Giant Cima mitts

I haven't written a kit review for ages, mostly because I buy the majority of my bits and bobs secondhand. However, I was in the market for a pair of mitts for commuting, now the weather has turned warmer, and ended up plumping for these Giant Cima short-fingered gloves. So what are they like?

I chose these because I want decent padding, but don't want gel pads. In my experience, they compress and become less effective over time. Your mileage may vary, but they're not for me; I prefer an old-school pad. I've also been spoiled in recent years, using excellent DHB Aeron mitts for all my serious rides. So I expect a lot from a glove.

Mostly, these Giant mitts deliver. They feel very well made, stitching is tidy, and the materials, especially the sweat-wipe thumb, have a quality feel. The all-important padding is firm but comfortable and, for me at least, in exactly the right places. Even the price - £14.99 plus P&P at the time of writing - feels alright for a branded product. And although they do an all-black variant, I went against type and bought the black and white colourway shown, complete with reflective branding across the knuckles. Can't hurt to be better seen, right? So why only four stars?

It's the sizing. I have always worn a Large in cycling gloves and, after consulting the Giant size chart, saw no reason to change that. These, though, are ironically not giant. In fact, they may be the tightest Large mitts I have ever tried. They are just wearable enough for me not to return them, but they are very hard to get off, being so tight. In fact, I had to roll them off this morning, so that they ended up inside-out. This wasn't helped by a complete absence of any pull-tabs to help remove the gloves, which seems like quite a basic oversight these days.

TLDR: these are good quality, nice looking gloves at a fair price, but size up! Consult the chart, then order one size up from whatever that says. And if you have ham-hands, maybe look elsewhere... ★★★★☆

BUY: Cima mitts, currently £14.99 from Giant

Full disclosure: I bought these with my own money. If anyone wants to give me kit in exchange for an honest review, I'm open to that, but unless I explicitly say otherwise everything I review on here will be sourced and paid for by yours truly.

"I can see clearly now the rain has gone...."

"...I can see all lobster-claws in my way..."

That is how the song goes, right?

All of which terrible punning serves only to introduce the fact that I bought myself a pair of lobster-claw cycling gloves back in the autumn, thinking I wanted warmer hands when winter came calling. After much open-mouthed gawping at the cost of such gloves from established brands, these are what I ended up getting:

No, I wasn't especially familiar with VeloChampion as a brand either. But these were being sold as new on eBay for a tenner. I took a chance.

And you know what? They're excellent, probably the toastiest cycling gloves I've ever had. The claw design, allowing your fingers to keep each other warm, has been a real boon. In fact, it has taken until this week's sub-zero temperatures for me to get even slightly chilly hands cycling - that's how good these have been. Very comfy too, with well-placed padding. And although they were not advertised or sold as being waterproof, I've completed 25-minute rides in steady rain and emerged with bone-dry hands too. Your mileage may vary in a downpour, but I can only speak for my own experience so far.

Downsides? Well, the glossy black stripe on the back isn't really to my taste, but even that isn't gaudy or bling, is it? That said, the gloves could use some reflective details for these dark winter nights. Oh, and if the cuffs went 5 or 10 millimetres further up my sleeve, I wouldn't complain. But these are minor niggles, for what are properly good gloves and, at the secondhand price I paid for them, an absolute steal.

TLDR: warm, comfortable and even showerproof, these lobster claw gloves are terrific. ★★★★☆

BUY: seems that these are no longer available from VeloChampion, but you might be lucky and find some on eBay like me.

Full disclosure: I bought these with my own money. If anyone wants to give me kit in exchange for an honest review, I'm open to that, but unless I explicitly say otherwise everything I review on here will be sourced and paid for by yours truly.

The Tyre Glider: is it really a game-changer?

If, like me, you watch cycling videos on YouTube, you might have seen reviews like this for the Tyre Glider, making great claims about how it is a game-changer and that you can say goodbye to tyre levers. I mean, that sounds great, doesn't it? Who wouldn't take a punt on that for a tenner?

Well, it's £13 actually, once you add the postage, but that's still a decent price if the claims are true. So, first impressions - it's an interesting looking thing, not immediately or intuitively obvious regarding how to use it for tyre off/on modes, but easy enough to understand once you watch their instructional video. And at only 23g, it's not going to weigh you down either. So, great in theory ... how about in practice?

As "luck" would have it, I've just had my first puncture of the year, so at last I had a chance to try out my new toy. For context, the punctured tyre was on a Prime Baroudeur SE wheel, shod with a 25mm Continental Gatorskin tyre. Now the Baroudeur is 26mm deep, which is not insignificant for a lightweight alloy clincher, and has a 19mm internal rim. As for the Gatorskin, well ... it's a Gatorskin. Not the most pliant or forgiving, I think it's fair to say. Basically, I was setting the Tyre Glider a fair challenge.

