This article is a part of a collection referred to as ‘A love letter to…’, the place Cycling Weekly writers pour reward on their favorite biking gadgets and share the non-public connection they’ve with them. In this case, nevertheless it’s a break-up letter to costly biking devices.
Every at times, and towards my higher judgement, I’ll go on Facebook on my cellphone. It’s a motor response, actually, a discovered behaviour from an adolescence spent rising up on the app. I can’t convey myself to delete it. Sometimes I’ll lose an hour to the scrolling.
Anyway, I used to be on Facebook the opposite day, and I got here throughout an article. The headline was one thing about all of the issues a bike owner wants, the trinkets they daren’t depart house with out. Instinctively, I clicked on it. I wished to really feel smug. After all, I, a kind of society calls a ‘keen cyclist’, would make certain to attain a full home.
I used to be surprised by the primary merchandise, really. According to the listing, the opening security important is a ‘radar’. If you don’t know what that is, then don’t worry, neither really did I, but I’ve since discovered it’s a small device that detects vehicles as they approach you, and alerts you to their presence on your GPS computer.
The list goes on. Camera. Nah. Crash sensor. Nah. Rearview glasses. Who am I… Inspector Gadget? It quickly becomes clear that the items on the list are more Silicon Valley than Wye Valley. They’re about as essential to riding a bike as a sequin collar or swimming armbands. (Neither of which I have, by the way.)
There are, of course, a few more rudimentary products there, too: a hi-vis vest, for example, the garment of choice of school lunchtime supervisors, and a bell – you remember, the little metal thing you ripped off the handlebars as soon as you got your new bike home.
Call me smarmy for turning my nose up at this, but my frustration isn’t really about the list. Cycling, at its core, should be a straightforward, accessible thing. All you really need is a bike. If you’re riding outdoors at night, I’d suggest you spend a few quid on some lights, too.
To an outsider, a budding two-wheeler, lists like these risk fostering an elitism that, to do our sport, you need an Aladdin’s cave of gizmos. If I were to buy every item, it would cost me the best part of £800, and that’s before the cost of the actual bike.
Most people take great joy in pootling around on a scuffed, second-hand hack-around – no rearview glasses, no high-end radar, just a whirring chain and a smile. That’s what cycling is about.