Plus a whistle-stop tour of the last seven days on BikeRadar <\/p>
Greetings roadies, shredders, gravelistas and casual commuters as we embark upon another packed edition of First Look Friday.<\/p>
Today sees BikeRadar’s unofficial XC Weekend kick off in earnest and you’ll find a host of cross-country themed reviews, features, buyer’s guides and explainers rolling onto our home page. ‘What’s wrong with being XC?’, the Spinal Tap<\/em> fans among you will no doubt be pondering. Absolutely nothing. <\/p> Before the cross-country extravaganza commences, let’s take the quickest of glances back over a busy week on the site.<\/p> BikeRadar’s eternal ray of sunshine, Tom Marvin, was a busy boy \u2013 treating us to a hat-trick of stellar bike reviews. The Fairlight Holt XT<\/a>, Mondraker F-Podium RR<\/a> and Specialized Epic 8<\/a> all got the T.Marv treatment, with more to come from our beloved MTB technical editor and condiment connoisseur over the weekend. <\/p> Our exhaustive Tour de France<\/a> coverage wrapped up with Simon von Bromley’s in-depth look at super-human Tour winner Tadej Poga\u010dar’s bikes<\/a>, and we brought you an essential guide to all the cycling events at the Paris Olympics<\/a>, which kick off today.<\/p> There was time for a smattering of breaking news stories through the week, too, with Trek releasing the Slash+ eMTB<\/a> \u2013 prompting Alex Evans to forecast the demise of the good old non-assisted enduro bike. Elsewhere, Maxxis unveiled a third-generation version of its legendary High Roller tyre<\/a> and Kask made some bold claims about its new Nirvana aero helmet<\/a>. <\/p> We took a first look at Ribble’s new Allroad range<\/a> that promises aero performance and endurance comfort, while Oscar Huckle tried on Gore’s Ultimate bib shorts<\/a>, which utilise 3D printing technology. <\/p> Okay, okay, I’ll stop there before your senses become overwhelmed by the dizzying volume and quality of content being lavished upon them. It’s time to fire up the First Look Friday conveyor belt and bring forth the cycling-tech goodies. <\/p>