New Year’s resolutions seldom stick, especially gym memberships. Invest in cycle-to-work essentials instead for a healthier and wealthier 2024

Every January there’s a spike in gym memberships as people resolve to get fit. Within months, however, many of new members will have quit. You have to make time for the gym and it’s hard work when you’re there, so it takes a lot of motivation to keep going. It’s also expensive, costing an average of £40 per month.

That’s £480 per year… for how many visits? You could buy a bike and some equipment for that and use it every day. If you got your bike and equipment through Cyclescheme, saving at least 23% on RRP, you’d be able to spend £640 or more for the same cost to you as your £480 gym membership.

Cycling to work doesn’t burn as many calories per hour as most gym sessions, typically around 300. But it’s much easier to integrate into your day because you’re combing exercise with something you do anyway: getting to work. That enables you to spend more time on your bike than in the gym, which will have a bigger effect on your health and fitness overall.

The more often you ride to work, the bigger the benefits. So let’s look at what your monthly gym fee could buy to improve your cycle commute and help keep you riding. We’ve suggested items for each month but you could simply buy everything in one go, which would be more straightforward if you’re using Cyclescheme.

It’s not a completely fair comparison with a £40 monthly gym membership. When you factor in Cyclescheme savings, that £40 is closer to £53 (or more). Additionally, cycling to work saves you money compared to other forms of transport. But it does show how far £40 a month will go in terms of equipping you for the journey to work. This list assumes you already have a bike and, if you use one, a helmet.

January

If your bike is stolen you can’t use it, so a decent lock tops the list of essential equipment. Buy one that’s rated at least Sold Secure Silver; Gold or Diamond is better for high crime areas or higher value bikes. The Abus Ultra 410 and Cable (RRP £39.99) is Silver rated and comes with a cable that you can use to lock a helmet or front wheel. The shorter-shackle version (140mm) is harder for thieves to attack.

Abus Ultra 410 and cable

February

Mudguards next. Maybe your bike came with them; probably it didn’t. Mudguards make riding in the rain – and on wet roads when it’s not raining – much less unpleasant. Inclement weather no longer means spraying your bum, back, feet and face with cold, dirty water. Buy the best coverage guards that will fit your bike. The SKS Bluemels Basic Mudguard Set (RRP £42) is available for lots of wheel and tyre sizes.

SKS Bluemels Mudguards

March

Coats for everyday use tend to have too much insulation and the wrong cut for cycling, flapping about and leaving the neck, wrists and lower back exposed. A cycling jacket – make sure it’s described as waterproof, not merely showerproof – will keep off the rain and wind without boiling you. The Btwin 100 Waterproof Urban Cycling Jacket (RRP £29.99) is nice and bright, has a cycling cut, and comes with vents under the arms to prevent overheating. Weighing just 300g, it’s easy to stash in your bag when not needed.

Btwin 100 Waterproof Jacket

April

If you’re not sure how to replace an innertube, a puncture will keep your bike off the road until you can take it to the shop. Puncture resistant tyres are useful for any commuter but invaluable for those who aren’t mechanically inclined. The Continental Contact Plus (RRP £39.95) has a layer of springy rubber under the tread that will shrug off flints, shards of glass, or drawing-pin-sized thorns. If you can afford only one new tyre, fit it to the rear wheel. Rear tyres tend to suffer more punctures because they bear more of your weight, and it’s harder to remove and refit a rear wheel than a front one. 

Continetal Contact Plus

May

The warmer the weather becomes, the sweatier you’ll get with a bag on your back. It’s cooler and more comfortable to carry luggage on the bike. A pannier rack is the most versatile solution, as it will take one or two bags and loads of around 20kg. The M Part AX3 non-disc rear rack (RRP £39.99) is triangulated for strength and will carry even more. Despite the name, it will work with disc brake bikes where the calliper doesn’t protrude to much and is attached to the chainstay instead of the seatstay. There is a disc brake version of the rack for an extra fiver.

