Holiday Gift Guide for Cyclists 2024

Published November 15, 2024 01:11PM

While it feels like Halloween was just yesterday, it’s already time to think about holiday gifts for all the friends, family, and loved ones in your life.

For all of us at Velo, there are a lot of cyclists in our lives, so we’ve spent a bit of time thinking about the perfect gifts for all of them. We’ve put our minds together and put together a list of gifts that any cyclist would love to receive.

Whether your budget is $20 or a whole lot more, we have a great selection of gift ideas all the cyclists in your life will love.

Gifts under $25

Foothill Products Kit Hanger

For most of us, clothes hangers are an afterthought, and our closets are filled with a random assortment collected over time. Out of all the various sizes and shapes, some tend to be better for hanging cycling kits, but not perfect. Foothill products has stepped in to fill the void with a simple, clever product.

Instead of being another random hanger, the Foothill Kit Hanger is purpose built. The main body is smooth aluminum with beautifully rounded tubes sized just right for cycling kit. At the bottom, instead of a solid triangle, there’s a split bar that lets you get bib short straps on without removing the jersey from the main hanger. There’s also a kicked up end of each side that keeps bib shorts from sliding off.

The Foothill Kit Hanger is the perfect low cost gift that doesn’t require a ton of knowledge about cycling gear. It’s certainly not necessary but it’s smart and useful. Anyone who has cycling kit will appreciate it.

Bicycle pizza cutter – $20

This pizza cutter arrived as a wedding gift years ago and quickly became a favorite cooking utensil, and short of the latest Pantone color of the year Kitchenaid stand mixer, this is an excellent conversation starter, too.

How well does it work as a pizza cutter? Well, quite frankly, there are better cutters out there. The wheels don’t stay in place as much as you would hope. Thick crusts are sometimes a challenge with this fixie style bike cutter. Several-day-old pizzas are a challenge too, unfortunately. But a fresh pizza out of the oven? This works great.

This bike shaped pizza cutter is a choice of looks over function, but who cares? It’s a fun gift, and sure beats getting another tie or pair of socks with bikes on them.

Skratch Hydration Sport Drink Mix

We’ve all had a coach tell us at one point or another to keep it simple. When it comes to nutrition, Skratch Labs is keeping things simple. Skratch strips its hydration mix down to the essentials, providing a mix of electrolytes that matches what most people lose through sweat, and not overdoing the sugar levels for an easy drinking, simple-on-the-stomach drink.

Skratch only uses real fruit to flavor its hydration mix, resulting in a pleasant taste that doesn’t overpower your mouth or stomach. It’s hard to go wrong with lemon-lime, a veritable classic, but should your palate say otherwise, there are seven flavors available including a cold-weather ready apple cider. Flavors are available in 1-pound bags (20 servings) and for some flavors by individual servings so you can try before you commit to a full bag.

Gifts under $50

Camelbak Podium Steel bike bottle

The Camelbak Podium Steel bike bottle looks and works a whole lot like a Bivo Trio bottle, regardless of what those companies might say. There are three key differences to note here however, particularly in a world where people fight over limited-edition Stanley cups.

Camelbak employs its standard nozzle lock with a 90-degree twist. It’s not particularly difficult to unlock the nozzle with one hand mid-ride, but you can also ride with the nozzle unlocked and water will stay in too.

Of course there are the colors, a slew of glossy solid colors with a raw stainless steel option thrown in for good measure. These colors unfortunately collect scratches easily if you use a metal bottle cage. But hey, it’ll look good when you’re gifting it!

The big reason this bottle is a great gift is for just how good it is at keeping liquids cold on a hot day. It might be heavier than any bottle you’ve used, but it’s far and away better at maintaining temperatures than any insulated bike bottle. It might be cold now, but it’s going to come in handy when temperatures start rising.

Tailwind Endurance Fuel

Cyclists need fuel when riding. This is a fact that never changes and never ends. If you don’t know what to get someone there’s no chance you’ll go wrong with getting some kind of fueling. Of course that leaves open what type of system to buy into.

Over the years we’ve settled into a couple of things. One is that we always do better when drinking calories, and the second is that Tailwind Endurance Fuel is one of the best options for liquid calories.

