Cycling 101: Here’s an Expert-Approved List for Everything You’ll Need

Many people now recommend starting children off on balance bikes (with no pedals), instead of training wheels, before moving on to a regular two-wheeler. But not every kid likes this method.

With a Guardian bicycle, you can convert it into a balance bike or use training wheels (for $39 extra). That’s just one of the reasons we’re recommending it as your child’s first bicycle. We also like that it uses a single hand brake designed to prevent flipping on fast stops. Plus, it has quality components for an affordable price.

Simone Scully, our editorial director, appreciated that the Guardian website made it easy to figure out which size to get for her son, based on his age and height. “The company advertised that it would only take five minutes to set up, and they weren't wrong. The instructions were very easy to follow, and the bike had helpful markers to help you feel confident in how you were setting it up,” she says.

Even though it’s a steel bike, it’s not heavy like some cheaper models are, Scully says. It has aesthetic appeal, too: “You can also customize the bike further with fun accessories, including a matching bell, a colorful seat clamp, colorful grips, wheel hub lights, a water bottle and holder, streamers, and even a matching helmet — all little extras that my son really, really liked,” she says.

Sanders teaches beginners on this nine-speed, hybrid, aluminum bicycle with hydraulic disc brakes. It comes at a reasonable price from a much-respected brand. Sanders calls it a middle-of-the-road bike, which is exactly what you need if you’re not committed to serious racing or off-road biking.

“You can get more comfortable with shifting, turning, and your distances,” she says. And this model is easy to customize as you get more comfortable and figure out what you need. “You can upgrade it, too. You can change the type of tire that's on it to a thinner, smoother tire, so the bike will go faster. 
[Or] you can change the tires to make it more rugged, so that it can go on gravel or dirt.”

Another advantage to buying a bike from a popular brand like this is that parts are easy to get, and bike mechanics should be familiar with how to fix it.

Writer Raki Swanson tested this bike for us, and she raved about it being well-balanced.  Shifting between its 12 gears is easy, she says. And the aluminum frame and carbon fork make it lightweight. The bike also features hydraulic disc brakes.

You can opt for mountain bike tires and a suspension fork if you think you’ll want to take it off-road. If you’re more likely to use it to commute or go shopping, you’ll also appreciate that it’s already built with mounts (bolts for attaching things) for a front or rear rack, a tube bag, and three water bottles.

“This is so darn easy to ride. It is so smooth, like a hot knife through butter,” says Swanson. “I'm not sure if I just had stupid bikes before, but this is a fast bike. I do see this bike handling all conditions and lasting for a long time.”

The experts we spoke to were reluctant to recommend any one road bike for this article. “There are too many variables,” says Sanders. It would be kind of like picking a single “best car” for everyone. If you’re ready to ride seriously on the road, you’ll have to shop around and choose the right number of gears, the right type of brakes, the size of frame, the type of pedals, the frame material, the type of tire, and so on.

We selected this Specialized Allez as the most basic road model available from the brand. It’s got an alloy frame and a carbon fork. It comes with eight speeds and mechanical disc brakes, and it’s available in seven sizes.

A cruiser might be the bike for you if you live in a very flat area and plan to take short rides to the beach, parks, or nearby stores. Cruisers are heavy, but they're super-easy to ride. Plus, they always look cute.

Scully tested the Priority Coast, and she liked that it’s rust-resistant and comfortable. “These aren't bikes meant for serious cyclers, but they are good for people who want to take leisurely rides,” she says.

Bern helmets feature the brand’s own safety technology, DVRT, which does the same thing as Mips technology. It diverts the rotational force of an impact with an extra layer of padding.

My son has the older Bern version and has loved using it for years. In practical terms, we both like the baseball cap–like visor, since it’s hard to get him to wear sunglasses all the time. The dial also makes it easy to adjust as he grows.

I will add that this isn’t as well-ventilated as a lot of other bike helmets. But my kid doesn’t mind because he thinks it looks cool, and there’s a lot of surface area for stickers. There’s also a winter liner available for riding when it’s cold outside. (The Nino and Nina are the same helmet, but for some reason Bern decided that there are “girl” colors and “boy” colors.)

This helmet has one of the best impact ratings from the Virginia Tech Helmet Lab. It uses Mips Air Node, a version of Mips that’s especially for lightweight ventilated helmets. And this is a very well-ventilated helmet, made for long trail rides. Ventilation slots in bike helmets “allow you to be able to go longer without overheating,” Sanders says.

I’m not a mountain-bike rider, but I like using mountain bike helmets. They have more coverage and often include visors or “peaks” that are great for blocking that gap of sunlight that can otherwise sneak between your helmet and your sunglasses. This peak is designed to snap off in a crash, which will protect your neck.

This is the only bike helmet under $150 to show up in the top 10 of Virginia Tech’s impact rankings, and its price has astonished many a bike blogger. But all of the experts I spoke to said that more-expensive helmets are rarely safer than the budget-friendly ones.

“I don't think that the expensive [helmets] versus the cheap ones matter,” Aylyarov says. “The more-important thing is that you're reliably and consistently wearing a good-fitting helmet.”

I’m also interested in this helmet because it comes with an integrated rear light and a UV-protective photochromic visor that changes as the light does.

You’ll need varying brightness of lights depending on whether you’ll be riding at dawn or dusk, on a well-lit city street, or on a dark country road. “If you're going to be away from the city, where the only source of light on the road is you, then you need serious, serious light,” Weissman says.

