Pick ’n’ Mix

Retail therapy for those January blues

1 PROLOGO AKERO T2.0 SADDLE

£64.99, chickencyclekit.co.uk Thought-controlled air-freshener? It makes scents when you think about it. And a wide, stubby-nosed saddle with mountain bike roots? That makes all kinds of sense for gravel. It’s why the Prologo Akero is short, to allow forward rotation of the pelvis for a low descending position, and wide and flat to permit easy shifts in weight. Whatever will they think of next?

2 BROOKS SCAPE HANDLEBAR POUCH

£60, extrauk.co.uk

If we ever find out the name of the surgeon who messed up our limb transplants we’ll kill them with our bear hands. But if we ever meet the person who designed the Brooks Scape bag we’ll give them a bear hug, because this little fella is made from thermo-bonded waterproof material, has universal fitting straps and just works.

3 FORAGER CYCLES CABLE CHERRIES

€20.38 (approx £16), wizard.works In a 2016 interview the Brownlee brothers remarked, ‘Sharks can swim faster than us but we can run faster than sharks, so it would all come down to who is the better cyclist.’ That’s the kind of simple logic we can really get behind. Likewise Cable Cherries are the kind of simple design we can really embrace – anodised alloy nubbins that attach to the ends of cables using grub screws, spelling an end to single-use, easily lost nipples.

4 NEATCLEATS ALIGN+

£47.99, neatcleats.cc

Anyone know where we can find a companion? Asking for a friend. For a while there were similar questions over how to realign cleats, but then came Neatcleats’ updated Align+. Clip shoes into the frame, slide in the ruler and note down the measurements, then repeat the process to line up new cleats. It also doubles as a hanging device, great for drying shoes near, but not on, radiators. Because the paint will peel!

5 WERA WER004173 L-KEY HEX/TORX SET

£44.06, www-uk.wera.de Abcdefghijkmnopqrstuvwxyz. Looks tricky but it’s pronounced ‘Noel’. And WER004173… OK, annoyingly that’s exactly how you have to say it, but German brand Wera makes so many tools it needs such contrived nomenclature. Of those tools these should be top of your list: a colour-coded set of ball-ended wrenches with seven hex keys plus T10 and T25 torx.