Gear has been non-stop through the door this week and we've picked out five of the coolest and most interesting pieces here. There are brand new shoes from Fizik and gloves from Hirzl , the company that says they offer the ultimate glove experience. There's some mid-range Candy pedals, photochromic gasses from RAD 8 and finally a new Prime Kanza carbon gravel wheels at a modest price from Chain Reaction Cycles/Wiggle. 

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Fizik Terra Powerstap X4 shoes

These two bolt gravel slippers are designed to be a good balance of stiffness and comfort for use on mixed surfaces. Most notably these new shoes use the 'Powerstrap', a velcro closure system reintroduced on the Tempo Powerstrap R5 road shoes at the end of 2018. Fizik has gone back to the velcro straps that it used many years ago when it first launched a cycling shoe (the rest of the range now uses BOA dials) with two large straps closing the shoe around the foot. Our mates over at road.cc say that Fizik has attempted to mimic the ‘Volume Control’ of its more expensive shoes, and zigzagged the lower velcro strap to which the company claims provides “ultimate comfort and containment using just two straps.”  The 'X4' in the name relates to the nylon outsole with chunky rubber tread and a stiffness index of 6.

• £149.99
• www.fizik.com

Crank Brothers Candy 3 pedals

We've tested the cheapest Candy pedals in the range previously, now it's the time to put something more expensive and alloy to test. How will these aluminium bodied Candy's fare against the lighter composite bodied Candy 1's? The ones we have here get the snap-on traction pad technology to change the contact points between the shoe and the pedal, plus Crank Brothers says, a hex alloy endcap for enhanced durability over a slotted one. 

• £124.99
• www.crankbrothers.com

RAD 8 505 Photochromic MTB glasses

We like a photochromic lens here at off-road, buy a good one and you'll be astonished at how quickly these things can adapt to changing light conditions. Our Jon has a set on test from Rad 8, weighing just 25g the glasses don't just get a photochromic lens, they also get an anti-fog coating and the poly-carbonate lenses are said to resist damage. They aren't super pricey either, at £89 the rest of the team are looking forward to reading the review. 

• £89
• www.rad8.co.uk

Hirzl Grippp Lite FF gloves

Yes, that's right, that's Gripp with three P's, we haven't just been hammering away on the keyboard without a little spell check here and there. These gloves from Hirzl are said to give a gloveless feeling and on trying them on it does feel like they will be right up the street of anyone who likes a glove with a thin, minimalist palm. That one-piece palm is made from kangaroo leather with a nylon and lycra mesh back to the hand. Our Pat is going to test these and investigate the claims that they give ultimate grip in the wet too. 

• €40.95
• www.hirzl.one

Prime Kanza 650B carbon gravel wheelset

Here, £600 gets you a carbon gravel wheelset with a 24.5mm internal width and a 30mm depth which weigh in a t1570g for the pair in a 650B size. Sold by Chain Reaction Cycles/Wiggle these look like a bit of a bargain in the first instance, time and testing will reveal the results of durability and ride feel. Road.cc gave a set of Prime wheels good marks back in 2016 so we have high hopes!

•  £599.99
• www.wiggle.co.uk
   

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