Gary’s Blog

Today I’d like to talk about clothing and accessories for cyclists, I’ll be covering items that will make your cycling more comfortable, safer and easier on your body. This information is general in nature and applies to most forms of cycling (with the except of racing.)

How Much?
First off a reasonable question, How much will this cost me? The answer is that it depends, it depends on your tastes, your budget and your level of riding. For a recreational rider who goes on a 10 mile ride 3 times per week the following items are sufficient and appropiate:

1. Bike ($350 - $500 for a starter bike)
2. Helmet ($40 - $80.00)
3. Frame Pump ($35.00)
4. Patch kit ($5.00)
5. 2 quality Spare tubes ($10.00 2x$5.00)
6. Cycling Gloves ($20.00)
7. 2 Water bottles ($10 - $15.00, a good bottle costs about $6.00, see below…)
8. Glasses (Use what you have to get started)

_{*Prices stated are for reasonable middle of the road items, you would be much better off buying quality items from a bike shop as opposed to cheaper items from a department store. Department store items are less expensive but also of a notoriously poor quality.}

So for a beginning recreational cyclist the cost of entry into the sport of cycling will be between $470.00 and $665.00 You can of course start out with just a bike, a pair of gardening gloves, an old football helmet, a tee short and and a pair of Levis (I’ve also seen John Deere caps, Dickeys and street shoes, it was quite a site!) but then you will look like a complete dweeb, if it floats your boat more power to you but my guess is you’ll be a minority of 1.

In all seriousness, you can start out with just a bike, a pair of shorts, a tee shirt and a bottle of water from your local gas station, and that isn’t a bad idea if you may only ride 3 times a year (or if you just aren’t sure if you’ll like this cycling stuff.) But I strongly recommend that you at least beg, borrow or buy a helmet, even at slow speeds head trauma can cause life changing and even fatal injuries.

I’ve been riding a while, now what?
Ok, so you’ve been riding for a little while and you really enjoy being on your bike, you’ve seen the other cyclists on the trail or road and have discovered that they come in all sizes and shapes. You’ve also noticed that there is a wide variety of color schemes and flashy clothing to choose from, but where do you start?

The following provides a list of items that you should definitely consider purchasing, we will then dig in a bit more and discuss each items… I have ranked the list in the order of items I deem as most essential, this is also the order that I would purchase the items in if I couldn’t afford to buy them all at once.

For recreational, fitness and enthusiast riders who ride; more than 5 miles or 1 hour per ride and 3 or more times per week:

1. Bike ($350 - $500 for a starter bike)
2. Helmet ($40 - $80.00)
3. Mirror ($20-$40.00 helmet or handlebar mount)
4. 2 Water bottles ($10 - $15.00, a good bottle costs about $6.00, see below…)
5. Cycling Gloves ($30.00)
6. Cycle Computer ($30 - $75.00)
7. Frame Pump ($35.00)
8. Patch kit ($5.00)
9. Under seat bag ($25.00 for holding tools and spare tubes)
10. 2 quality Spare tubes ($10.00 2x$5.00)
11. Cycling Shorts ($50 -$100.00)
12. Cycling Jersey ($50 - $100.00)
13. Multi-tool ($50.00)
14. Cycling Glasses ($40.00 - $150.00)
15. Gore-tex Windbreaker ($100.00)
16) Cycling Shoes & pedals ($165.00 - $500.00)

_{*Prices stated are for reasonable middle of the road items, most of these items will only be available through a bike shop or mail order catalog. Purchase the best quality you can afford.}

In Part II we’ll talk about Gear

Go to Part II

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 11th, 2007 at 3:21 pm and is filed under Cycling, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.