Kit Review

Overall rating: For anyone who relies on their bike for commuting, utility cycling, or cycle touring, dynamo lights are probably the best upgrade you can make. No more forgetting to charge your lights, or getting stuck after dark, without lights. With dynamo lights, as soon as the wheels start turning, your lights are on. It … Read more

Overall rating: ⭐⭐⭐ The Zefal T3 bag attaches to the top tube with Velcro-type fasteners, and has a clear pocket for your smartphone. It’s generously-sized, but you need to decide for yourself if that’s a benefit, or not. Road-tested I took the T3 bag along when I cycled (more or less) the bottom half of … Read more

Overall rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Aero bars on a touring bike? Yes, I fit Profile Design Legacy II aero bars to my touring bike. My primary motivation was not to gain any aerodynamical improvements. No, instead I wanted a way to get weight off my hands and wrists, especially on longer rides. I intentionally left it some … Read more

Overall rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Head torches are severely under-rated, and are critical bits of kit. They come in extremely useful when cycle commuting, cycle touring and when camping. On night-time rides, riders who use battery lights are usually able to remove their lights to illuminate parts of their bike, for example when mending a puncture. Us … Read more

Overall rating: ⭐ Do read the update to this review further below. I know my cunning plan was to never replace my ageing old Garmin Edge 500 GPS unit, and instead rely on the superb RideWithGPS app on my phone. It was for this exact reason that I bought a rugged, waterproof smartphone. Some flaws … Read more

Overall rating: ⭐⭐⭐ I recently purchased two Chilli-Tech Mk II Bullet helmet cameras – one for me and one for my youngest daughter. For a few years I’ve been riding with a VTIN camera, and I’m quite happy with that, except for battery life. The Chilli-Tech Mk II has a battery life of roughly 4.5 … Read more

The Cambridge Dictionary defines “getting cold feet” as “to suddenly become too frightened to do something you had planned to do, especially something important such as getting married”. This post is not about that kind of cold feet. This post is all about keeping your feet warm on a bitterly cold winter’s ride. After all, … Read more

Water: the source of life I needed a personal water filtration system, and picked the Sawyer Mini for good reasons. You consist of 55% to 60% water, and your blood is around 90% water. You need to drink water every day (even if it’s contained in other drinks, such as coffee). Though there doesn’t seem … Read more

The battle of getting tight tyres onto a rim It’s easy to see where the TyreKey got it’s name from – it looks much like a large key. There are two versions of the TyreKey, and I was given the newer version to try, which was redesigned to cope better with fatter tyres and wider … Read more

Tyre  Glider  –  A  new  tool  in  the battle of  fitting  a tyre If you’ve ever struggled getting a very tight-fitting tyre on, or off a rim, then you will know it can indeed be a battle! Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres are probably the tyre most people complain about, though on the plus side, they … Read more

Good reputation Podsac has built a well-deserved reputation for great kit. Indeed, while cycling the Grand Union Canal, my mate Dom found that Podsacks are so waterproof that they made his bicycle float! As a result, I didn’t have any reservations when I ordered these from Planet-X. For clarity, I bought these at full price, … Read more

The good people at Tyre-Glider gave me two Tyre-Gliders, so I can do a review. I only need one, and will happily post the other to one of you, provided you will also do a review on it (to be published on here, along with my own). Incidentally, the pic of a Tyre-Glider is straight … Read more