Best - and Worst! - Gifts for Bike Riders
Do you ride a bike? Then this blog post isn’t for you. This is a post for your partner, your family, your friends, your colleagues, and anyone else who’s been roped into giving you a gift this holiday season.
Bookmark it, forward the link, and encourage them to read it carefully.
Trust us, we’ll all be happier for it.
How to buy a gift for a bike rider (if you don’t own a bike yourself)
Hello there, non-bike person! You’re thinking of giving someone a present that reflects their love of cycling. Aren't you wonderful? You’ll be helping them have fun and look after their physical and mental health.
(Or maybe you just want to get them out on a long ride so you can binge-watch that show they hate.)
Whatever the motivation, we’re here to help with 12 gifts that they would actually like.
But first let’s start with what not to get.
For this, there are two basic rules:
- Avoid things that go on the bike.
- Avoid things that go on the person.
It’s far too easy to waste your money, as you're about to see.
NO-GO GIFT ZONE 1: Lights
It’s a legal obligation to have lights on your bike if you ride in the dusk or at night. For this reason alone, most bike riders will already have lights, and don’t need more of them.
Not only that, but most have quite strong feelings about their lights – how they look, how bright they are, how they fit – so if you try to guess what they’d like, you’re most likely going to get it wrong.
There are also some truly, truly terrible bike lights on the market, regardless of price point, so don’t think that an expensive pick is necessarily a safe bet.
Unless your recipient has specifically requested a particular make and model, don’t risk it.
NO-GO GIFT ZONE 2: Clothing
If you think riders are fussy about lights, just wait until you try to buy them clothes.
Sizing is the first problem. Even if you're pretty sure they take a large jersey, for example, sizes often vary dramatically between brands, so there’s no guarantee it will fit.
Secondly, many bike riders have found a particular jersey or set of knicks/shorts that suits them and their riding style. Faced with a floodplain of potential choices, it's incredibly easy to pick the wrong one for someone else. (Even cyclists don't tend to risk buying each other this stuff.)
Thirdly, aesthetics. You might think that fluoro paint-splatter top is a fun pop of colour, but if your recipient is a Rapha devotee, they’re... not going to love it. Try to imagine your cousin buying you a statement necklace. Yeah, there it is. Nope.
NO-GO GIFT ZONE 3: Tubes or tyres
If you don’t ride a bike, it’s pretty common to think that every bicycle tyre is the same size, and every bicycle tube is the same kind. “Just give me a standard tube,” is a phrase we commonly hear. The problem? The standard does not exist.
(To be fair, this is a common misconception even among people who do ride so what chance do you have, really. )
There are multiple wheel sizes, multiple tyre widths, and multiple tubes. And let’s not even get into tread patterns and thread count. On top of this, some people run tubeless setups, which don’t even use tubes at all.
For this reason, unless your person has sent you a direct request for an exact model, size and type of tyre/tube, don’t wade into this pool.
NO-GO GIFT ZONE 4: Bike art
When you’re the ‘bike person’, you soon resign yourself to the fact that well-meaning relatives will often see something vaguely related to cycling and decide that it would be perfect gift. This is how most of us end up with bicycle-themed calendars, t-shirts, key rings, bottle openers, stubby holders, desk ornaments, framed prints, clocks, jocks and tea towels. While some can be practical, most aren't, and they're usually ugly to boot.
So please, forget any wheel-shaped tchotchkes. They will gather dust somewhere until your loved one can sneak them into the garbage when you’re not looking.
NO-GO GIFT ZONE 5: This Park Tools Pizza cutter
OK! Now that horror fest is over, let's look at...
WHAT TO ACTUALLY GIVE A BIKE RIDER
Strava membership
Is your loved one a competitive person? (Not sure? Think back to your last game of Monopoly.)
If they thrive on winning, a Strava app gift subscription or membership renewal could be the perfect gift.
They’ll be able to collect performance data, compete against other riders, and join challenges for extra motivation. If they’re a multi-sport person, they can also use Strava for running and hiking, getting extra bang for their (or, let’s face it, your) buck.
Note: we did consider including programs like Zwift, Wahoo X and TrainerRoad here, but they're typically designed for indoor trainer setups, which your gift recipient might not have.
Plus Zwift no longer lets people buy gift subscriptions, so bah humbug to those guys.
A high-quality towel
This is the gift people don’t realise they want until they get it.
After a hard and sweaty ride, everyone loves a refreshing shower. However, you want to elevate that experience? Forget body gels in sneeze-inducing scents or bath bombs that leave you finding glitter in your underwear for days. Instead, there’s nothing quite like stepping out and wrapping yourself in a cloud-like, extra-soft towel. Oh, luxury.
Get your person one, get them two, or even get it monogrammed—it’s cheaper than you think—so no-one else will pinch it.
Every time they dry themselves off, they’ll think fondly of you.
(Do with this knowledge what you will...)
Merino socks
Merino wool is far finer and softer than regular wool. Because it breathes and wicks moisture away from your skin, it keeps you warm in winter and cool in summer. As an added bonus, it repels bacteria, so it doesn’t stink like synthetic fabrics do once you’ve sweated into them.
But why is it so good for riders, and for socks?
It’s hard to enjoy yourself on your bike if your feet are squishy with sweat; it feels like pedalling in swamp juice. A few pairs of high-quality merino socks, however, will keep those tootsies dry and comfortable year-round.
And your gift recipient's feet won’t smell.. well, like stinky feet. Everybody wins.
Just take a quick look inside their bike shoes so you know what size to get first.
