Pick ’n’ Mix

Buy stuff, be happy

1 ASS SAVERS

£8.50, ass-savers.com Quite apart from being an international superhero organisation obsessed with donkeys in peril, Ass Savers is a Swedish-born company that all but invented the lightweight saddle mudguard in 2014. The idea is unchanged – simply bend into shape then clip onto saddle rails – but it has now been refined to fit carbon-railed saddles and better accommodate posterior man bags.

2 ELITE FLY TEAM BOTTLE

£5.99, madison.co.uk When Peter Sagan loses his locks on 21st July (after the joker in polka, Rafa Majka, shaves his head at a post-tour party), he stands to lose 57g in weight, or gain 0.01kmh when riding at 350W on a perfectly still day. Or, he could keep his hair and drop nearly the same weight by using just one of these Fly bottles from Elite, claimed to be the world’s lightest bidons at 54g apiece.

3 SILCA SEAT ROLL PREMIO

£48, saddleback.co.uk It might look a like a cyber-goth’s answer to a home blood pressure monitor, but the Silca Seat Roll is a delight of a saddle bag (well, saddle-mounted tool roll) that secures itself beneath your seat using none other than a Boa dial and the joy of great design. Waxed canvas with reflective stitching, it’ll carry two CO2 cartridges, an inner tube, tyre levers and multitool with little fuss.

4 VULPINE EXTRAFINE MERINO PADDED BOXERS

£55, vulpine.cc Have you ever had a moment when you wanted to ride your bike, but you didn’t want to wear Lycra bibs, and plain old pants under jeans was just not going to cut it? Us neither, but when that time comes – and it will – you’ll wish you had a pair of merino boxer shorts replete with minimalist Elastic Interface seat pad for those casual, comfortable miles. Merino is also anti-microbial, which should make needing to turn your boxers inside out a thing of the past.

5 LITELOK GOLD

£85, litelok.com Litelok Gold – Gold! – always believe in your soul. You’ve got the power to know, you’re (almost) indestructible. Always believe in, because you are Sold Secure Gold. That’s our tribute to this top security-rated bike lock, which its makers claim ‘can withstand over five minutes of sustained attack from common theft tools’, or the equivalent of being played an entire Spandau Ballet album.