We're still in the grip of winter here, and in between the road salt, gloopy singletrack and iced over cycle paths we thought we'd pick out our best bang for buck 5 essential winter cycling items.
These items will improve your winter cycling experience without breaking the bank.
Winter Cycling Gloves
Selecting the right gloves for winter is absolutely vital for all cyclists. Cold or even worse, numb hands will stop you from being able to control your bike properly. Aside from which it can be absolute agony riding with cold hands.
A decent all round winter proof glove must be at least windproof, waterproof and breathable. The better ones will have some degree of reflectivity and possibly seperate inner and outer layers.
One last note, it’s actually pretty important to make sure you have the right size. A too tight glove can reduce circulation, resulting in prematurely numb hands.
Madison Tempest Glove: Madison have only recently entered the clothing market, but have hit the ground running. Great value and an ideal winterproof cycling glove.
Specialized Sub Zero Glove: Specialized are well known for their cycling accessories. Not least the obvious amount of thought and research that goes into their range. Their winter cycling glove, the Subzero has the same high attention to detail. Seperable inner and outer layers means you have practically two gloves to choose from, depending on the conditions.
Winter cycling tyres
Whether you’re a commuter, roadie, mountain biker or any other flavour of cyclist – it’s worth spending a minute to consider what tyres to fit during winter.
Speed shouldn't be such an issue when it's cold... Take your time, ride safely and enjoy the benefits that wider tyres will bring to every kind of bike. Fit 28c to your road bike and get some decent freeride tyres for your MTB.
Yes, you’ll go a little slower, but you’ll have much better grip and a greater degree of control in the wet/snow/ice.
Maxxis Highroller: A vast range of sizes on this ever popular tyre. The wide sizes have great mud clearance and a high level of grip. Perfect for freeride and winter riding, where control is at a premium over speed.
Specialized Crossroads Armadillo Elite: Convert your commuter to these chunky 700x38c's for winter and let a little air out when it gets really slippy. You'll add five minutes to your ride and stay in the saddle.
Waterproof Cycling Overshoes
Winter cycling shoes are brilliant. Warm and waterproof, the likes of the Shimano MW80 are rightly popular.
Unfortunately their 100 quid + price tag might seem like overkill for many riders. Especially for such a seasonal item.
Another very effective option is the waterproof cycling overshoe. Some are cycling shoe speicifc whilst some commuter specific overshoes can be fitted over normal shoes and have great reflectivity. Either way your shoes and feet will thank you.
Endura MT500 Overshoe: Designed for mountain biking (it usually wins magazine awards in it's category), it's toughness and weatherproofing will serve you well in other situations too.
Night Vision City Cycling Overshoe: Waterproof and highly reflective this overshoe has clearly been designed to suit the cycle to work market. It will fit over normal shoes too.
Baselayer
We’d say a good cycling baselayer is an all year round essential, but in winter it can really make or break a ride.
A good baselayer will help you regulate your temperature, keep you dry and help you stay comfortable for as long as possible.
The best ones will help you stay this way even once they’re dripping with sweat.
Our favourite models are those made from Merino. They have the best properties for keeping you warm when wet and, mercifully, very easy to wash. Synthetic models can begin to stink a bit after a while.
Altura Cyclone Base Layer: Great value for money, the Cyclone is very comfortable to wear and is very breathable. It's also very light which is worth thinking about if you're layering up for winter.
Endura Baa Baa Merino Long Sleeve Base Layer: The office favorite, the Baa Baa long sleeve base layer is a great piece of clothing. High warmth to weight ratio, it'll keep you warm even when wet and is easier to wash than man made base layers. Probably why it's so popular in the office...
Mudguards
These might just be the most important upgrade you’ll ever buy for your bike. They’ll certainly be one of the cheapest. Whether the road is covered in water, salt, sludge, snow, grit or even an unholy combination, these are your best bet at protecting your clothes and your bike this winter.
Ride without them and you’ll have to clean your bike more frequently and gain a strip on your back where the road crud has been spat out.
They come in road, MTB and hybrid flavours.
Crud Road racer mudguard set: Crud is a name synonymous with (excellent) MTB mudguards. So it wasn't really a surprise when their first foray into the road market was such a success. A thing of beauty (not something that is often said about road mudguards), from the innovative fixing bracket, to the brushings system that keeps it floating above the wheel - the attention to detail is deeply impressive.
Tortec Chromo-Tec Mudguard Set: Nigh on unbreakable, these full length mudguards will probably outlast your bike. Perfect for the daily grind.
