Bicycling is a great way to move around lately. In the bad traffic conditions nowadays, a bike is sometimes much faster than a car in helping you reach your destination. Not to mention immense health benefits bicycling can bring in: Your entire body is being put in action while you are riding the bike. But if you really want to take up bicycling, you need to have appropriate gears and tools. So in the case you are wondering about those things, this article is just for you.
No matter what intention you have when taking up bicycling, either for getting exercise or just moving around, adequate biking accessories are a must to guarantee your safety and offer acceptable levels of comfort. Without them, bicycling is no longer an interesting activity, it’s just something quite difficult thing to take up, or even a dangerous venture to get into. So let’s take a serious look at what you really need to get for bicycling.
The bike
It’s quite obvious that, each person has his own body structure and preferences, and then he has to make a choice to get a suitable bike for himself. It doesn’t matter whether the bike is brand new or second – hand, the point is that you are quite able to ride it easily and comfortably. Of course, you can also try specialized bikes such as road or mountain bikes to better suit your surroundings or the place you are going to ride your bikes. These are indeed a bit expensive but the overall quality is pretty good.
Tips on how to select a suitable bike:
- The height is Appropriate to your appearance, not too high or too low. You can mount the bike with little effort
- The pedals work well in cycling. Do test some combinations to select the best.
- The turning mechanism is easy to operate and presents no obstruction or vibration in use.
Bicycling shorts
Of course you can wear anything convenient for you, but only when you intend to cover a short distance with your bike. On long voyage, you need something much more suitable for yourself. In this case, a pair of bicycling shorts is what you need. With extra soft pads inside them, these shorts work wonderfully even after many miles on the road. You feel the lower part of your body well – protected and therefore you can ride comfortably.
In most cases, There is no needs to look for something too expensive or specialized athletic type, just a normal commercial version will do, as long as it fits your size and doesn’t restraint your movements. But remember to put it on and ride a few rounds to let your body become familiar with the shorts.
Helmet
This is for your own safety so any argument against wearing it is totally silly. This is what makes the difference between just getting a few bruises and suffering serious injury to your brain so do pay great attention to it. Also remember to buckle them properly so that if accident does happen, it won’t be thrown away by impact forces. Noticeably, since bicycling involves plenty of body actions, a helmet while solid must also be light and well ventilated.
Features of a good helmet:
- Fitting your head properly, neither too tight nor too loose.
- The buckle design is both reliable and easy to use. It must be able to survive any collision impact.
- The frames and pads should be well – arranged to effectively protect your entire head and neutralize great impact forces.
Sunglasses
When bicycling, lots of things can considerably affect your eyes and therefore reduce your vision, which include dusts, sunlight, trash, bugs etc. That is the reason why it’s so important to have a pair of sunglasses to protect your eyes. Well you may think that since you are running at slow speed, you have no need for sunglasses or googles but please be advised that speed is not the only factor that can lead to an accident, poor vision and slow reaction also do as well. Just few seconds of blurred vision by dust or sunlight in the eyes is all it needs for something bad to occur.
Most bicycling sunglasses nowadays are well – designed to prevent foreign objects from entering your eyes so again, all you need to do is consider picking the ones quite suitable to your face structure and your own preferences. Also put in sufficient time and efforts to carefully check the product quality before deciding a purchase to avoid wasting money on wrong things.
Shoes
Usually, pedaling require no specialized tools, just a sturdy pair of shoes is quite sufficient. But for long distance ride more and more fatigue will be put on your feet. This is why appropriate shoes are necessary. There is a great variety of shoes types out there that suitable for lots of feet shapes, sizes, skin conditions, etc. In case you are a bit clueless about shoes for bikers then ask the store staff for suitable advice.
Proper shoes for a person vary a lot between ages and body built, but good shoes in general must have the following characteristics:
- Comfortable to wear and easy to move
- Well ventilated
- Durable and stay functional after repeated and continuous uses.
Additional equipment
Above are essential gears for bicycling. However, some extra tools should also be welcomed, as long as they don’t weight down your bike. In fact, additional equipment could be worth your money and efforts by helping a lot in fixing possible breakdowns on the way. If you also want to bring them with you, here is a suggested list:
- Repair kit: Portable pump to mend a flat tire or tools to fix minor damages to the wheels or frame.
- Water bottle: To satisfy your thirsts, attached to the bike frame.
- Electronic devices: Watch/Computer/MP3/.v.v… for entertainments or checking for time and directions.
If you are looking for an interesting economical and healthy means of transport to get round easily? Then bicycling is just the one for you. You will have nice time to exercise yourself while travelling, actually hit 2 birds with 1 stone. Now with appropriate gears like things above, bicycling will certainly become a good hobby that you will really enjoy.