With one of the larger bags athletes have complete control over calories per bottle. Shorter, less intense rides might only call for 100 calories per bottle, a single scoop. If someone needs fueling for long or intense rides then two to three scoops (or even four) is enough to sustain an athlete even without solid food. If portability is an important factor then the single serving 240 calorie packets are a great choice.

You can’t really go wrong with the flavors, and the price per calorie is on the lower end of what’s available.

Pedro’s Rx Micro-10 Multitool

If you’re shopping for a new cyclist, they should have a multi-tool in a flat kit on every ride, alongside a spare tube and pump. The Pedro’s Rx Micro-10 Multitool is a well-built, lightweight option with every common bike tool that should stay rust free and ready to spring into action road-side. We’ve had cheaper multi-tools completely rattle apart in a bike bag before, so it’s worth paying for quality tools, especially for ones that are potentially the difference between being stranded in the middle of a ride or not. For an extra $5, you can also add a pair of Pedro’s micro tire levers that nest on the outside of the tool. Pedro’s makes the best tire levers you’ll find.

If you’re shopping for an experienced cyclist, chances are high they already have a compact multi-tool in their flat kit. However, multi-tools are a little like coffee shops in that you can never really have too many. Multi-tools always find a good home, be it in another flat kit for your growing bike collection, in your car for pre-ride adjustments, in your backpack, in your travel bike bag, the list goes on.

Gifts under $200

Dynaplug Racer Pro

The Dynaplug Racer Pro is a gift you hope nobody will ever need to use, but it’s a must-carry when we ride a bike with tubeless tires, be it a road bike, gravel bike, or mountain bike.

The Racer Pro is perhaps the best form of tubeless tire plugger Dynaplug offers. It’s small and fits in just about any repair kit. At the same time, it fits four plugs: three regular sized and one extra-large plug if the going was really rough.

On top of that, the Racer Pro is machined in Chico, California from billet 6061 aluminum. It looks and feels like it justifies its admittedly high price. It’s a gift I would still be excited to receive myself, and I’m sure the cyclist in your life will feel the same way.

Knog Scout Tracker

Just about every bike we have has some form of tracker, especially because we’ve been victims of bike theft. Most people assume we’re either a Tile or an Apple AirTag for that purpose, but we’ve come to really appreciate the Knog Scout Tracker as a bike-centric tracker and alarm.

Why this over an AirTag? The big upgrade here is its built-in motion-sensitive alarm. It can bolt in comfortably below a bottle cage using theft-proof bolts, ensuring it doesn’t get separated from the bike. Further, it’s rechargeable, lasting about three months.

You never want to have a bike stolen, but at least the Scout gives you a fighting chance should the unfortunate situation arise.

Wolftooth Morse Cage Ti

Water bottle cages for your bike may not be the most exciting gift this holiday season. But hear us out with these Wolftooth Morse Cage Ti cages, which we think are worthy gifts.

Simply put, a good set of bottle cages can last the lifetime of a bike, and be moved easily from bike to bike. These titanium bottle cages will likely look a bit out of place on a modern high-end road bike, but we use them because we don’t have to worry about bottles ever falling out of them. And once it’s time to move on from a bike, we bring these cages along to the next one.

Trek CHRGtime Charging Station

Modern cycling involves a lot of electronics. That also means a lot of charging those electronics. We used to have lights, head units, SRAM batteries, watches, and other USB-enabled odds and ends stashed to charge all over the place. Then of course it’s easy to forget where you last put a particular light or computer. The Trek CHRGtime came along and changed everything.

The CHRGtime is of those products that feels silly at first — surely you can just plug things in right? Obviously you can, but what if there was a nice looking system that minimized clutter and centralized everything? With four sections, a single plugin to power everything, and a lid, that’s exactly what the Trek CHRGtime is, and it’s become a necessity.

When you come in from a ride it’s a central place to put things so they aren’t lost. There’s no flashing lights on the bedside table, less clutter, and everything is ready to go for the next ride. The only problem is that it might upstage the desk it’s sitting on.

Bookman Volume 1500 bike light

The Bookman Volume 1500 front bike light isn’t the most powerful light you’ll find at its price point, nor does it offer the range of features that even some less expensive bike lights have. But what the Volume offers is two things anyone receiving the gift would appreciate: a replaceable battery, and a novel and fun-to-use volume knob to control light settings.