Physio appointment
It’s rare to find a cyclist—let alone an adult human—who doesn’t have some kind of muscular niggle. For bike riders, problem areas can quickly add up: tight hamstrings, notchy ITBs, hip flexor issues, or painful piriformises. (Yes, we did have to look up the plural of ‘piriformis’ because we thought it might be ‘piriformi’.)
While regular foam rolling and stretching can genuinely help with pain relief and injury prevention, most people don’t bother, or at least don’t do enough to make a big difference. This is where a good sports physiotherapist is worth their weight in gold.
A sports physio will stop minor aches and pains turning into big, debilitating problems, and ensure that your person can continue riding comfortably for many years. While you can’t exactly frogmarch someone into a clinic, a voucher for an assessment says, “I care about your wellbeing and want you to keep riding. And I’m sick of hearing you complain about your damned quads.”
Sports massage voucher
A sports massage is not like a regular massage. There are no gentle pats, no birdsong soundtracks, no candles or incense sticks. A sports massage is intense. It can make grown men cry.
If that sounds like something you’d like to inflict on a friend or family member, congratulations! You’ve found the ideal present.
A sports massage will tackle knots and muscles that people can’t attend to on themselves, no matter how bendy they might be. It’s a great complement to a physio appointment, but also brilliant all by itself.
So if your person is the kind who likes to prove how hardcore they are through chilli-eating competitions, give them the gift of a sports massage. Then enjoy their shell-shocked expression when they crawl in afterwards.
Trust us, it’s good for them.
Spiky ball
Searching for a stocking stuffer?
A trigger release ball is the next best thing to a sports massage, and it can be used almost any time, anywhere.
Despite looking like the unholy offspring of a tennis ball and a hedgehog, it’s designed to relieve tight muscle spots and tension. It’s especially useful for your feet, calves, glutes, TFL and (a personal favourite) the rhomboid major.
If you’ve never experienced the exquisite joy/pain of a trigger ball, buy two, try one out for yourself, and discover all the new noises you can make.
Club race
Whether it’s the mud-covered winter splatterfests of downhill and cross-country or getting baked in the sun around the Vic Park track, if your recipient loves to race, this is for them.
Competitions can be surprisingly costly. Besides looking after your bike, there’s club membership fees, race entry fees, apparel, nutrition, and transport—it all adds up pretty quickly.
Rather than supporting their efforts with a six-pack of energy gels, why not cover the entry fee to their next race?
Even better, gift them an AusCycling membership, which is compulsory for any kind of racing, regardless of discipline.
Now all you need to do is show up and scream at them to pedal faster. They’ll love that.
Pilates classes
“Oh, my husband/brother/dad won’t be interested in Pilates.”
Wait up there. Hold your horses.
Have you ever done Pilates? You’d remember if you have: it’s hard as hell, and first-timers usually stagger out afterwards like newborn foals. However, that toughness is why it’s so great: it concentrates on strengthening the core – a critical (and often neglected) aspect of successful bike riding. More and more male bike riders have started discovering how beneficial this kind of movement is for their cycling performance.
If that isn’t enough to convince you, Pilates is also perfect for working on flexibility, and is particularly good for addressing back pain. And everyone’s happier when they’re not plagued by back pain.
You know the old saying: happy spine, happy.. uh.. husband. Yeah, that’s it. Anyway: Pilates! Get onto it.
Meditation app
Your gift recipient is stressed, but how can you help? While you may not be able to send them on holiday/find them a new house/vaporise their boss, you can provide them with a little assistance via a helpful app.
It can be hard to commit to a regular meditation habit (or remember to relax at all, really). But now you don't have to nag them to take a break: their phone will do it instead.
Even better, the right app will help them sleep better, look after themselves more, or perhaps simply not explode from the pressures of modern life.
Try these on for size:
If nothing else, send them this complimentary playlist of Tom Hardy reading bedtime stories. Now that’s something the whole family can enjoy.
Fancy edibles (no, not that kind)
Cyclists love caffeine, particularly in chocolate or coffee form. So why not treat them to the good stuff?
Many chocolate fiends don’t treat themselves to the expensive kind, instead smashing Cadbury Dairy Milk like it owes them money. Right this terrible wrong by giving them some of the eye-wateringly pricey stuff this festive season. Your rider may chide you (“Who spends this much on chocolate?”) but secretly they’ll be delighted. Especially if you tell them they don’t have to share.
For coffee lovers, go for organic beans. (Yes, the jury’s still out on whether pesticides survive the roasting process, but it's still one of the most highly sprayed crops in the world, so why risk it?) Even better, look for brands that produce shade-grown crops, like this one from Zoos Victoria. Make it extra-special by bundling it with a handmade mug.
Can't decide which brand to buy? Can't be arsed wrapping something? Then how about a voucher from their favourite ride-stop cafe? A food break is always something to look forward to on a ride, but your thoughtfulness will make it even better as now they don’t need to spend any money. Hurray! Who wants four bacon-and-egg sandwiches?
While we’re speaking of vouchers...
Bike shop voucher
If you’re determined to get something bike-related, there’s a stress-free way to do it: let your gift recipient decide.
They can pick out something they really want or need. You don’t have to worry about buying the wrong thing, wasting your money or faffing about with returns.
You’ll also be supporting their favourite local bike shop.
But! Make sure it’s a shop they actually like, or that voucher may just end up pinned under a fridge magnet for years.
IN CONCLUSION
This is as foolproof a gift guide as you can get, whether you’re going for something that will help their performance, an off-the-bike treat or a luxury didn’t-realise-I-needed-this item.
If nothing else, you know what’s the best gift of all? Your time.
No, not actually with you, duh. What we mean is: offer to dog or kid-sit for the day so they can head out on a long ride, guilt-free.
With that, happy holidays to all! Now let us enjoy a traditional Christmas melody.
