Summer is a great time to get out on two wheels. Sure, “Summer” means different things in different places — here in Barcelona it means the afternoons are too hot to leave the house. In England it means rain, just like any other day. But it also means more outdoor sports, so maybe you should think about dusting off the bike, heading outside and burning some calories while enjoying the sun. Here are five gadgets that will make the trips even better.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Wired
Toe Clips
Unless you’re just nipping out to the store, toe-clips and straps can make a huge change to your riding. The metal calipers keep the straps held open so your feet can easily slide in, and they also stop your feet from moving too far forward.
Essential on a fixed-gear where having a foot slip off the pedal could be disastrous, they also help stopping and accelerating by letting you apply upwards force on the pedal.
More important for occasional riders is that they keep you feet in the right place, placing the ball of the toes over the pedal. Most people just sit the centre of their soles on the platform which is inefficient and actually less comfortable. Buy some clips. Any brand will do to start, just ask your LBS (Local Bike Store).
Photo: J Ferguson/Flickr
Pump
Sure, you have a pump, but a) does it really work and b) do you use it? It’s important to keep tires at the correct pressure to protect the rims of the wheels, to keep the bike rolling smoothly (under-pumped tires make for a sluggish ride) and to stop the inner-tubes themselves from being pinched and bursting.
Tires all have the recommended pressure written on the side-wall, and you should inflate accordingly using either a floor pump with a gauge, the kind you put your feet on a pump with two hands, or use a decent, compact hand pump and keep shoving in the air until the tire is hard. The advantage of a portable pump is that you can take it with you and fix punctures on the road. The one you see here is the Crank Brothers Power Pump Pro, a $38 device which can be switched between high-volume and high-pressure, and has a built-in pressure gauge. I have the baby brother of this model and it is sturdy, light and works great.
Product page [Crank Bros]
Water Bottle
You can either throw a bottle of mineral water in the bike’s basket, wear a water-carrying backpack like the CamelBak or use a bottle-cage fixed to the frame. Whatever you choose, take something. Biking will often take you away from urban centers and you can’t just visit a corner store when you’re on a forest road. Hell, if you’re feeling fancy, you can even hack your own holder.
Seat
The seat that came with your bike probably sucks. It will make you sweaty, put pressure on your perineum and generally make you sore. There are a few ways to go here. A noseless seat can be comfier as it doesn’t press on the sensitive baby-maker, but a properly adjusted traditional-style saddle won’t, either. You can go for a heavily padded, wide saddle, but this will still make you sweaty if it is made of plastic.
My choice is the Brooks. I have an old, sprung one on my Dutch city bike, and a new, unsprung one on my fixed. Both are extraordinarily comfortable, and better, both wick sweat away so even after a long ride in Summer heat you step away dry. They’re not cheap — a basic one costs around $70, but it will probably be the last saddle you ever need to buy (just pop the old plastic one back on when you sell the bike).
Product page [Brooks]
Computer
This certainly doesn’t seem necessary, but once you start racking up the miles you’ll want to know just how many you did. A basic cyclometer, like Knog’s NERD, will count the revolutions of the front wheel and use the data to calculate speed, distance and, combined with the clock, a whole lot of other useful info. Go for a wireless version which puts the terminal on the handlebars and the counter down on the bike’s fork, where it is tripped once per revolution by a spoke-mounted magnet.
Higher end models get GPS, Bluetooth and altimeters, but you can get something simple like the Nerd for $50-$60. It’s worth it the first time you can brag to your friends that you broke the speed limit under your own power.
Product page [Knog]
Photo: Leander Kahney/Wired
