Timing is, as they say, everything. Mere days after our glowing shifter review we find out that Forge-MTB is to be no more. The mountain bike division of Forge Engineering was essentially one man, Ian Berry, and he’s leaving the company to move to Brighton. So there’ll be no Forge-MTB as of tomorrow, 14 August. Bummer…

The silver lining in this particular cloud is the closing-down sale, though. Forge is selling everything on the website at a 50% discount – they’ve got pretty much everything except nine-speed shifters (just get the mounts – you can get the shifter mechanisms from any Shimano dealer…). Plus 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36 and 44 tooth chainrings for just £12 and all-in-one ring/spiders for Shimano or Middleburn cranks for £20. To order anything phone 01452 386999.

Ian would like to thank everyone for their support – with any luck this won’t be the last we hear of him…