With two steel bikes from Ritchey and Shand to ride and Shimano winter shoes to test, it feels like Christmas has come early! We also get our mitts on one of those clever new lids from Specialized and some 'gravel' bar tape from Fizik. 

• Gift Guide - five not so obvious ideas for the 'enduro bro'
• Quiz - how well do you know your bike head badges
• Five ways to survive winter if you hate mud!
   

Specialized Ambush ANGi MIPS lid

We get our hands on the new Ambush lid from Specialized, it's only just been launched and features some interesting new helmet technology developments. New helmets basically come fitted with a crash detector and also have MIPS added across the ranges.  The new g-force indicator, ANGi attaches to each lid and conjunction with the smartphone app can detect the impact forces as well as rotational and angular ones involved in a crash, it can call home and can send out your location so help can get on the way to you in an emergency. The full 'first look' is here.

Ritchey Ultra

The latest steed in for test is this steel beauty from Ritchey, the new Ultra. Freshened up, 30 years after its inception, the Ultra is a cross-country mile muncher with a tendency to get rowdy on the downhills. We take a first look at a full build of the Ultra here...

Shimano MW7 shoes

Recently updated, we take a look at the new MW7 SPD mountain bike shoe from Shimano. With looks similar to the 2019 ME7 shoes we reviewed a short while back, these look pretty sturdy and have a Gore-Tex liner so should do a good job of keeping our feet dry. Yaaaaas, dry feet!

Shand Shug

We published a video first look at the Shug not long ago, the bike then had to take a trip back to Scotland for a mountain bike conference. It's back now and making an appearance in 5 Cool Things ahead of its first test ride! Check out here for more details. 

Fizik Terra bar tape

The Terra bar tape from Fizik first came to our attention when we are on the hunt for gravel specific products. (You can see the full list of gravel gear you never knew you needed here). The 'Terra' editions of Fizik's bar tape is for the off-roaders, where they say that the added 'Bondcrush' layer is thicker with a gel layer that aids the absorption of off-road buzz whilst being tacky too. It's squishy - 3mm of squish to be precise - with a sticky outer layer for your dirty, muddy paws.  

Bonus 6th item - Bike Ninja Cycling Greeting Cards

These are awesome! There are loads to choose from and are all just £1.99. The best thing you can do is go have a look yourself - www.bike-ninja.co.uk

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