BUYER'S GUIDE

The best winter cycling gear Nov 2021

The best winter cycling gear 2021 - 10 essential items to see you through the colder months

Winter bikes, mudguards, lights, trainers and more products to help you survive the winter

UPDATED Mon, Nov 08, 2021 08:11

Get the right cycling gear and equipment to see you through winter with our selection of accessories and add-ons.

Winter is a tough time for cyclists. Short days and long nights limit riding time in the sun, the cold drains energy faster and bad weather can make it dangerous on the roads. It's bad for the road bike too, all that rain and dirt. To help you and your bike survive, we've picked out a selection of winter cycling gear that should get you through to spring.

Looking for winter clothing recommendations? Check out these articles

10 very useful pieces of winter equipment

Ribble CGR — from £999
Tacx Flow Smart Trainer — £242.99
Continental Grand Prix 4 Season tyres — £37.60
Exposure Lights Axis LED light — £170
Muc-Off Bio Chain Doc — £20.99
Decathlon Rockrider ST100 Cycling Sunglasses — £4.99
Wahoo Systm — from USD12.99/month
Crud RoadRacer Mudguard Set — £37.99
Kool Stop Dura 2 brake blocks — £9.96
Lezyne Lever Patch Kit — £6.00 - £8.49

Ribble CGR — from £999

Buying a whole extra bike for winter use might seem overkill, but it makes sense if you want to avoid winter salt and crud attacking your favourite bike's components. This Ribble was a Commuting Bike of the Year, and you can order it with proper full-length mudguards to keep you dry. It has disc brakes and plenty of space for wide tyres so you don't have to worry about dodging every puddle-hidden pothole.

Read our review of the Ribble CGR

Tacx Flow Smart Trainer — £242.99

There is a way to avoid manky weather, and that’s to do your cycling indoors. The turbo trainer is therefore becoming one of the most popular forms of winter cycling gear.

It's a simple frame for the rear wheel of a bicycle where the tyre rests against a roller, turning your road bike into a stationary trainer. This Tacx Vortex Smart trainer can be controlled by a computer or phone app such as Zwift or TrainerRoad to vary the resistance so you can train to specific power levels and not waste any training time.

Continental Grand Prix 4 Season tyres — £37.60

The Continental Grand Prix 4 Season is the all-weather tyre against which all others are measured, and there's good reason for that: it's light, grippy, puncture resistant and gives away surprisingly little in performance to its summer-racing counterpart, the Grand Prix 5000.

Read our review of the Continental Grand Prix 4 Season

Exposure Lights Axis LED light — £170

An essential piece of winter cycling gear because many cyclists have no choice but to do the majority of their riding in the dark. The British designed and manufactured Exposure Axis LED light may be small and light (99g), but it blasts out 1,300 lumens, enough to light a dark country ride. It can be mounted to the handlebar or helmet and the battery can last for 24 hours in the lowest setting.

Muc-Off Bio Chain Doc — £20.99

All the road grime and dirt from riding in the winter can quickly lead to a squeaky and rusty chain, but doing serious bike maintenance after a ride when you can’t feel your hands isn’t much to look forward to. This Muc-Off Bio Chain Doc makes the task of cleaning a chain really quick and easy, so you can keep your drivetrain in good working condition without the mess and hassle.

Decathlon Rockrider ST100 Cycling Sunglasses — £4.99

When you think of winter cycling gear, you don't immediately think of eyewear, but keeping road spray, dirt, mud and the rain out of your eyes with a pair of cycling glasses is preferable to trying to see through mud-filled squinted eyes. These Decathlon glasses have a wraparound design and the clear lens is ideal for low-light and night-time riding.

Wahoo Systm — from USD12.99/month

If you’re planning on cycling indoors to avoid the cold, rain and dark (who can blame you) then a really good training aid is the popular Wahoo Systm 9formerly known as Sufferfest. It's an app offering a range of structured training session with videos using actual professional road racing footage to make you feel you're part of the action.

Crud RoadRacer Mudguard Set — £37.99

A vital piece of winter cycling gear - indeed mandatory on many club rides. Adding a set of mudguards to a bike - and these simple plastic Crud RoadRacer mudguards can be fitted to most road race bikes - provides a decent barrier against road spray, and makes cycling on wet roads much more tolerable than without mudguards.

Kool Stop Dura 2 brake blocks — £9.96

Your brakes can take a bit of a hammering in the winter, with the rims caked in mud, grit and salty water, and brake blocks can deteriorate very rapidly. It’s important to keep a close eye on them, and replace them before they get too worn down. These Kool Stop Dura 2 brake blocks are a good replacement, with solid stopping power in all conditions.

Read our review Kool Stop Dura 2 brake blocks

Lezyne Lever Patch Kit — £6.00 - £8.49

It’s a fact of life, you’re much more likely to get a puncture in the winter. There’s more debris on the road, especially after it has rained, with mud and stones from the edge of the road washed into your path. And water acts as a really good lubricant for sharp objects to slice through bicycle tyres. This Lezyne Lever Patch Kit has everything you need to fix a flat and it’s all contained in a neat metal case, along with two tyre levers, and is small enough to be stashed in a jacket pocket, saddle bag or backpack.

Read our review of the Lezyne Lever Patch Kit

Any products not on this list that you recommend?

About road.cc Buyer's Guides

The aim of road.cc buyer's guides is to give you the most, authoritative, objective and up-to-date buying advice. We continuously update and republish our guides, checking prices, availability and looking for the best deals.

Our guides include links to websites where you can buy the featured products. Like most sites we make a small amount of money if you buy something after clicking on one of those links. We want you to be happy with what you buy, so we only include a product if we think it's one of the best of its kind.

As far as possible that means recommending equipment that we have actually reviewed, but we also include products that are popular, highly-regarded benchmarks in their categories.

Here's some more information on how road.cc makes money.

You can also find further guides on our sister sites off.road.cc and ebiketips.

road.cc buyer's guides are maintained by the road.cc tech team. Email us with comments, corrections or queries.

Winter Cycling

winter cycling products

David Arthur @davearthur

David worked on the road.cc tech team from 2012-2020. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds, and you can now find him over on his own YouTube channel David Arthur - Just Ride Bikes.