Riders love this micro USB–rechargeable headlight from NiteRider, because it can switch between any of those conditions with five levels, going up to an extremely bright 1,200 lumens. You’ll probably want to keep it a little dimmer than that, though. At its lowest setting (150 lumens), it will last up to seven hours between charges. I like that it comes with a tail light that has two levels and can pulse-flash, fast-flash, or hold steady.

You don’t need anything fancy as long as it attaches securely in a place you can reach. Electra bells are also nice and loud without being obnoxious.

Sanders recommends Tifosi glasses first because of the brand’s reasonable pricing, which makes it less devastating if you lose or drop your pair. What sets multi-sport glasses like these apart from a regular pair is that they’re wider around your face, giving you better peripheral (side) vision. These glasses also can come with three interchangeable lenses, including clear, for different light conditions.

“There are times when you still want to wear glasses, but what if it's raining out or it’s overcast and gray? I don't want to wear amber sunglasses, but I still want my eyes protected,” says Sanders.

No one loves how padded bike shorts make you look just a little bit like you’re wearing a diaper. But bike anywhere for longer than an hour, and you’ll realize why these exist.

Pearl iZumi has been making bike gear for 75 years, and I have pairs of its bike shorts that I’ve owned for about 20 of those. If you’re just getting started on longer-distance rides, try out an inexpensive pair like these and see how much you like them. You may want to upgrade to something fancier later, but these could do just fine. (The brand’s men’s version is slightly pricier, but still reasonable.)

You can wear just about any shorts over these liners. Writer Jessica Migala tested the Backcountry Slickrock 7-Inch Bike Shorts recently, and she liked that they’re “quick-drying shorts, have an adjustable waistband, are made of fabric that keeps you cool, and have plenty of thigh room.”

“I see a lot of hand injuries from falling off a bike,” says Katrikh. He suggests that riders find “a glove that's comfortable, that you're still mobile and able to use your fingers [with], but covers your skin to prevent road rash injuries to the hand but also bony injuries and fractures, too.”

In addition to padding from gel and foam on the palms of gloves like these from Giro, they’re also covered in synthetic suede. This creates a durable grip that helps you stay on the bike.

Sanders also recommends wearing gloves because the padding protects you from fatigue on a long, bumpy ride. And if your hands sweat as much as mine do, you’ll appreciate that these gloves are lined with moisture-wicking polyester and spandex on the palms and have a breathable mesh nylon-spandex blend on the outsides of the hands. The sizing ranges from small to XX-large, so they should fit most men and women.

I used to think bike jerseys were a necessary practicality that would never actually be stylish, until I saw this one from Rapha. The sleek design and single stripe on the arm just looks cool. It is also cooling, with breathable, moisture-wicking fabric made from 100-percent recycled polyester. It has a full-zip and the three pockets in the back that are signature to every bike jersey.

“Many road cyclists won't even consider wearing anything else [but a bike jersey]” because other items don't have the pockets, says Weissman. And road cyclists “have organized all their gear around having those pockets in the back.”

This jersey is also available in men’s sizes, too.

Back in the day, I either had to memorize the best bike route to a destination or constantly stop and take out a giant map that showed me where the bike lanes and least-dangerous roads were.

Now, Google Maps can get me most places easily, and I can have the app announce turns in my headphones while my phone sits in my bag. But having a map in front of me is much more efficient.

This mount doesn’t need tools for installation, which means I can change its position on my handlebars and switch it between bicycles. The 360-degree option is useful, too — not for watching movies, but so that you can attach it to the handlebars or to the stem, depending on which place is more secure and convenient to reach. 

Another plus is that you don’t need to remove your phone's case for it to fit between the spring-loaded clamp. And unlike some phone mounts that use webbing to secure the phone, none of the screen is obscured. I’ve ridden with this a few times so far. Once I figured out the best placement and how tight to make the strap, it kept my phone steady. I haven’t had to worry that the wrong bump would send it flying into traffic.

“Every seat that comes with the bike initially, they're terrible,” Sanders says. You can wait and see for yourself before you make this simple upgrade to your own bike. You can even ask friends to let you try out their seats before you commit to a new one, she says.

But you can also pick up a saddle from Terry, the brand Sanders most often recommends to women. “It's created by a woman, and it's got a big hole in the middle, so your girlfriend gets protected,” she says.

The Cite X is for “recreational” riders who sit upright on their bikes. But there are many other options for different types of riding, as well as options for men.

Some other accessories you may want to get as you become more experienced include:

• Ushake Water Bottle Cages You can get the most basic of water bottle cages and the most basic of water bottles for your ride. Fancy insulated bottles won’t fit and won’t be easy to grab one-handed.
• RockBros Mini Portable Bike Pump With Hidden Gauge 220PSI Sanders says this should go in a repair kit with patches and extra tubes.
• Cateye Velo 9 Bike Computer With sensors attached to your wheels, bike computers are the most accurate way to calculate your speed. Weissman recommends choosing this brand.
• Kryptonite Evolution Mini-7 U-Lock With 4-Foot Security Cable I’ve been trusting Kryptonite’s U-Lock and cable system to keep my bike safe outside in New York City for decades.
• Nuun Sport Tablets Sanders recommends dropping this convenient electrolyte tablet into your water bottle to stay hydrated on long rides.