The Bluegrass Jetro and bling bottom brackets from CeramicSpeed

It's a tyre and helmet edition of Five Cool Things.

Liam Mercer

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May 3 2024

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News

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We've got another Five Cool Things and, this week, they come in the form of tyres, helmets and some seriously spendy bottom brackets. It's also been another impressive week for bike releases, too, so let's dive straight in.

Although Cervelo brought a new Aspero to the market, promising more comfort for all-terrain riding, this week has been very much about mountain bike releases. The week started with intrigue as we got wind of Privateer's new downhill mountain bike. The brand's sponsored rider, Joe Connell, won the Masters Scottish National Downhill aboard a Privateer 161 Gen 2 prototype but with a difference...

Orbea launched a stiffer, more powerful Rise e-MTB, and Giant and Liv introduced the new Fathom E+ and Lurra E+. Things took a turn with YT Industries and its new Tues downhill bike and Hutchinson dropped the covers off its fastest gravel tyre yet – the Caracal Race.

As for reviews, we brought our expert verdicts on the Manitou Mattoc Pro suspension fork, a stylish-looking but top-performing fork with tonnes of adjustability and the POC Mantle hoodie, a solid mid-layer for all riding conditions. On top of that, we checked out Fox's latest Dropframe Pro and Olly Wilkin's signature handlebar, the DMR Odub.

CeramicSpeed coated bottom brackets

£50

We're going to put CeramicSpeed's £350 bottom brackets to the test. CeramicSpeed has a solid presence in road cycling where marginal gains can make all the difference but its foothold isn't quite as strong in the world of dirt and nobbly tyres. That said, that's not stopping the brand from bringing its top-end offering to mountain bikes, providing a full range of coated ceramic bottom brackets, headsets and pivot bearings.

Here, we've got the BSA BB for SRAM DUB MTB as well as a BB30 Pressfit option and it's clear that CeramicSpeed takes bearings incredibly seriously as both are filled with ceramic balls that roll inside hardened-steel races. There's a metallic coating that's three microns thick that makes the races resist corrosion. The aim here is to provide a bearing that's super smooth, low friction and one that extends its service life over non-ceramic alternatives.

ceramicspeed.com

Bluegrass Jetro

£225

Three-quarter helmets are becoming all the rage with Fox bringing refinements with the Dropframe Pro and Bluegrass, Met's gravity decision launching its Jetro helmet. The premise behind helmets like the Jetro is to provide increased protection to those of the gravity persuasion but without surrounding the head like a full-face helmet.

The shape of the Jetro extends its coverage lower on the back of the head and around the jaw adding greater protection but without stifling breathability. As for the technologies employed, there's a Mips liner and a Fidlock magnetic buckle. Along with its complete EPS shell, the Jetro exceeds NTA 8776 certification which is the only standard created to cover e-bikes. This certification means that this helmet can dissipate more energy and that the helmet has more coverage around the back of the head, and the temples – the most sensitive areas of the brain.

www.met-helmets.com

Hutchinson Python 3

£56

Hutchinson has been churning out new tyres over the past few weeks and this is one of them. Now in its third edition, the Python 3 is the result of the brand's history in the cross-country scene. With that, it's crafted to balance rolling speed, grip and comfort both between the tapes and underneath weekend warriors.

The Python 3's updates come in the form of a wider central tread that's been shaped to maintain contact with the ground and the side knobs are designed to boost grip and overall control. Hutchinson's new tyre uses the brand's RRXC compounds with a 3x66 tpi casing. On top of that, it benefits from a bead-to-bead Hardskin layer to add puncture protection.

It's available with black and tan sidewalls as well as 2.3 and 2.4in widths. Of course, as a cross-country tyre, it's 29-inch only.

hutchinson.com

Kali Protectives Trinity Carbon

£350

Last month, Kali Protectives added a new full-face helmet to the range. Added to replace the Alpine, a helmet that Kali admits wasn't to best looking, the Trinity gets everything that made the Alpine good but packages it in a better-looking but more advanced lid.

It utilises in-mould construction that bonds the EPS foam to the inner of the carbon shell and, by doing just that, Kali claims that the helmet reduces g-forces transmitted to the head by 30 per cent. The helmet is built with a material called Casidion that consists of micro visco-elastomeric particles that can rebound. Kali says that this, combined with the in-mould construction makes the Trinity both lighter and stronger. Additionally, there's a Low-Density Layer.

As for the rest of the tech, the Trinity boasts a moto-style slide visor, a Fidlock magnetic buckle and two sets of Kool Draft padding, allowing the user to tune the fit. As well as this carbon version, there's also a fibre-glass version that's friendlier on the wallet.

kaliprotectives.com

Kenda Karma 2 Pro and Rush

£60 - £62

Last but not least, we've got two tyres from the largest but perhaps the quietest tyre brand in the world. Also coming in with a pair of cross-country tyres, the Karma 2 Pro and Rush look like the perfect front and rear combo for a majority of XC riding.

To start with the Karma 2, Kenda says that it's designed for slippery tracks but can also take on downcountry and light trail duties – whether there's a difference there, we won't comment just yet. Its tread pattern is spaced out to help the knobs bite in loose conditions but also to help clear sticky mud. It then gets sidewall reinforcement in the form of Kenda's SCT sech that blends suppleness with strength thanks to a fabric weave. There's then a single rubber compound.

The Rush is Kenda's fastest rolling XC tyre that's built with a low-profile and 'high void' tread pattern. This is to enable to tread to bite but roll quickly on smooth surfaces. The Rush also gets the SCT protection but Kenda claims that it's the lightest XC tyre on the market with a claimed weight of 696g in its 2.4in size.