And it fell at the first hurdle. Whilst I could get the Glider seated under the Gatorskin, I just couldn't get it moving enough to remove the tyre. Sure, I could have applied a dab of washing-up liquid here and there, to help, but I'm not always going to be doing this in my kitchen, like today, am I? And maybe I could have pushed harder, or for longer, but I already pushed hard and long enough to make my hand sore (though this wouldn't have been a problem if I'd had cycling gloves on). Anyway, the simple fact is that I could get the Tyre Glider in place but couldn't use it to get the tyre off. Instead, I had to dig out a trusty conventional tyre lever to give me an extra point of leverage - only then could I get the Tyre Glider moving, at which point - hooray - the tyre came off nicely. But not a great start.

So, I was prepared to be underwhelmed when it came to putting the tyre back on - after all, I've always found that the harder job, especially with this wheel/tyre combo. But after getting the Tyre Glider seated on the wheel rim correctly (it took two tries, but wasn't difficult), blimey - I have never refitted a tyre so easily before. Ever. Even that last little bit, you know, the last eight inches that doesn't want to pop back on the rim: just hold the wheel between your legs, position it so that you're pushing down on the Glider (as opposed to sideways), and voilà! On it popped. And without recourse to tyre levers, sweating and swearing, or sore thumbs. Brilliant!

TLDR: a decent addition to your saddle-bag that is a game-changer when it comes to reseating your tyre, but you'd be unwise to discard your tyre levers just yet, in my view. ★★★★☆

BUY: Tyre Glider, currently £9.99 (+ £2.99 P&P) from Tyre Glider

Full disclosure: I bought this with my own money. If anyone wants to give me kit in exchange for an honest review, I'm open to that, but unless I explicitly say otherwise everything I review on here will be sourced and paid for by yours truly.

Aftershokz Trekz Titanium headphones

I know there are cycling clubs, with lots of members, and that they do club rides - who hasn't seen a group of cyclists barrelling down the road together, in amiable, social conversation? Except I'm not like that, really. I tried a cycle club ride once - nobody spoke to me from the moment I arrived at the RVP to the moment I went home. Besides, I'm an introvert. Most of my cycling is done alone.

No, it's fine, really, that suits me down to the ground ... except it can be a bit quiet occasionally. Sometimes I'm quite happy to drink in the sounds of the surrounding countryside, especially recently as lockdown has seemed to turn the man-made volume down and the natural volume up. Sometimes ... but not all the time. So how to listen to something - music, podcast, audiobook - safely on the road? Doesn't matter how clearly you can hear the ringing chimes of Johnny Marr's Fender Jaguar if you can't hear the Transit van bearing down on you from behind!

Fortunately, this is exactly the dilemma that the subject of today's review aims to solve, for Aftershokz make bone conduction headphones, the ear-pieces of which sit in front of your ears rather than on them. Sound is, as the name suggests, conducted through your cheekbones, leaving your ear canals free to hear traffic noise. I've just treated myself to a pair of their Trekz Titanium headphones, at some expense, so I'm pleased to be able to report that they work brilliantly.

First off, forget the fancy conduction stuff - at the most basic level, this is a Bluetooth headset. I'm happy to tell you that it is, hands-down, the best Bluetooth headset I have ever had. Easy connectivity and no dropped connections, even on the move, something I can't honestly say for any other Bluetooth headset I've tried. Using them for making and receiving calls is clear and reliable too, with dual noise-cancelling microphones. Ease of use is another big win - there are only three multi-function buttons in total, all of which are easy and unambiguous to find, and all of which work intuitively, and in a pleasingly context-sensitive manner.

So they work well as a set of Bluetooth headphones (very well, in fact). But what of their USP, the bone conduction? Well, it probably says something about me (pessimist... sceptic... cynic... all the above) that I was expecting to be underwhelmed, but far from it, I am mightily impressed. Sound quality is good, with plenty of depth to the low end and detail at the top, without being tinny. Full, and well-balanced, in other words. I don't know what the frequency range is (doesn't say in the packaging or on their website) but whilst I'm guessing it isn't 20Hz - 20kHz, it probably isn't far off. I'm also impressed at how well the sound translates into my head - this conduction malarkey really works. If I was to quibble, I'd say that maybe the stereo imagery isn't quite as pronounced as it would be through conventional headphones, but that's probably just me betraying my audiophile past. It's unlikely to be a problem in 99% of use, and definitely isn't when you're out on the road, with the background noise of your bike and other traffic being heard conventionally at the same time.

