5 Cool Things from Giant, Maxxis, Race Face, Spank and Muc-Off
Affordable hardtails, fancy handlebars, new clothing and more
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Once again, it's time for us to torture a metaphor and take a rummage in the expansive trouser pockets of the off.road.cc office and see what exciting new product lint turns up. This week we've rounded up a pair of affordable hardtails from Giant, a whole load of trail-ready handlebars from Spank and Race Face, some rubber from Maxxis and the results of Muc-Off's move from maintenance products into high (bike) fashion.
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Giant Fathom 2 2020
Priced at a rather keen £1,099, this is Giant's trail hardtail and comes with a 120mm fork up front (well, 100mm on the smallest frame size) married to fat 2.6" tyres on 650b rims. It's the slightly more affordable bike in the Fathom range but still gets a 12-speed SRAM SX Eagle drivetrain, an air-sprung SR Suntour fork and Maxxis tyres on Giant's own rims. The aluminium frame gets full internal cable routing and it also comes with a dropper post as standard.
- £1099
- www.giant-bicycles.com
Giant Talon 1 29 2020
If the Fathom is stretching your budget a bit too much, then the 29" wheeled, more XC-biased Talon range will be right up your street. This is the range-topper at £799 and it's nice to see it also has an air-sprung fork with 100mm of travel. Once again, Maxxis tyres - fast-rolling Ikons - are fitted and there's also a 12-speed SX Eagle groupset too.
Maxxis High Roller II tyres
Yes yes, we know these aren't new, but there's nothing wrong with this classic tread from Maxxis, especially with spring doing its best to get sprung. We've got them in 29x2.3" flavour with a 3C compound and EXO sidewall, plus they're tubeless-ready. The ideal upgrade if your rubber is looking a bit ratty? Could be!
Race Face Atlas 35, Next 35 and Chester handlebars
There's a bit of a bar theme this week as we've been assembling a mighty array of trail handlebars to suit all pockets. The carbon fibre Next 35 is for those deep of pocket at £125 with a 800m width, the aluminium Atlas 35 comes in at a whopping 820mm width but a reasonable £75 and the Chester 35 offers a good budget 780mm option for a mere £37.
Muc-Off Longsleeve Rider's jersey and Ride Gloves
They might be best known for their rather lurid bike cleaning spray, but Muc-Off is expanding its empire from cleaning and maintenance products into the world of apparel, though the colour palette remains. We've got their new long sleeve jersey (£45) and gloves (£30), both of which have pleasingly simple names so go with some nice technical details.
Spank Oozy 35 and Oozy 780 handlebars
More big handlebars now with a pair of aluminium sticks from Spank. These both measure in at a substantial 780mm wide and get a full suite of Spank's metal know-how, with a CNC controlled bend and gradual wall taper to help remove material from where it's not needed and add it to where it is. We've got both the oversize 35mm version (£90) and the regular 31.8mm item (£65) - it'll be interesting to see how they compare in terms of feel...
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