M Park Rack

June

You can strap other bags to the top of a rack but a pannier or two will be more secure and more convenient. For commuting, one medium-to-large pannier or two small ones will provide plenty of space. Whichever you pick, make sure the pannier is waterproof; it’s less hassle than using a rain cover. The Oxford Aqua V2 Single QR Pannier Bag (RRP £44.99) is an inexpensive 20-litre pannier made from tough, waterproof PVC tarpaulin. Two small panniers will cost more. A pair of Carradice CarraDry Front Panniers is £65 (RRP).

Oxford Aqua Pannier

July

Padded cycling shorts aren’t essential for short-distance commuting, as any rush-hour photo of Amsterdam with confirm. They can help prevent chafing and aches and pains, however, especially if you’re riding further – which you’re likely to do in summer. Try for fit and pad design before buying if possible. Like saddles, different shorts suit different bottoms. The Altura Progel Waist Shorts (RRP £40), available in men’s and women’s versions, are good shorts that aren’t too expensive. You can wear them under baggy shorts or tracksuit bottoms if you do’t fancy the lycra look.

Altura Progel Waist Shorts

August

Sunglasses keep wind, fine debris and insects out of your eyes as well as sunlight.  Ordinary sunglasses work okay but cycling ones have more wraparound lenses and arms that grip your head better so that they don’t fall off. Yellow or orange lenses work better than dark tints for typical UK lighting conditions, even in summer. The Endura Hummvee Glasses (RRP £43.99) have all the features you need, including UV protection, and look fine off the bike as well as on.

Endura Hummvee Glasses

September

Even if you’re lucky enough to avoid punctures, you’ll need a bike pump to top up your bike’s tyres with air now and again. Like balloons, bike tyres slowly deflate. Valves aren’t perfect and innertubes aren’t completely impermeable. Pumping up tyres is much easier with a floor pump than a hand pump, and it’s more accurate as the floor pump will have a pressure gauge. The Topeak JoeBlow Max II (RRP  £37.99) is a good value pump that’s suitable for both presta and schrader valves. Like most floor pumps, it’s for home use rather than at the roadside.

Topeak JoeBlow

October

The clocks go back in October. Shorter days will demand lights for the journey home from work, and perhaps eventually for the trip to work. The lights you need will depend on where you’re riding. If you only ride in urban areas with streetlights, the primary role of your lights is to make you visible to other road users; you won’t need a beam of light to see where you’re going. The CatEye AMPP100/ViZ100 Bike Light Set (RRP £39.99) is a pair of USB-rechargeable lights with long runtimes and good visibility from the sides, not just front and rear.

CatEye Lights

November

While you generate a lot of heat on a bike, little of that reaches the extremities, especially your hands. Gloves are a winter essential. For cycling they need to keep your hands warm even when it’s wet, a hurdle that everyday woolly gloves fall at. The Endura FS260 Pro Nemo Glove II (RRP £34.99) – you do get a pair – is made from neoprene, like wetsuits, and insulates when wet. As a bonus, the gloves are bright yellow, making your hand signals easily visible. After hands, your ears are the next most vulnerable extremity. Look for a stretchy ‘buff’, snood or ‘multi-tube’, which you can wear under a helmet. At time of writing you could pick up a dhb Original Buff for a fiver.

Endura Nemo Glove

December

Bike maintenance is an optional skill for cycle commuters. There’s always the bike shop. Yet unless your bike has a belt drive, there’s one job you’ll have to do to keep it running smoothly: oil the chain. Just dumping oil on isn’t enough, especially in winter when the drivetrain could be coated with grime or salty slush from gritted roads. So you’ll also need to do some cleaning. You can buy the cleaning and lubrication items you need separately. It’s simpler to start with a kit such as the Muc-Off Family Bike Care Kit (RRP £35). 

Muc-Off Family Bike Kit