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Top Rated Products By Cycling Specialists
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Apr 1, 2025
Cycling Weekly test a lot of road bike cycling tech and a lot of it is really good. Most products made today have very little which makes them bad, but there are some products which we feel are universally loved by all cycling journalists the world over. Sam Gupta has rounded up 8 products which he thinks represent the best of what the cycling industry has to offer us road cyclists. What else would you add to the list?
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There's no doubt cycling tech journalists are a pretty lucky bunch. You get to ride and test
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brand new kit, often in exotic locations. What is not to like? And while you get the occasional
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miss, most of the tech we review is pretty good. It's actually quite hard to make a bad product
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these days. It's just a matter of teasing out the small differences that may matter to us
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and of course you, the viewers. However, there are still products which stand out from the crowd
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being universally loved by cycling journalists the world over. They may not always be the most
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exciting products, but this really is the best of the best. So, let's get into them
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If you've spent time reading reviews from the likes of Cycling Weekly or Cycling News
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or watching them on this very YouTube channel, then you may have heard us mention the law of
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diminishing returns. And by that I mean, basically, the more you spend, the less you get
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This applies to lots of products like wheels, pedals, frame sets, and finishing kit. However
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one of the biggest offenders has to be group sets, which brings me neatly onto the godlike
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Shimano 105. If you're unaware, 105 is Shimano's mid-tier group set. There's two versions above
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and then three that sit below. Crucially though, 105's performance bears a much closer resemblance
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to Shimano's top-tier Ultegra and Dura-Ace group sets, while costing much less. And by less
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I mean a lot less. Prices can vary depending on region and whether you're buying online
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or from a physical store. But a top-spec Dura-Ace Di2 group set will set you back around two and a
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half grand, while mechanical 105 can be found for as little as £500. If you want to spend a little
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bit more, then you can get the electronic 105 Di2 groupset for around £900. Obviously, being so much
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cheaper means 105 will be heavier, less refined, and miss out on some of the bells and whistles of
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Shimano's higher tier group sets. But again, in terms of pure shifting performance, it's pretty
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close, and this newest version looks the part as well. As you can probably tell, I love 105, and I'd
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wager you'll struggle to find a cycling journalist who doesn't. Ask a cycling journalist to recommend you a fast all-round bike tyre and you're likely
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going to get some umming and ahhing before they give you two or three options. Now, those
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options may throw up some curveballs but I bet nearly all of them would recommend the Continental GP5000s the successor to the legendary GP4000 Now the 5000 caused quite a stir when it was
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released back in 2018, and since then it's won many cycling fans over the world. Why, I hear you
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ask? Well, it's not the fastest, the grippiest, the lightest, or the best value, but it does seem
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to offer the best balance of all of those key factors. A kind of jack of all trades, master of
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none for the bike tyre world. Despite being such a fast tyre, we've also found it's got pretty
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decent puncture protection, no doubt thanks to Continental's newly improved Vectrum Breaker
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layer. And for such a popular tyre, Continental have made sure to cover nearly every option that
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you can think of, including tubeless, clincher, wide sizes, thin sizes, and tamels. The list
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really does go on. Not to mention the special variants like the ASTR for all-season riding
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the TTTR for out-and-out speed, and the STR for more all-round road race situations
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So chances are there will be a GP5000 to suit you, no matter how niche your requirements are
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And of course, being so popular means there are some good deals to be had if you shop around
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So, what are you waiting for? Next up on our list is another great value yet high performing product from Shimano
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I am of course talking about its M520 pedals. A quick Google of the M520 pedals will tell you two things
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Number one, they're very affordable retailing for around £28. and number two they're pretty much universally loved with pages of glowing five-star reviews
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from journalists and paying customers alike pros include their ease of maintenance durability
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all-round performance and aforementioned pricing while these pedals are mainly aimed at off-road
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riders we found they suited road riders as well particularly for those who like to be able to walk
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around in their riding shoes, which the recessed cleat on the M520 pedal does allow for. Lastly
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the M520s have legendary mud clearing abilities, and it wasn't uncommon to see pro cyclocross
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racers using them in particularly muddy races. So if this £28 pedal is good enough for the pros
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then chances are it will be more than good enough for us
