The bike tour of tours
We’ve already published a list of bike tours that would make suitable Christmas gifts. But this tour is special because of the place and because of the kind of tour it is. I’ll just quote from the tour operator: “Madagascar is a magical place and offers a memorable travel experience unlike any other. Encounters with wildlife are often very close and intimate. Lemurs stare back with big round eyes, chameleons may climb up your arm to the top of your head, and unique birds are plentiful. Over 580 km from the Malagasy highlands to the coast, we experience a mix of on- and off-road cycling. There’ll be chances to meet the friendly and welcoming locals to learn about their culture and customs, and the flora and fauna will change as we travel through a variety of landscapes. This is a very special bike ride.”
There will be 38-95 km of biking per day, with a total distance of 580 km covered, 165 km of which is off-road. The tour difficulty is graded 4.5, which means that riders should be comfortable making sustained climbs, being in the saddle for longer, consecutive cycling days and tackling one or two especially difficult riding days. The operator says, “You will need a very good level of fitness and technical expertise.”
The trip includes a hike to a beautiful tropical swimming spot and wonderful sandstone formations in Isalo National Park, as well as a swim in the Indian Ocean. The price is €2,468, plus a €200 mountain bike rental fee. The price is based on a group of six or more; there is a surcharge for smaller groups. Accommodation is in simple middle-class hotels and rustic lodges with basic facilities. They all have a private bathroom with a shower and toilet. There are two nights of camping. Find more info here.
The bike suitcase
How about a nice suitcase in which to carry your bike? Then this Aerotech Evolution X TSA Bike Travel Case is just the thing for the cyclist in your life. The case is manufactured in Italy from a proprietary composite material and “provides excellent protection for your bike when you fly,” the company says.
Packing your bike in it is reasonably straightforward. Just remove the wheels, rotate the handlebars down, remove the seat post and one pedal opposite to the drive side, and the bike frame will slide into the bike case with no problem. It is suitable for road, triathlon, and cyclocross bikes. If your beloved has spent a small fortune on a delicate carbon bike and often travels by plane, it’s definitely worth investing in a decent bike box. This could be the one.
The good news is that it currently sells for €624.50, which is 50% off the usual price. Shipping is not included. Check it out at Scion Sports.
A custom-printed saddle for the sensitive bum
If your beloved cyclist has been bending your ear by complaining about the pain in the rear they are suffering from rough roads, get them this Fizik One-to-One custom 3D-printed saddle, starting at £459 (€554). The saddle padding can be custom-made for the individual following personalised measurement at a participating Fizik dealership and a pressure-mapping session focusing on hotspots, instabilities and asymmetries of the affected body part. In other words, they will map the rear and print the saddle padding according to this map.
The problem is that you won’t be able to buy it until the fitting process has been completed, so either spoil the surprise or have an empty box under the tree with a description of the gift. First, you’ll have to find an authorised One-to-One dealer near you. However, Fizik saddles are sold all over Europe so it should be fairly convenient to make the purchase.
Fizik is a saddle specialist and sells a number of top-quality bike seats, such as the Tempo Aliante R3 Adaptive saddle with non-personalised 3-D adaptive padding to maximise “support, pressure relief, and stability.” It sells for €259. To find out more about these top-of-the-line saddles and where they are sold, look here.
The bike computer that does everything
What’s a cyclist’s luxury gift list without a cycling computer? Incomplete, that’s what. So here is the Garmin Edge 1040 Solar Bike Computer, which has lots and lots of training features, excellent GPS accuracy, a big, easy-to-read screen, and an enormous battery life of 45 to 100 hours, as it is charged by the sun.
Regarding training, it has nutrition and hydration alerts to help optimise performance. And extra cycling metrics such as the length of ride, bike position, and ambient temperature help you chart performance long term. For mountain bikers, it also measures the difficulty of a ride (its grit) and how smoothly you descend, and it includes the invaluable Trailforks app, which is a crowdsourced trail map database and management system. All that and way more for ‘only’ €663.46 at Amazon.de.
The ultimate Christmas bike
And, finally, the gift of gifts, a Pinarello Dogma F Super Record EPS 2023 road bike, one of the best road bikes available. The price? Don’t ask. Okay, I’ll tell you: €14,963, give or take, here. “The Dogma F has been designed for duty at the highest rungs of professional bike racing, developed with input from professional bike riders and the like,” a review stated. “It wasn’t designed for you and me but we can still ride it if we pay the premium – and it will make you a faster rider as a result, that’s for sure. As far as performance goes it’s so well-rounded and easy to ride that you often forget you’re pedalling a £12k superbike. The ride quality is buttery-smooth and the riding position, while perhaps a bit too aggressive for most, felt fairly comfortable.”
Sure, there are excellent bikes at half the price; for example, the Pinarello Prince Disc Shimano Ultegra Di2 2×12, which sells for €5,499 here. But if you want to go bananas and blow it all on a once-in-a-lifetime Christmas gift – which will absolve you of buying Christmas gifts for the next ten years – this is it.
