Varied stuff in on test this week from fancy suspension kit upgrades to brand new waterproof gear from Endura. There's also more 'on-bike' tools, plus a newly launched multi-tool with a nifty way to keep your tyre plugs close at hand from Crankbrohters. Dig in....

• Everything you need to know about the Boardman 2021 range
• Your complete guide to the RockShox rear shock range
• Your complete guide to Shimano MTB drivetrains, from Tourney to XTR 12-speed
   

Vorsprung Secus Spring System
£299

Buying yourself a new suspension fork is usually an eye-wateringly expensive affair, so it's unsurprising a cottage industry of suspension tweakers, tuners and upgraders has sprung up to boost the performance of stock or older forks and shocks.

Canada's Vorsprung Suspension has a great reputation for making add on bits and pieces for everything from shocks to forks and this Secus is their latest invention. Basically, it fits on to the air-spring side lower leg of 2018 onwards Fox 36, 34, 32 forks and selected RockShox Lyrik, Pike, Revelation and Zeb forks and acts as an external air reservoir for both the negative air spring and the lower leg air volume.

This is claimed to make the fork's initial response much more supple while giving better support in the midstroke, without running into excess amounts of ramp-up at the end of the fork's travel, which you can still tune with volume spacers if you do require more support. Vorsprung says that this basically gives you all the benefits of a coil spring's linear initial travel with the adjustable bottom out of an air spring in the last 1/3 of the travel; the best of both worlds without all the weight of a coil conversion. 

If it works as planned, it'll be rather exciting. We can't wait to give it a spin. The Secus is being brought into the UK by BaseCamp Suspension, who also offer a full range of Vorsprung's other shock and fork tuning products.

• www.basecampbikes.co.uk
• vorsprungsuspension.com

New Endura MT500 kit
£100 - £230

Women's 2021 MT500 waterproof jacket

For the Autumn and Winter months for 2020 Endura has updated the MT500 range, refining all products and choosing a new fabric to make the already well-established range that bit better while making construction more environmentally friendly. We've got the men's and women's waterproof jackets in for test plus the updated waterproof short. All the news is here, plus we have a recent review of the latest women's MT500 Spray Short II as well.

• Endura overhaul the MT500 Waterproof lineup for AW20
• www.endurasport.com
  
   

Crankbrothers M13 multitool
£25

Crankbrothers launched two new multitools last week, the M13 that we have here and the M20. The M13 gets 13 (who'd have thought it) tools,  plus an integrated tyre plug tool and a useful plastic case attached containing 5 tyre plugs which can also store a chain link. 

The M20 will be incoming for test soon, that one is slightly more expensive (£39.99) and gets additional tools in the form of a chain tool, a rotor straightener and a valve core remover. 

• uk.crankbrothers.com
• www.extrauk.co.uk

Spank Spoon 35 handlebar
£65

 
Listed on the Spank website as cost-effective, this is a £65 alloy bar that comes in at 800mm wide (you can cut down to 740mm). Our's is in 35mm diameter but you can get this in 31.8mm too, both with a 5º up and 8º backsweep and a choice of 25 / 40 / 60mm rises.

• www.spank-ind.com

Granite Designs Stash RCX tool
$55

Available through Amazon, the Granite Designs Stash RCX tool is another take on the 'on-bike' storage fitting into the steerer tube and replacing the star nut. The inserted tool features an 8-piece Multi-tool (2, 2.5, 3, 4, 5, 6, T25, Flathead) a spoke key with valve core remover all in a neat 167g package. 

• www.granite-design.com

FUNN Equalizer Stem
£74

Short and stumpy for enduro and trail bikes, the CNC'd FUNN equalizer stem is available for 31.8 and 35mm bars and with 35mm, 42mm and 50mm lengths. Plus you can get it in Black, Grey, Red, Blue, Orange and Green. Luckily ours is black on black.....

• www.funnmtb.com

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