Amazon Prime Day generally is a little bit of a hit and miss, particularly when you’re eyeing big-ticket bike gear. Whereas electronics like headphones, bike computer systems and watches are seeing stable reductions, I discovered the offers on biking wishlist gadgets a bit underwhelming. You’re finest off wanting elsewhere.
However being a bike owner isn’t nearly time spent on two wheels—it’s a way of life. From my storage to my kitchen, you’ll discover proof that biking influences each nook of my day-to-day life.
Listed here are 4 Amazon finds I depend on day by day as a bike owner, and so they’re all discounted in the course of the Prime Day sale.
Boon Garden Bottle Drying Rack
(Picture credit score: Anne-Marije Rook)
That is one among my all-time favorite Amazon purchases, and it’s been a continuing presence on my kitchen counter for at the least eight years now.
Whereas meant for child bottles, it’s essential for cyclists and water bottle customers of all types. The drying rack might sport an uncommon look, however the plastic ‘grass’ performs a particular function. The sprigs grip gadgets of all configurations and dimensions whereas permitting for loads of airflow to dry the gadgets shortly. The garden sits in a tough plastic, low-profile container, and it is tremendous straightforward to wash. It’s even dishwasher protected.
The garden is available in inexperienced, white or gray colors and several other sizes to suit your counter area.
Dry Man
(Picture credit score: Anne-Marije Rook)
After I purchased my first Dry Man some 15 years in the past, it really remodeled my winter biking expertise. As a year-round bike owner within the Pacific NorthWET, retaining my gear dry is a continuing wrestle. Irrespective of what number of shoe covers I’ve tried, soggy footwear nonetheless occur, and the Dry Man Drive Dry DX has develop into a kind of family necessities I didn’t know I wanted till I had it. Overlook stuffing footwear with newspaper—that is the game-changer.
The Drive Dry DX is designed to dry footwear, boots, gloves, or anything that matches on its 4 extendable tubes, and it does so shortly with out risking warmth injury. Who amongst us hasn’t by accident ruined a pair of footwear or gloves by leaving them too near a scorching radiator?
The Dry Man makes use of mild, heated air to get the job executed, and in simply a few hours, your footwear and gloves are able to go for the following journey. It isn’t only a winter or moist climate device both. You possibly can toggle between heat and funky air so you possibly can dry your sweaty footwear after a summer season journey as properly to maintain the stink at bay.
Even when you’ve already develop into a convert your self, this sale is an effective time to acquire some models as presents for all of the outdoorsy individuals in your life.
Ultrasonic Cleaner
(Picture credit score: Anne-Marije Rook)
One in all my favorite workbench instruments is a 15-litre Skymen ultrasonic cleaner. The Pacific Northwest climate may be tough on bikes, and I spend loads of my free time cleansing and sustaining them. Whereas not obligatory per se, an ultrasonic cleaner is an enormous assist in retaining your cassette, chain, chainrings, and different smaller components clear, and by retaining these components clear, you are additionally extending their lifespan.
Ultrasonic cleaners, frequent in science labs, jewelry shops and bike retailers alike, are water tanks that use high-frequency sound waves to agitate the liquid and, by a course of known as cavitation, frees grime and filth from hard-to-reach or tight areas of no matter merchandise you’ve received submerged within the liquid. Principally, tiny magic bubbles scrub and loosen the filth for you.
Ultrasonic cleansing is usually additionally known as precision cleansing because the bubbles attain microscopic ranges of the half you’re cleansing, i.e.: in between chain hyperlink plates.
After the bathtub, you’ll rinse the components and possibly give it one other mild scrub et voilà, your components look good as new.
You possibly can choose up an ultrasonic cleaner pretty inexpensively however when you’ve received gravel or mountain bike gearing, I’d suggest getting at the least a 12- or 15-liter tank to suit the massive cassettes.
Aeropress Espresso Maker
(Picture credit score: Anne-Marije Rook)
It’s no secret that espresso and biking cultures are intertwined, and with at the least six other ways to make espresso in my kitchen, I totally embrace the cyclists-are-coffee-snobs stereotype. Of all of the devices I’ve accrued, the Aeropress has been my primary coffee-on-the-go resolution for years.
It’s a easy gadget that’s mild and compact sufficient for bikepacking or #coffeeoutside moments. The plastic model is very sturdy too, so I typically throw it in my bag after I journey—as a result of truthfully, there’s solely a lot Nescafe on the spot espresso an individual can deal with (taking a look at you, French resorts).
The Aeropress doesn’t simply journey properly, it really makes an important cup of espresso. The brew is clean, wealthy, low in acidity, and packs an honest punch. You don’t must be a barista to nail it, both. The really helpful place to begin is 15-18 grams of medium floor espresso to 200-205 grams of scorching water. You then stir the combination, wait 1:15 and plunge!
In about two minutes flat, you’ve got received a cup of espresso that’s miles forward of any on the spot or drip espresso you’d discover on the highway.
One other bonus is that cleanup is a breeze—simply pop the used espresso grounds into the compost bin, rinse and air dry.
