Life In The Saddle

You have started cycling and have your first proper bike. As with many a new toy though, there are a few niggling problems—such as skipping gears, misaligned handlebars, or annoying punctures. You will need some home bicycle workshop tools—to avoid making a trip to the local bike shop every five minutes. These are your workbench essentials. Before getting on to the tools themselves, it is worth mentioning a good maintenance book—so that you have a reference point before getting to work. I have the Park Tool Big Blue Book of Bicycle Repair —an in-depth tutorial of all the jobs you are likely to attempt, as well as lots of colour photos. Another excellent choice is Leonard Zinn's Art of Road Bike Maintenance and Leonard Zinn's Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance books. Make sure you know what are taking on, before you start work. In this post, I outline my recommendations for a starter bicycle maintenance tool kit. These are the kind of tools that every cyclist should have a

Christmas and birthday gift ideas for cyclists can be tricky, especially when the two-wheeled fanatic in your life seems to have a wardrobe packed full of cycling kit and more bikes and bike parts than you could possibly imagine necessary. In this post, I look at some alternative gift ideas for cyclists, focussing on the adventure cycling and bikepacking niche. All these products are gadgets and accessories that I have tried and tested on recent adventures, and that I believe would make great gifts for the bike rider in your life. LifeSaver Wayfarer Water Purifier Earlier this year I visited Sri Lanka – a country where even many locals choose not to drink the tap water for fear of contaminants. Purchasing and carrying bottled mineral water with you can be difficult and tiresome though, so a high quality water filter is the easiest (and most environmentally friendly) solution. The Lifesaver Wayfarer Water Purifier is made in Britain and claims to be ' the world's safest

Bone conduction headphones are a game-changer for cyclists and runners; allowing you to listen to your tunes or podcast, while still being aware of your surroundings and ambient warning sounds. The technology also allows you to use the headphones for swimming; so you can listen to music underwater as you tackle your pool set or open water swim. I have used a variety of bone conduction headphones over the last ten years, but the Naenka Runner Diver2 offers a unique combination approach: with a Bluetooth connection to your phone and the ability to use the headphones as a standalone MP3 player with 32GB of storage; this is ideal for times when you don’t want to take your phone with you on a run, or when you are swimming and you cannot have your phone nearby. The build quality and presentation of the Naenka Runner Diver2 headphones is instantly impressive; with a soft silicone outer, three-layer waterproof construction, and a neat magnetic transfer/charging cable connection. Battery cre