We’ve covered the Volume a bit more in our review and our bike lights buyer’s guide. Rather than pressing a button to switch through light modes, there’s a click volume knob that looks great and feels premium.

The rechargeable 21700 cell battery can be swapped on long trips without a power outlet available, but it can also be replaced years down the line when the battery’s lifespan has degraded. That makes this a gift that will keep on giving for years and years.

Specialized Prime Jersey

The biggest bike brands make just about everything, from wheels and components to helmets and even apparel — it doesn’t mean they’re always the best option for all of those products though. You’d be forgiven for being wary of a jersey from a bike brand, but Specialized’s Prime line has quietly been creating some of our favorite kit for the past few years.

You won’t find anything flashy on the design. Rather, everything just works well. The cut is modern and it fits skin-tight, but with enough stretch that it doesn’t feel constricting anywhere. The fabric is both cooling and UV-resistant with a UPF 30+ rating, and when things do become too hot, unzipping it is a breeze thanks to its high quality zipper — a woefully overlooked aspect of many “premium” kits. The color selection is not extensive and favors muted earth tones, but they look great and aren’t out of place on a coffee ride in even the most trendy cycling locales.

Gifts Under $1,000

Fizik Vento Ferox Carbon

The thing about cycling shoes these days is that, well, they feel like a lot of the same. Don’t get me wrong, it’s largely a lot of very good same, but same nonetheless. The Fizik Vento Ferox Carbon breaks that mold. This breathable, high performance off-road shoe features a carbon outsole and comes in a variety of fun colorways and designs that show that Fizik is still one of the most innovative brands in cycling.

Riders with higher arches especially will find this shoe supportive thanks to the velcro Powerstrap across the instep that helps stabilize your foot. The low-tech-high-tech solution is quite comfortable, and has the added bonus of being pretty darn crash-proof and easy adjusting on the fly. A single Boa dial secures the rest of the foot for a well-rounded off-road package.

Coros Pace Pro

Out of the range of smartwatches and wearables we’ve been able to wear in recent memory, the Coros Pace Pro stands out for its easy-to-understand user interface, bright screen visible in daylight, and outstanding battery life.

We’ve been able to record seven-plus-hour-long rides on the bike reliably with the watch and only drain a third of the battery in that time, even with a power meter attached. The built in dual-frequency GPS has offered steady tracking even in deeply wooded areas, solid tracking even when swimming, and reliable heart rate tracking while walking, hiking, or running.

And for cycling? The Pace Pro is great. Besides the phenomenal battery life the heart rate tracking is plenty good for most bike rides. Further, the built-in maps help with routing, even on tight trail networks.

PAID ADVERTISEMENT BY ZWIFT
Zwift Smart Frame ($799)

Looking to upgrade your indoor cycling setup? Tackle more miles from your home with the Zwift Smart Frame. Compatible with all Zwift Ready Smart Trainers, this smart bike is easy to set up on your own. Enjoy smooth, virtual shifting and in-game functionality from the integrated handlebars with controllers. And share the bike with other cyclists in your home—the frame is fully adjustable. With Zwift Cog included, it’s everything you need to keep riding all winter long.

Use code VELOZWIFT10 at Zwift.com/shop until December 31, 2024 for a discount on Zwift Ride, Zwift Frame and All Wahoo KICKR CORE variants, with or without bundled membership.

Garmin Edge 1050

Many of these gift suggestions are clever solutions, or things that are a constant need. The Garmin Edge 1050 is a bit different. This is the best cycling computer on the market. It’s not so much a clever solution as it is an unmatched upgrade.

Traditionally cycling computers sacrifice screen quality and processing power to extend battery life. When Garmin brought the Edge 1050 to market this summer, the company changed the conversation. There’s still 20 hours of battery life in normal usage mode, but the screen is big, bright, high-resolution, and responsive. The GPS is highly accurate and the processor can handle rerouting in the middle of a big ride without stuttering. The speaker turns previously annoying beeps into a range of pleasant and useful audio cues and there’s Garmin Pay built in for mid-ride coffee stops.

What’s also nice about Garmin in general is the seamless handoff and training features. Anyone who also has a watch will see no drop in data while moving from watch to head unit during a day of cross-training. The watch data and the head unit data will then come together in Garmin connect for accurate training based on workouts and daily life.

Pedal-Powered Presents: Cycling Gift Ideas for Any Budget