The  Brand X Ascend 150mm Dropper post is an internally routed post that is a bargain buy and one that works well as long as you look after it. It has a long overall length though so might not fit in all bikes.

The Marin Gestalt is the least expensive bike in the brand's ‘beyond road’ line up. The gravel and adventure bike is slightly portly and only has an alloy fork but it’s surprisingly agile to ride with a good turn of speed. You will have to give serious thought to spending the extra dollar on the Gestalt 1 or 2 though as the base model Gestalt is probably best left on the pavement.

Vibrocore is Spank Industries patented tech where a foam core is injected inside the brands handlebars to reduce vibration, fatigue and arm pump. This technology is now available in an aluminium drop handlebar, the Spank Flare 25. 

Racers at the Mountain of Hell 2019 ground to a halt after on riders mistake caused a catastrophic pile-up not long after the start of the race. Usually, a speedy start, racing over ice and snow, riders here were moving slower than the M25 on a Friday afternoon. Here's the video of the full thing from start to finish...

The Tioga Undercover Hers is the women's version in the brand's range of men's ladies 'Undercover' mountain bike saddles. Like the other saddles, this female version uses a carbonite SpyderWeb base structure wrapped in a sleek package. If you don't mind a wide saddle then the Undercovers Hers is a flexible yet supportive saddle with no unnecessary bulk.

Markus Stitz and Charlie Hobbs team up to bring a new gravel bikepacking event to Dunoon on Scotland’s Adventure Coast in September. The Dunoon Dirt Dash is a 2 day, one night reliability trail, supported by Dunoon Presents and Wild About Argyll.

Back in May 2019 Mondraker launched the new Foxy 29 Carbon, now there is a super enduro bike on the scene with the SuperFoxy revealed as part of the 2020 lineup. With longer travel, new redesigned Zero Suspension kinematics, a carbon link and room for a 170mm fork the SuperFoxy is ready to race, and race hard.

We've given '5 cool things' a bit of a break recently but now we are back and better than ever with a whole host of new bits of kit on test. This week there are tools and a strap on accessory from Fix Mfg, a new FUNN dropper post and handy tools from Granite Design, clip-in shoes from Ride Concepts and glasses from Decathlon brand Rockrider.