Bike commuting is one of the unsung joys of living in an urban area. Why spend your morning stuck in a car, struggling to find parking—or worse, having to pay out the nose for it—when you could be enjoying the scenery of the city you live in while getting some cardio in the process? It can also be a godsend if your city, like mine, features less-than-stellar public transportation options.
I’ve bike commuted for around a decade in Chicago and Pittsburgh, and I’ve always loved the convenience of being able to leave my house and go without having to walk to a bus stop, a train station, or get in my car (which I hate using and will avoid at all costs). However, it can also be a little daunting to start biking in the city if you’re not used to it.
This city biking guide to the need-to-haves and nice-to-get gear will help anyone looking to decrease their carbon footprint, see their city more, or just have more options for getting around.
Bern Hudson Bike Helmet
If you’re going to bike in the city, you’ll need a helmet, and a nice one at that. I’ve used a Bern Brentwood for the better part of seven years and it’s still going strong, but if you were a new city biker I would recommend purchasing the Hudson instead. The Hudson, like the Brentwood, features a detachable visor that’s great for sunny days and stylish to boot, and can even come with a Mips safety system, designed to reduce the rotational motion on your head that can lead to brain injuries. Additionally, the Hudson comes with an integrated rear safety light, which is good for nighttime biking, or any other conditions like rain where visibility might be impaired. You can also follow my example and ziptie a separate bike light to the back of your helmet, but I don’t recommend that if you have the option of buying one on your helmet in the first place.
Buy: $139
Kryptonite Evolution Standard U-Lock
When I was in college, people tended to lose their bikes a lot because they would bring them to campus, use them for a couple of weeks without locking them up, and then they’d be stolen by someone who assumed all bikes on campus were free use. Now, because my college covered little more than a single square mile in rural Ohio, invariably some of these bikes found their way back to their respective owners. This is probably not going to happen in a major city, so you need at least one (and preferably two) bike locks to ensure your bike remains where you left it. I recommend a u-lock because it’s an effective way to attach your bike frame and front wheel to a bike rack. Because a u-lock is rigid, potential bike thieves will find it harder to find an effective angle to cut your lock off and take your bike, which isn’t always the case with DIY locks like a combination of a padlock and length of iron chain. The Evolution Standard is a good investment for anyone looking to get into city biking. The 9-inch length gives you a little more wiggle room to get your bike onto a crowded rack, and the vinyl coating on both the lock and the crossbar gives it some protection from the elements. The crossbar for the Evolution Standard includes a sliding protector for the keyhole, which can help prevent water from collecting in there and freezing if the temperature gets too cold.
Buy: $99.95
Kryptonite Kryptoflex 410 Looped Cable
I always recommend using a looped cable in addition to a u-lock when locking up a bike in a public area, and I usually wrap the cable around my back wheel, thread it through one of the loops at the tip of the cable to make a “P” shape before winding it around my bike frame and back wheel before placing the other loop through one of the free ends of the shackle (the u-shaped portion of a u-lock) of my u-lock before locking the u-lock itself. This ensures that no part of your bike is detachable from any other part of the bike. In addition to the added security, having a bike lock and a cable is a visual deterrent to thieves as well. It’s an unfortunate reality that no bike lock is really going to stand up to a determined thief with the right tools, but the silver lining is that most bike thieves are looking for easy pickings. The more annoying you make your bike look to steal, the safer it’s going to be. This is ultimately why I recommend the Kryptoflex 410, in addition to its vinyl coating making it harder to cut through and slightly softer to hold, and I find the 4-foot length is large enough to wrap around your bike while still being small enough to feel manageable to ride around with.
Buy: $20.94
Thousand Traveler Magnetic Bike Lights Set
Biking in the city is all about maintaining high visibility at all times—ideally you have a protected bike lane, but if you don’t you’re going to be sharing the street with cars, trucks and motorcycles, all of which have the potential to lay you out (or worse) if they can’t see you. At minimum, you should have a headlight and a tail light—a headlight for oncoming traffic and so that you can see road hazards in areas where visibility could be impaired, and a tail light so cars can see that you’re ahead of them. The Traveler magnetic bike light set from Thousand features multiple light settings (including solid and flashing), convenient USB-C charging ports on the back, and most importantly, magnetic mounts so you can take the lights with you when you park your bike.
Buy: $70
Chrome Industries Kadet Max
When I commute by bike, I almost always favor a cross-body messenger bag instead of a standard backpack. Being able to slide the bag around from your back to your front without removing it is incredibly convenient for access to your essentials, and I find it handles bumps in the road better than your standard backpack does. As someone who owns multiple Chrome Industries bags, I think the Kadet Max is a great starting point for aspiring bike commuters. It features the more structured shape of the smaller Kadet sling bag while still having enough room for a 15-inch laptop—the only thing it’s really missing is its little brother’s padded rear u-lock holster, which is nice to have but not essential by any means. The Kadet Max also features a smaller, stabilizing strap that’s perfect for keeping the bag close to your body when avoiding potholes or bumps in the road, and you can customize the buckle if you’re feeling like you want to express yourself a little more.
Buy: $130
Castelli Trail Liner
When I lived in Chicago, it wasn’t a stretch for me to bike about 45 minutes to get to my office in the morning and back home from it at night. Longer rides can be quite exhilarating, but they can also take it out of you in more ways than one. If you’re planning for longer rides, do your butt a favor and invest in a padded pair of bike shorts like the Castelli Trail Liner. I have a pair of Castelli Centos for rides on my exercise bike and I often wear them out in the summer to keep myself cool and my backside effortlessly padded. Caselli bike shorts are breathable and padded without feeling too bulky or restrictive, and the Trail Liner comes with silicone stripes on the inside of the legs to ensure they don’t slip and slide around as you bike. I don’t recommend wearing them all day, but they’re invaluable for long rides.
Buy: $89.99
JBL Clip 4 Portable Bluetooth Speaker
Every once in a while I’ll see someone riding around on a Citi Bike (or equivalent) wearing no helmet with their airpods in and I cannot stress this enough that you should not do that for your own safety. They’re also usually wearing flip-flops as well which I also don’t think you should do, but that’s not, like, illegal. Please do not endanger yourself or others by wearing your airpods while you bike ride. Instead, buy a portable bluetooth speaker and attach it to something (ideally a bag) where it’s not likely to get snagged on anything. This gives you the ability to listen to your tunes while you ride while not blocking out ambient noise, which you need to be paying attention to in order to bike safely. I have a JBL Clip 3 that I attach to my messenger bag, and it works perfectly for listening to hardcore punk rock (to scare cars) and podcasts (to scare away potential paramours) without distracting me. The Clip series is also waterproof and rugged, so it’s not going to stop working the minute you get caught in some unexpected rain.
Buy: $59.95
Specialized Body Geometry Dual-Gel Short Finger Gloves
Depending on what your handlebars are made of and how hard you grip them while you ride, you may find that you get some calluses and blisters when you start taking longer rides. If you’re a tough galoot and don’t mind that, gloves aren’t strictly necessary, but they can help if you don’t want calluses and blisters and you just need a little bit more grip strength on your handlebars. Specialized is a household name when it comes to high-end bikes, and they’re designed with gel pads to alleviate hand pain when biking as well as highly breathable material on the back of your hands so you don’t show up to work with sweaty wrists.
Buy: $35