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There no doubt owning and riding a fancy carbon race bike is one of the true pleasures of cycling What less pleasurable is what you do with said carbon road bike when the weather turns nasty Sure you can keep riding it while keeping on top of the cleaning
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but many of us don't have that kind of time. And as most carbon race bikes don't come with
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mudguard eyelets, finding something to keep you and your bike clean can be tricky. Fortunately
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though, SKS have you covered with their clip-on raceblade mug guards. While clip-on mug guards of
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the past would often just be flimsy and need constant adjustment and be prone to braking
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the raceblades are rock solid and are made of strong, stiff plastic. They're also easy to fit
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and will work on frames with both round and aero tube profiles. It's worth noting they won't offer
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quite as much mud protection as a dedicated eyelet-attached mug guard, with a bit of spray
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usually managing to work its way up your backside, but they will protect your bike
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and surely that is the most important thing. Finally, if you like your tyres wide, then SKS
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has you covered with their XL model, which works with 700c wheels, up to 32mm on the rim
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and disc brake bikes. Sometimes, the best cycling products do their job so well that you hardly
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ever notice them at all and nowhere is this more apparent than with your bottle cages the best
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bottle cages will do exactly as they should namely hold your drink no matter the surface you're
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riding on the worst will fill you with doubt as you never know when you might lose a bottle
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during a ride and if you want the best then i think you can't go wrong with elites they have a
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huge variety to choose from and cater to different budgets you can also choose between carbon metal
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Elite's eco-friendly material and their fiber reinforced material. So again, lots of options
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A quick look online will tell you everything that you need to know with lots of five or nearly
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five-star reviews. When we tested their Vico Carbon Bottle Cage, we found it provided a firm
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rattle-free hold while weighing just 28 grams. Costing only £26 at the time of testing
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it also represents fairly decent value for money, considering it's made out of carbon
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Search online for cycling socks and you will find an almost limitless array of styles
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colours, lengths and thicknesses to choose from. So which do we recommend? Well, if you like your
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socks in either white, black or grey, then you can't go wrong with Raffa's Pro Team Socks
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They been around in some form or another for a long time which goes to show how popular they are with cycling journalists and everyday riders My personal favourite are the standard socks but for
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taller riders, there is an extra long version for that trendy high cuff look. Socks may not be the
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most exciting of products, but these really do the job quite well, keeping your feet cool during
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the summer months and not slipping down your legs during riding. It's worth noting, the Rafa have
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you covered in the colder months as well, as they have a winter version of the Protein Sock. So
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what's not to like? Supercas makes a bold statement on their website, and I quote
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We boldly claim that Super Sticky Kush is the best bar tape ever, and that's backed up by being
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the world's number one selling bar tape. Now, whether or not that's true, well, I don't know
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but what I do know is that it's an incredibly popular product loved by riders the world over
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As you'd expect, it's seriously grippy stuff, even when wet and not wearing gloves
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so you shouldn't need to worry about slipping from the bars. It's also quite thick at 3.2mm
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so will be well suited to riders who value all-day comfort. Thick bar tape can sometimes
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be trickier to wrap, but we found the super sticky kush tape didn't present us with too many issues
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Finally, it's available in a wide variety of colours, so you should be able to find something to match your bike
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Last on our list, but by no means least, is Park Tool's P-Handle Hex Wrench Set
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Now, these hex keys, or allen keys, depending on where you come from
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have the distinction of being loved not only by cycling journalists, but also by bike mechanics
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and they're a familiar sight in workshops the world over. As you'd expect, they're made from super high torque industrial steel
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that will last for years to come. They're also available in all the popular sizes for when it comes to working on your bike
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And there's a small ball head right there on the long side for those hard to reach places
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Lastly, you get a neat wall hanger mount thingy, meaning no more rummaging around in drawers or toolboxes
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so there you have it eight products almost universally loved by cycling journalists
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but do you have any recommendations of your own as always let me know down below
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my my hands aren't in shot here are there you can't see that no good okay right ready
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what a muppet what an absolute muppet
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