{"id":10355,"date":"2022-12-06T20:46:33","date_gmt":"2022-12-06T20:46:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cyclox.org\/?p=10355"},"modified":"2025-03-27T19:46:58","modified_gmt":"2025-03-27T19:46:58","slug":"christmas-buying-guide-to-bike-accessories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cyclox.org\/index.php\/2022\/12\/06\/christmas-buying-guide-to-bike-accessories\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas buying guide to bike accessories"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>By Emily Kerr and Annette Pattinson<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Emily is a Green councillor for Oxford City Council and Annette is founder of J<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cyclox.org\/index.php\/2022\/06\/28\/your-cycling-journey-with-joyriders\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">oyRiders Oxford<\/a>, which organises rides for women<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What are the key accessories for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cyclox.org\/index.php\/2022\/10\/11\/safe-legal-and-comfortable-how-to-cycle-in-winter\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">cyclists in winter<\/a>?<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-medium\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cyclox.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Kids-bike-seat-300x244.jpg\" alt=\"Woman cycling in Oxford with two children in seats on back of bike\" class=\"wp-image-10357\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Mudguards<\/strong> are probably the most important.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Lights<\/strong> next if you are likely to cycle after dark. It can be useful to get the same type of light for all the bikes in your household, so you can share.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Locks<\/strong> should be around 10% of the value of the bike. If you have a lot of bikes in the house it can be helpful to have several using the same combination so you can grab one or two.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Puncture-proof tyres<\/strong> are great and puncture-resistant inner tubes are probably worth the extra couple of pounds.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Panniers<\/strong> are a good option for many people (these are special bags for bikes, and you need to install a rear rack for them to clip them to). Many panniers double as rucksacks. One or two <strong>baskets<\/strong> can be a great addition or alternative \u2013 put heavier stuff in the back basket if you have one.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Kids\u2019 bike seats<\/strong> are suitable for children from around 6 months to 4\u20135 years (depending on the seat). There are three key options: front mounted, rear mounted, and bar-mounted \u2013 lots more info online. Rear-mounted seats can double as bag-carrying space in the absence of a child.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A <strong>helmet<\/strong> is an accessory many adults choose to wear, but there\u2019s no obligation and research suggests wearing one isn\u2019t necessarily safer, partly because car drivers are the biggest risk to cyclists and they tend to take more care with bare-headed cyclists. Personally, I wear one about 80% of the time and my kids always wear them (because children are more likely to fall off when just cycling along).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-id=\"8792\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cyclox.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/20210618_080404118_iOS-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8792\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-medium\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-id=\"10356\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cyclox.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Helmet-300x271.jpg\" alt=\"Black cycle helmet on table\" class=\"wp-image-10356\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-medium\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-id=\"10359\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cyclox.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Panniers-300x277.jpg\" alt=\"Man and woman cycling uphill with panniers on the back of their bikes\" class=\"wp-image-10359\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Clothes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>A cycling <strong>poncho<\/strong> can be useful to protect against the rain. I love mine which stuffs into its own pocket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Hi-viz <\/strong>vests are good for visibility and are really cheap, or a proviz type of jacket which glows bright in car headlights. You can also decorate your bike (or kids\u2019 bike seat) with hi-viz stickers which can make you more visible. This kind of decoration (along with other customisation such as paint or nail varnish motifs) can also deter thieves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Quick fixes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>We highly recommend a floor pump. It\u2019s worth having a can of bike oil to keep your chain in good condition. Carrying spare inner tubes, tyre levers and a multi-Allen tool can be useful even if you can\u2019t use them very well yourself (as people will often stop to help) or you can just take your bike to a bike shop to have punctures repaired.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">For the kids<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>For children from about 18 months to 4 years, the best bike to learn on is probably a balance bike. These have no pedals, which means children can first learn the crucial skills of balancing and steering, before then moving on to a pedal cycle. There\u2019s no need for stabilisers for a child who has learned on a balance bike \u2013 they move straight to pedalling a two wheeler.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a><\/a>Spoke beads are brightly coloured plastic beads which make a click-clacking noise as kids cycle. Bike streamers are ribbons which attach to the handlebars and flap pleasingly in the wind. Bike wheel lights thread through the spokes and create a cool effect which has the bonus of making the child more visible in the dark. Baskets are handy for kids to carry small items and mudguards are essential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For anyone on a budget, Broken Spoke sell a range of second-hand parts at low prices.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Emily Kerr and Annette Pattinson<\/p>\n<p>What are the key accessories for cyclists in winter?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":10358,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6,4],"tags":[93,5,94,7],"class_list":["post-10355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-on-yer-bike","tag-bike-accessories","tag-blog","tag-lights","tag-on-yer-bike"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyclox.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyclox.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyclox.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyclox.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyclox.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10355"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyclox.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10355\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12133,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyclox.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10355\/revisions\/12133"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyclox.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyclox.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyclox.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyclox.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}