Just arrived in at BM global HQ is this sleek black beastie. It's an IR Comp 3.1, which is the middle of three carbon fibre hardtails manufacturered by the Slovenian company. It used to make the front ends of the Remec DH bikes, and makes all sorts of carbon fibre stuff for other people - those big steering wheels that ocean-racing yachts have, for example. IR Comp's own frames have been raced to some success by Blaza Klemencic and Monika Schachl. Yes, they're both Elite XC women, but then they're using the IR Comp Race which weighs under 1kg (2.2lb). This one's burly by comparison - out of the box it weighed 3.1lb, then we took all the bubble wrap and parcel tape off and it weighed 2.8lb. There's also a Heavy Duty version, which is 1.5kg (3.3lb). We've got plans for this one - watch this space... IR Comp's looking for a UK distributor, and pricing's kind of up in the air at the moment thanks to a carbon fibre shortage (all Boeing and Airbus's fault...) but we're told you're looking at about 900Euros (or a bit over £600). More at www.ircomp.com.

Another week, another Thule product. This is the Euroway three-bike towbar-mounted bike carrier. It's designed to mount to any towbar with a self-centring clamp mechanism. The bikes are supported by moulded wheel cradles and secured with straps and top tube clamps. It's all fully adjustable and is claimed to fit any size bike "from child's to extreme mountain bikes". When it's not on the back of your car it folds up into a compact, easy to store package, and Thule is particularly proud of the streamlined design. The Euroway is certainly ahead of the towbar-rack pack on looks... More details at www.thule.co.uk.

Launched to coincide with National Bike Week (June 11-19) is the Cyclobag, "the latest must-have cycling accessory," it says here. Press release hyperbole aside, this is actually quite funky - it converts between a backpack, a shoulder bag and a handlebar bag, has outside pockets for a bottle and phone, somewhere to stash your helmet and a zip-off "face" system so you can change colours and designs on a whim. Obviously it's not a rugged MTB accessory, but we can see it gracing the front of an urban commuter bike. There's also a laptop-friendly version and a smaller kids' model.