What else can I tell you? It charges quickly (two hours or so), the battery lasts for around six hours, and the headphones themselves only weigh 36g, in part thanks to having a titanium head-band (hence the name). Oh, and they're IP55-rated (sweatproof) - when I get caught out in the rain, we'll find out how much better they are than that too. Oh, and they even make a "Mini" version, for people with small heads! Is it possible they've thought of everything?

Any minor quibbles? Well, it takes a bit of fiddling to get them comfy under the straps of a helmet, a problem compounded, I suspect, by the arms of my glasses. But when I say a bit of fiddling, I'm talking about five seconds or less, so ... no drama.

Oh, and these are the bottom of the Aftershokz range (not cheap, with an RRP of £69.95) but really, why pay more? Maybe if you're a pro, you might need IP67 or IP68, you might need Bluetooth 5 rather than 4.1, you might need eight hour battery life or to shave a few grams off the weight of your headphones, but otherwise ... I'll say it again, why pay more?

TLDR: well-made, high-quality Bluetooth headset with the added attraction of bone conduction, so you can listen to your favourite tunes and still hear the traffic around you; this cyclist could not fault them, and is very pleasantly surprised. ★★★★★

Buy: Aftershokz Trekz Titanium, currently £69 from Amazon (but top tip - at the time of writing, these are reduced to £50 in larger branches of Sainsbury's, so what are you waiting for?)

B'TWIN 900 Urban waterproof overtrousers

Proper cyclists, the hardcore racers, sportive-chasers and MAMILs, don't wear overtrousers. They wear some sort of Lycra concoction and dry it when they get wherever it is they're going. Now I have been known to have a Lycra moment or two, and that will increase over the next eight months, but historically most of my mileage has been clocked up commuting. And since my journey to work is only around five miles each way, there seems little point in donning sports wear for it. Of course the trouble with cycling to work in your work clothes is that sometimes it rains...

I got sick and tried of drying out in the office, as you can imagine. Lining your desk chair with paper towels before you can sit down gets old pretty quickly. So this winter, I bit the bullet and invested in some waterproof overtrousers.

I researched the options, of course. And before I go any further, I should make a point that applies to just about all cycle clothing out there - yes, there are cheap, unbranded versions (or unheard-of brands) of everything you need on eBay, imported from some far-flung sweatshop, resplendent in their polyester glory. But caveat emptor - nearly all of it's crap. I love a bargain, who doesn't? But if you're relying on a piece of clothing to keep you warm or dry or windproof, best not to look at something that's coming from Shanghai for £7.

That said, there are relative bargains to be had. Take these range-topping overtrousers, from B'TWIN, currently available for £24.99. Yes, there are cheaper models, but these are so well thought out, and well made. From the top, these have an elasticated waistband, popper fastening and velcro fly - they're easy to get on, in other words. Then, have have pocket openings! I can't overstate how important this is. Not actual pockets, but pocket openings, so you can get to your actual trouser pockets underneath; you can get to your bike lock keys and money easily, without having to take the overtrousers off. And these are zippered openings - so many cheaper overtrousers just have slits for accessing pockets, completely ignoring the fact that the purpose of overtrousers is to keep you dry, and a gaping pocket slit just lets water in...

The side of the lower leg is zippered too, making it easy to put the overtrousers on when you've got shoes on. And the backs of the lower legs are bright yellow - a nice safety feature, as is the clip on each lower leg allowing you to attach small lights for added visibility. And finally, the legs end in elastic under-shoe straps to keep the trousers from riding up and - brilliantly - waterproof caps to keep the worst off your shoes too.

Finally, the whole lot folds up into its own back pocket, which is again that hi-viz, fluorescent yellow/green colour, and has integrated velcro straps so that you can tie it onto something (your frame, for example) if you've run out of pockets and bag space. Yes ,they really have thought of everything.

I haven't been out in a torrential downpour, but I've been out in some pretty heavy, persistent rain, and these have done their job brilliantly. The Decathlon website (for B'TWIN is Decathlon's house brand) states a very modest hydrostatic head of 2,000mm for these overtrousers, but also claims they are tested by simulating "an average downpour": 60 litres of water per square metre per hour for 2 hours. All I can tell you is I have yet to get wet, and that includes around all the seams and zips. And whilst the trade-off for good waterproofing is usually poor breathability, these are pretty good, with a stated RET value of 12. So when I say I have yet to get wet, I'm including my own sweat in that.

TLDR: these are well-priced, well-made and brilliantly designed overtrousers, ideal for commuting through rotten weather. It's rare that I lavish praise, but these are terrific. ★★★★★

BUY: B'TWIN 900 Urban waterproof overtrousers, currently £24.99 from Decathlon

Full disclosure: I bought these with my own money. If anyone wants to give me kit in exchange for an honest review, I'm open to that, but unless I explicitly say otherwise everything I review on here will be sourced and paid for by yours truly.