8 Ways To Go FASTER On The Bike For Less Than £50

Here are 8 ways you can increase your speed on the bike with each one costing less than £50 or dollars

If your tyres have too much or not enough air inside them

then you will undoubtedly be paying the price with a reduction in speed

A handy little digital pressure gauge like this one is a great tool to ensure your tyres

are inflated to the right pressure for you. Now, you might be wondering, how do I find out what

pressure is right for me? Well, you can jump onto SRAM's tyre pressure calculator to find out

Insert all your metrics, the style of riding you'll be doing, and some information about the

tyres you have fitted to your bike, and it'll spit out an ideal figure for both your front

and rear wheels. Once you know these numbers, you can then check your wheels are inflated to

those numbers quickly and easily using either a digital pressure gauge or just by using your track

pump. Riding at the right pressure will mean you'll find the right balance between comfort

grip and the lowest possible amount of rolling resistance. Some tyres are mega money, others not so much. If you have a bike that costs around £2,000 or less

then it's likely that the tyres on your bike might be fairly entry-level

so it could be worth looking at some mid-tier options that will still unlock some decent benefits

In fact, we actually made a video testing some of the most popular better-value tyres

which I'll even link to over in the corner of the screen, so be sure to check that out

Do also bear in mind that you can often find tyre combo deals from various retailers

or you can just find them heavily discounted. Since we are talking about increasing speed here opt for the widest tyres your bike can accept Being more comfortable and experiencing less rider fatigue can result in more speed and having better grip may mean you brake less frequently But also

thanks to some brilliant testing from our sister site, Cycling News, we know that wider tyres offer

less rolling resistance when run at the correct pressure. Most road bikes from the manufacturer

come with handlebars which are generally either 40 or 42 centimeters wide. We know from doing our

own testing in the wind tunnel that narrower bars are faster and it's not by a small amount. There's

a decent number of watts to be saved. We also know that for most people the handlebars that come on

your bike as standard are likely too wide for you. It's not uncommon for bike fitters to drop you

down a size. So if you're after more speed and you've got the flexibility for it, then consider

going narrower. If you don't go down to some of the super narrow examples that we've seen hitting

the market, then it will be unlikely that you'll see any drop in handling quality. Just instead

more speed. Of course, there are a lot of very expensive handlebars out there, but equally

you can find some great value options that'll still do a great job. After all, 38cm is the

same measurement whether the bars are £1,000 or £30. Another way to unlock some speed, albeit a

slightly more marginal form of it, is to make your drivetrain as smooth as possible. I am, of course

talking about waxing your chain. There's plenty of methods out there, but one simple way can be

achieve with Silka's Hot Wax Chain Melt. You just clean your chain so that it's completely stripped

back of any contaminants drop the bag into some hot water so that the wax melts and then drop your chain in That pretty much it Chain waxing claims to offer a smoother drivetrain less chance of oily marks on your legs and socks fewer applications needed compared to generic

lube, and an overall cleaner looking drivetrain. Certainly one to consider. It's a well-known fact that the rider is accountable for the vast majority of the

aerodynamic drag compared to the bike, which makes up a smaller minority. It's for this reason why

narrower bars offer such a good way to increase speed, because they allow you to get into a more

aerodynamic position. While narrow handlebars are great for reducing drag, as already explained

it's worth remembering that baggy fitting clothing can act as a parachute when you're riding. So

consider grabbing yourself a tighter fitting race fit jersey, which reduces this parachuting

effect as much as possible. Depending on how loose your current riding gear is, the move to tighter

fitting clothing could see you net a great improvement in speed. The jersey you go for

doesn't need to be a super expensive jersey from a swanky brand, but instead something that fits

well, is comfortable and leaves minimal wrinkles will get you on the road to some cheap speed gains

Sticking with clothing for one more, but certainly more in the marginal gains category

are aero socks. These do of course count as operating within our £50 limit. However

a pair of socks costing more than £15, in my opinion, is quite an extravagant purchase

However, for the sake of speed, I'll do it. You can get these at quite a lot of different

retailers. These ones are from Gobic and follow a similar recipe to most others on the market

They have a soft cotton lower sock for the foot and then a textured collar with silicone grippers The idea is that when your legs are moving and creating a lot of turbulent air the Aero socks should offer a golf ball effect

and help reduce some of the resistance. It's going to be near impossible to measure without

a wind tunnel, but if the theory is good for the likes of Matty of Vanderpoel, then it's good enough

for me. Sometimes we as cyclists can forget there are plenty of gains to be had away from the bike

and instead found in the kitchen. Grab yourself a decent cookbook like this one from Alan Murchison

a Michelin-starred chef turned pro cycling nutritionist. Putting the best food into your

body is going to play a crucial role to ensuring you are fuelled correctly for your upcoming rides

and of course, we'll give you some great recipes for on-the-bike snacks too

The structured meal plans and advice around what to eat ahead of certain types of sessions

are invaluable. So for the sake of 15 or 20 pounds, following this advice will likely get

you closer to your speed and fitness goals than anything else on this list

a once famous coach said you can't over train but you can under rest this speed gain is completely

free but potentially one of the most important training and training and training will only get

you so far you'll eventually hit a plateau in your gains if you aren't allowing your body

the time to absorb all of that training and rebuild the muscles to be stronger

An old coach of mine used to run my training blocks in four-week chunks, with every last week in the block being dedicated to resting and easy rides

It worked brilliantly well. So let us know, what are your cheap speed gains