5 of the best bits of cycling gear
Accessorise your ride with one of these fine bits of tech-related bike add-ons
It’s National Bike Week, so what better time to dust off your old two-wheeled pedal pal and hit the road. And when you do, why not bring one of these accessories along for the ride?
AfterShokz Bluez
£105, aftershokz.co.uk
Bluetooth headphones are ideal for cycling because they eliminate the risks associated with having a blooming great cable flapping around while you’re riding. The Bluez, however, have something going for them that most Bluetooth headphones do not: they use bone conduction technology, delivering sound to your inner ear via your cheekbones, not your eardrums. This means you can listen to music without shutting out the sounds of the road at the same time – another thing that’ll improve your safety while you’re out rolling on two wheels. The Bluez offer a six-hour battery life and weigh a mere 48g.
Scosche BoomBOTTLE
£120 , scosche.com
While it fits snugly in your bike’s bottle holder, the BoomBOTTLE holds no liquid; instead of cool H2O, it delivers a slug of refreshing sound into your lugholes. Yes, this is a weatherproof speaker that links up to your mobile via Bluetooth and pumps out up to 10 hours of audio per charge, letting you soundtrack your rides with whatever tunes get you in the mood for some furious pedal-pumping. We like it so much, we gave it a spot in this year’s CES Hot Stuff Awards line-up.
Camera Demon
£25, proporta.co.uk
Not all accessories have to be pricy or complicated. The Camera Demon is a simple universal helmet mount for any compact camera; it uses a standard tripod mount and allows the snapper to be tilted and rotates a full 360 degrees.
Wahoo Fitness KICKR
£999, wahoofitness.com
Even if you can’t actually get much street time with your bike, you can still ride it with the KICKR, a power trainer that connects to an iPhone or iPad through Bluetooth (and yes, you’ll have to take the back wheel off your bike to use it). You can map routes on a map and the KICKR will adjust resistance accordingly (i.e. it’ll make it harder work for you when you reach a hill on your virtual journey). Heck, it’ll even take a headwind into account if you set it up to. It’s compatible with a range of fitness apps and online services, and will be available in the UK soon.
Rokform v3 BikeMount
US$70, rokform.com
Handlebar mounts for smartphones generally leave us feeling fraught at every speed bump – but Rokform’s new v3 BikeMount is a level above the disappointing pack. Made from tough, stylish aluminium, it mounts directly into your bike’s steerer tube, which improves the secureness of its fit and reduces wind drag. There’s a two-pronged method for keeping your phone in place, too: a magnet and a system of interlocking rings; if those don’t seem sufficient, you can fix it to your wrist via a lanyard as well. Currently available in variants for the iPhone 4, 4S and 5 and the Samsung Galaxy S3.
Sam Kieldsen
Contributor 
