Another week, another Five Cool Things. In our latest round-up, we’ll be checking out Arc’Teryx’s rather spendy shorts, Revel’s trail bike, SRAM’s updated Ochain, and more from Smith and Peaty’s. But as always, we’ll take a glance back over the top stories of the week.
After the hype of Corebike and Sea Otter, things have certainly calmed down a little bit, giving the team something of a well-deserved break before it kicks off again during the summer. Speaking of summer, we’ve got a guide on how to get your mountain bike ready for ripping summer trails as we offer up our best advice on tyre choice, suspension setup, and more. That’s not all, because as the trails dry, those testing the mountain bike waters may be encouraged to take the plunge, so we’ve rounded up all of the kit you actually need, and the stuff you don’t (yet) for fledgling mountain bikers.
And although the show season has wound down a touch, our Andi headed out to China to scope up the weird and wonderful tech of the 2026 China Cycle Expo. While trawling the halls, he found Velduro’s upcoming e-MTB, six-piston brakes, and, of course, more 32″ wheel goodness.
Moving on to news, Rocky Mountain unveiled its first new bike after being brought back to the UK in the form of the Altitude Powerplay 3. Yep, it’s an e-mountain bike, and it gets its peak power boosted to 1,000W, in pursuit of Avinox grunt, no doubt. Peaty’s also unveiled a new grip, but more on that in a bit.
Finishing up with reviews, Jimmer put the Sidi Atomus shoes through their paces, praising their support and power transfer, and Matt spent some quality time with USE’s Escape GR 24 Max Carbon handlebar.
Arc’Teryx Rhoam shorts
£160
Alright, so mountain bike kit can get fairly expensive, but I didn’t think we’d get to this point. But coming from Arc’Teryx, a brand best known for its premium adventure sports gear, it comes as no surprise. Though just a few weeks ago the brand unveiled a limited run of mountain bike kit, including a jacket, trousers, gloves, socks, and these shorts. The Rhoam shorts aim to justify that price tag with some interesting technologies, such as mountain bike-specific hybrid mapping, which is said to put the right fabrics in the right places.
One of those fabrics is a lightweight Aequora AirPerm material that’s found at the back of the waistband and behind the knees, which provides four-way stretch and comfort, says the brand. Around the rest of the shorts is a Fortius DW 2.0 softshell, which, we’re told, boosts durability in strategic areas while adding useful weather protection. It’s made of recycled, bluesign-approved material, too.
Elsewhere, the 13″ inseam promises to provide coverage without riding up, there’s space for knee pads and a chamois pad, there are two zipped thigh pockets and two open hand pockets.
Revel Rascal SRAM XO Transmission
£7,999
A few years ago, Revel blasted onto the British market, for it to disappear somewhat shortly after. Now, the US brand is back on the UK shores, and we’ve got its trail bike, the Rascal. Donning 130mm of rear travel paired with 150mm at the front, the Rascal is all about bringing the fun back into mountain biking. It does so by utilizing the CBF, or Canfield Balanced Formula, to deliver that rear travel, and it rolls on a pair of 29-inch wheels. Every inch of the Rascal’s frame is built from carbon, including the linkage with Toray T700 and T800 fibres, making up the main frame.
The Rascal is nothing short of modern in the features department, as it boasts a standard 73mm bottom bracket, it can accommodate long travel dropper posts to full insertion, and there’s space in the front triangle for a bottle. Oh, and its cables are internally routed, but don’t worry, they don’t run through the headset.
This bike is available in two colours: a rather loud red and this Copperhead, almost raw carbon colour, and there are three builds to choose from, as well as a frame-only option.
SRAM Ochain R
£340
The Ochain is one of the first to bring pedal kickback reduction to a chainring/spider-based system. And just a few weeks ago, after its acquisition of the brand, SRAM brought much-needed updates. Now, Ochain features revised sealing, which should help it cope better with the UK’s weather. But Ochain does the whole pedal kickback damping thing by decoupling the drivetrain from the crank by up to 12 degrees. Doing so should reduce the impact and negative feel of pedal kickback to the rider, all while freeing up a bike’s suspension to do its thing, but better.
Coming from SRAM, the Ochain is available to fit three-bolt and eight-bolt crank configurations, and it can come with external adjustment, as you see here for a bit more money, or with internal adjustment (Ochain N) for less. However, Ochain N can be upgraded to run an external adjustment.
Smith Pilot Mips
£95
We’ll never turn down an affordable helmet, and Smith’s newest Pilot Mips is exactly that. It claims to be the complete package for mountain biking, and as its name suggests, it’s equipped with Mips, which reduces rotational forces caused by angled impacts, and those are the kinds of hits that happen more often when riding.
Although affordable, it comes with a lot of features that we’ve come to expect from any helmet, including an in-mould construction and CE EN 1078 and AS/NZ2063 certification. There’s an adjustable dial-based fit system, 13 vents and a fixed visor. The Pilot Mips is then available in five colours and five sizes.
Peaty’s Monarch Pro Knurl grips
£29.99
While Peaty’s new Monarch Pro grips don’t look all that different from the outside, other than the colour, the changes that the brand has made are a little more than skin deep. These grips benefit from a dual material construction, so on the palm and thumb pad, there’s a soft 15a rubber compound, but elsewhere, there’s a material that Peaty’s calls ‘Duralite’. It’s essentially a dense foam that’s said to be two times more durable than rubber, so these grips should last a good and long time before you need to swap them out.
That Duralite material has been chosen for the finger zones and bar end, with the former promising a more tactile feel and more support when lifting a bike’s front wheel while riding, whereas the bar end should be able to cope better with the regular beatings it receives.
With new materials come new, muted colours, and as always from Peaty’s, the lockrings are colour-matched to Chris King’s colours. Fancy.
