While it’s important to outfit your bike with all the proper accessories, you can’t forget about the bike rider either! You may not think you need cycling specific accessories, but trust us, your ride will be much better if you think about your comfort and safety specifically in relation to riding a bike.
Here at United, we separate on-rider accessories into two different categories dictated by touch points on your body: comfort and safety.
Comfort touch points include your behind, hands, and feet. Safety touch points include the head and the eyes. We will break down each touch point below to show why it’s important to be mindful of them!
Your guide to bike shorts
You might look at a bike seat and just think that being comfortable is a battle you’re destined to lose. But with the proper pair of cycling shorts, you can ride for longer in more comfort! Cycling shorts are specifically designed to protect you against chafing and the stress injuries that may occur as a result of vibrations hitting your sit bones. Dedicated biking shorts come with a chamois - specific padding for your inner thighs to alleviate both painful chafing and vibrations.
PRO TIP: Bib style shorts feature a suspender system that help keep the shorts in the proper position.
Your guide to bike gloves
Especially for longer bike rides, gloves are an essential piece of equipment for any rider. In the same way that riding transmits vibrations to your groin area, any sort of bumps or vibrations also get transmitted to your hands. This can cause your hands to slip or rub on the handlebars which can lead to further discomfort and even blistering - especially on more intense rides. Cycling gloves feature padding that disperses vibrations evenly and grips on the thumbs and fingers so you can keep your hands in the right position no matter the terrain.
PRO TIP: If you’re looking to attack the trail, we also carry specialty mountain biking gloves that feature more padding in the palms and knuckle guards.
Your guide to bike shoes
If you’re not pedaling to the best of your ability, then you’re not getting the best bike riding experience possible. That’s where cycling shoes come in. These shoes are specifically designed to contact the pedals properly to increase riding efficiency while also dampening vibrations from the ride that normal shoes wouldn’t be able to. Cycling shoes are specifically engineered with stiffer soles to cushion your feet and feature either velcro straps or lace closure systems to make sure you don’t get anything tangled up in the pedals.
PRO TIP: Think about what kind of riding you’ll be doing and pair your cycling shoes with the right type of pedals. Some types of shoes are able to clip in directly to your pedals, while others are better used with more traditional platform pedals.
Your guide to bike helmets
You’d struggle to find someone who isn’t aware of the benefits of a bike helmet. Your brain is worth protecting, simple as that. But there are some more things to consider when purchasing a helmet. A proper fitting helmet can give you the confidence to ride to the best of your ability because you know it’ll be able to protect you in the event of a crash. And helmets aren’t just simple pieces of plastic anymore, many come with sophisticated technology to help cushion your head, protect from rotational impact, and even notify your emergency contacts when you’re unresponsive after a crash. Whatever helmet you end up choosing, it’s important to make sure it fits properly so it can protect you like it’s designed to.
Read Our Helmet Guide Shop All Bike Helmets
PRO TIP: If you are involved in a crash that includes a direct impact to your helmet, you need to get it replaced afterwards. Direct impacts affect the protective foam layer in the helmet and it’s been proven that it becomes much less effective at preventing injury even after one significant impact.
Your guide to sunglasses
You need to see the road ahead, plain and simple. A good pair of sunglasses is an essential piece of every cyclist’s toolkit. With how fast you might be moving, you need your full field of vision to spot potential obstacles and hazards to keep yourself safe. Sunglasses designed specifically for more intense activities like cycling have flexible frames so they can fit the different contours of your face and anti-slip grips to make sure the glasses don’t slip off your face.
PRO TIP: Lenses are important! You might need a specific type of lens that highlights specific colours or shades depending on the type of biking you’re doing. Lenses that highlight shadows are important for road/city bikers because they can help you see dips or changes in the pavement, whereas mountain bikers need lenses that illuminate darker colours so they can see the trail better at speed.
With the right assortment of accessories picked out, you're now ready to hit the trail and make some memories this summer!
