbs, 1,200mg of amino acids, 680mg of electrolytes and 91 kcal to keep you fuelled for the long haul.

The sachets are designed to be added to 200ml of water, with up to three per hour to be consumed, depending on the duration and intensity of exercise you plan to do.

The BACX site has a calculator function, into which you can put your age, weight, and expected duration and intensity of exercise. From this, you then get a recommended consumption level.

Two flavours are available – berry and orange, with the berry being sweeter, and the orange a touch more tart.

They come in packs of 10, and you can even get them sent to you by subscription.

Delving deeper, the carbs are derived from sweet potato juice, coconut water, brown rice and agave syrups. The electrolytes are sodium, potassium, magnesium and calcium, and the amino acids are leucine, isoleucine, valine and arginine.

While many brands give their sunglasses evocative names – ‘Encoder‘, ‘Eastcraft‘, ‘Velans‘ and ‘Bobcat‘ to name but a few, Adidas sticks to a simple SKU code, in this case SP0074.

While the name might not be memorable, or flashy, these cycling sunglasses certainly look the part.

The frame, made from ‘TR90’, is flexible, to ensure a snug and secure fit, while the lenses, of which there are multiple options, are built to enhance contrast on the trail or road.

The nosepiece is adjustable, and comes equipped with sweat channels, to get your salty liquid away from the danger zone as efficiently as possible, and to boost comfort.

At the top of the frame are nine holes, designed to aid ventilation and reduce fogging.

At the end of the arms is a rubber gripper to ensure the glasses don’t wander down your nose as you ride.

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Senior technical editor

Tom Marvin is a technical editor at BikeRadar.com and MBUK magazine. He has a particular focus on mountain bikes, but spends plenty of time on gravel bikes, too. Tom has written for BikeRadar, MBUK and Cycling Plus, and was previously technical editor of What Mountain Bike magazine. He is also a regular presenter on BikeRadar’s YouTube channel and the BikeRadar podcast. With more than twenty years of mountain biking experience, and nearly a decade of testing mountain and gravel bikes, Tom has ridden and tested thousands of bikes and products, from super-light XC race bikes through to the most powerful brakes on the market. Outside of testing bikes, Tom competes in a wide range of mountain bike races, from multi-day enduros through to 24-hour races in the depths of the Scottish winter – pushing bikes, components and his legs to their limits. He’s also worked out that shaving your legs saves 8 watts, while testing aerodynamics in a wind tunnel. When not riding he can be found at the climbing wall, in his garden or cooking up culinary delights.

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