From frame packs to luxury seatpacks – and even our favourite bike – discover the best cycling gifts to give this festive season
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Are you ready to upgrade your cycling kit? Or perhaps you’re ready to pick up cycling in the new year and want to ensure you’ve got all the right gear? Maybe there’s a cycling enthusiast in your life whose Christmas gift has you stumped…
Whatever your reason, we’ve got you covered. We’ve traversed the terrain so you don’t have to… here we round-up our must-buy cycling gifts so you can be sure to impress on Christmas Day – or just treat yourself to that long-awaited gift!
The Surprisingly Useful: Wizard Works Framebagcadabra Frame Bag – £110
Frame bags are standard issue for bikepackers, but many opt for big packs that fill the bulk of the main triangle. By contrast, this bag, made by UK bikepacking specialists Wizard Works, only takes up about the top third of most frames.
The large size measures 49 x 16 x 6 centimetres and gives you just 3.5 litres of carrying capacity, but this means it can easily be combined with bottle cages, or other bags mounted on the downtube. It’s still big enough to carry the bits you need for shorter bikepacking missions and it’s light enough (235 grams) and streamlined enough that it can be left on your bike even when you’re not going out overnight.
Best of all, it comes in customisable colours. wizard.works
The Luxury: Tailfin Aeropack Carbon Seatpack – £340
If you’re going on a bikepacking adventure of any length, you’ll probably want some sort of seatpost bag. What makes this high-end rigid seatpack a luxury item, as opposed to an essential, is the fact that it’s made out of carbon. Weighing just 772 grams, including the mount, it gives you 18 litres of carrying capacity, with a maximum load of nine kilograms. It’s easy to mount on any bike, thanks to the tool-less adjustment system. It’s also 100 per cent waterproof, opens easily and works even if you have a dropper post fitted on your bike, making it ideal for singletrack trails. tailfin.cc
The Essential: Finna Explorer Gravel Bike – £2,650
The first thing you need is a bike, and they don’t come much better suited than the Explorer, made by well-respected Spanish brand Finna. It’s a classic gravel bike – built tough, out of hard-wearing Reynolds 275 steel, with geometry designed to handle rugged trails. There’s a healthy amount of clearance between the bottom bracket and the ground, and the 71° head tube angle means you can ride pretty precipitous downhills without feeling like you’ll go flying over the bars.
The standard build includes a 1×11 Sram Apex gearing system and Sram centreline disc brakes. Most importantly for bikepackers, there’s plenty of space in the minimal frame for bottle cages or frame bags. The Explorer is adventure-ready and raring to go. finnacycles.com
The Essential: Exposure Lights Strada Mk11 SB bike light – £335
Regardless of whether or not you’re planning to be out late, bike lights are essential safety gear. Exposure Lights’ Strada Mk11 SB is arguably the most advanced front-light money can buy. The SB stands for Super Bright and with 1,600 lumens of power (twice as much as a 60-watt domestic bulb), it lives up to the name. It’s also packed with clever tech – including an auto-dim functionality so you don’t dazzle others and a pulse specifically designed for daytime riding – designed to keep you safe. Exposurelights.com
The Luxury: Hydro Flask 32oz Lightweight Trail Series Thermos – £50
Buy here on Amazon
Frame-mounted plastic water bottles are fine for most things, but if you’re going for a longer ride, why not treat yourself and carry a thermos in your backpack? Hydro Flask’s bottles keep hot liquids warm for up to 12 hours, and cold liquids cool for 24. Their Trail Series bottles are super-lightweight, too – this 32oz model (that’s 946 ml to us Europeans) weighs just 335 grams. Whether you’re carrying sugary tea for winter days or ice-cold water in summer, that’s extra weight you won’t regret.
