5 cool things from VHS, FiveTen, 100% and Troy Lee Designs
Sticky shoes, noise reducing tape and helmets fresh in for testing
More News
Hi flow no clog valves, shoes, and apparel ripe for the testing
Brand new pedals, gloves and saddles flying through the office
This week sees more lights, shoes, tools and pads in for testing
Plus your usual weekly highlights
After some of the slightly... Strange kit we had in 5 cool things last week, we've toned things down a little with some more conventional bits and pieces. But don't worry, they're still worthy and definitely cool enough to take a spot here. Here are five of the coolest things that have come in for testing this week.
- Your complete guide to Shimano mountain bike disc brakes
- Best mountain bikes you can buy for under £2,000
- Big Read: Racing e-bikes at the EX Enduro; how much difference does a motor make
Troy Lee Designs A3
£200
It's better late than never. After the A3's loud release, we've managed to get our hands on the new high-end lid and as fans of the previous TLD helmets (like the A2, see the review here), we're super excited to see what the A3 has in store.
The feature-packed lid is built with 16 vents and a two-piece Ionic comfort liner, along with a purpose built sweat guide. Then, there are co-molded EPP and EPS foams with B-Series MIPS. Finally, there's a Fidlock buckle and a three-way Magnajust visor.
VHS v2.0 Slapper Tape
£25
Ever since Specialized popped lumpy chainstay protectors on the Stumpjumper, other brands have followed suit with their own ways of dampening chain slap. If your bike hasn't come with the fancy noise-reducing protectors, you may have had to resort to some serious bodging to achieve a similar effect. However, thanks to VHS (short for Velocity Hucking Systems), that ends now.
VHS v2.0 Slapper Tape is a strip of malleable silicone rubber that sticks to your frame and comes with a row of air bubbles that are designed to dampen any chain slap. It's 70mm wide so it should fit on a range of bikes and in the box you get a 35cm length of the stuff but it can be cut to suit any part of your bike.
FiveTen Impact Pro shoes
£130
Aimed at gravity fed riding the Impact Pro shoes from FiveTen get a healthy level of protection around those important parts. There's a reinforced toe box with a quick-dry synthetic upper. Of course, a FiveTen shoe wouldn't be a FiveTen shoe without the Stealth S1 rubber outsole.
100% Aircraft 2
£350
Keen readers of Off-road.cc will have seen that we ran a piece on the new 100% Aircraft 2 a couple of weeks ago and as if by magic, one has appeared in the office!
It gets 100%'s Smartshock tech which is the brand's way around rotational impact protection along with a patent-pending injection-molded chin bar and multi-density EPS foam (which comes in two size-specific molds) for as much safety as possible. The helmet then uses a carbon fibre shell and a multi-point visor that's been designed to offer as unobstructed vision as possible.
Troy Lee Designs Stage Knee Guard
£90
Last but definitely not least is the Troy Lee Designs Stage knee guard. It uses D3O to keep the pad super slim and lightweight. It gets silicone grippers and it's built with a spacer-prene sleeve combined with a breathable mesh panel to keep them cool.
You might also like:
