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feature
Artful Kicks Lichtenstein.jpg7 ways to customise your bike & kit
Buying off-the-peg is all well and good but if you really want to stand out from the crowd you need customised components and accessories! Here are some cool ways to personalise your look.
Saddle
There are a thousands of different saddles to choose from, but if you’d rather have something of your own design Fizik will customise one for you. You can choose from 19 different models, ranging in price from the £99.99 Vesta up to the R1 versions of the Arione, Aliante and Antares (£194.99).
With the Arione R1, pictured, you can choose the colour of the central and side cover panels, the Wingflex (the slits on the edges of the upper), the logo and the protection (the section towards the back of the underside of the saddle).
Eyewear
If normal Oakleys are’t exclusive enough you can have a custom pair made up for you from a range of different models.
You could choose the Radar EV frame, for example, then select the frame colour, the lens shape, type and colour, and the colour of the Oakley O icon and the ear socks (the rubbery temple grippers). You can even have a little etching added in the corner of the lens.
Prices vary according to the spec you choose, but the glasses shown here are £197 (including £15 for lens etching).
Ekoi also allows you to customise several models. You get to choose the colour of the frame, the arms, the lens, the nosepiece and the temples, with prices currently as low as £42.63.
Shoes
Lake allows you to customise its CX402 ($589 US) and CX/MX332 ($479 US) shoes. You can choose the colour of the various panels and logos along with the heel and toe protectors.
You can also choose between a three-hole sole and one that’s moulded for a Speedplay pedal/cleat system.
If you want even more unusual, Simon Fellows at Artful Kicks will customise shoes with artwork of your choice, the price depending on the design you’d like.
Helmet
Catlike offers you the chance to personalise a number of its helmets, including the Olula (pictured, €129.95). You can even choose the colour of the fitting system and straps, and add a logo and/or text.
Ekoi offers something similar with a few of its helmets.
Frame stickers
There are loads of places where you can get stickers for your frame, bike helmet, and so on.
Names on Frames will do you four for £7.95, for instance, while Pegatin’s start at £9.99 for 10 and go to £16.99 for 10 in the durable, weatherproof Pro version.
Headset caps and more
Kapz boasts that it can provide you with anything you can imagine on a headset cap. You can either go for a stock cap from the range – there are a zillion different ones to choose from – or have an image, design or logo of your own slung on there. You’ll pay £24.95 for a full colour headset cap.
Kapz also offers custom handlebar end plugs, headset spacers and laser etched bolts. You can get custom drinks bottles too (£14.95), with no minimum order.
Bikes
If you’re spending money on a complete bike, there are many ways of ensuring the personal touch. You can always go to a bike shop, of course, and have them take a frameset and build it up to your exact requirements.
Some online retailers do something similar. Ribble, for instance, has a BikeBuilder facility on its website. You choose your frame and then have the option of going for either the recommended build or a spec of your choice. You can go with whatever groupset, wheels and finishing kit you want and the price is adjusted accordingly. It’s really user friendly.
Trek’s Project One system is relevant here too, although it applies only to higher end models (Madone, Domane, Speed Concept, Émonda or Silque on the road, the Fuel Ex 29, Procaliber SL and Top Fuel off-road).
After choosing your model you can in some cases select the fit you want, then the colour of the frameset and logos from a vast range, and add decal text. Then you can choose the groupset and other components and accessories. You’re not going to end up with a cheap bike but you will get exactly what you want. The Trek Madone 9 Series that we reviewed here on road.cc was a Project One bike.
Other brands offer some customisation of the colour. Pinarello, for instance, has its MyWay system for the Dogma F10, Dogma F10 Disc, Dogma K10 and Dogma K10S Disk. This allows you to choose the finish of the frameset, handlebar tape and saddle.
Bianchi’s Travolozza system allows you to customise the finish of a high-end Specialissima or Oltre XR4. You can pick the colour of the frame, inserts and logos, and decide between a matt and a gloss finish.
If you don't want to buy a new frame you can always take your existing bike to a painting specialist like Fat Creations and have them create a unique finish for you.
Mat has been in cycling media since 1996, on titles including BikeRadar, Total Bike, Total Mountain Bike, What Mountain Bike and Mountain Biking UK, and he has been editor of 220 Triathlon and Cycling Plus. Mat has been road.cc technical editor for over a decade, testing bikes, fettling the latest kit, and trying out the most up-to-the-minute clothing. He has won his category in Ironman UK 70.3 and finished on the podium in both marathons he has run. Mat is a Cambridge graduate who did a post-grad in magazine journalism, and he is a winner of the Cycling Media Award for Specialist Online Writer. Now over 50, he's riding road and gravel bikes most days for fun and fitness rather than training for competitions.
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18 comments
A combination of scratches and splattered grime means my bike is totally unique.
What happened to elegance?
disc brakes killed it.
Personally I love the look of 'em, at least the more recent flat mount hydraulics and sleek STIs. To my engineering and aethestic senses they actually look like a integral part of the machine, increasingly flowing and smart, the cleaner look of the fork crown and seat stays in particular. Rim brakes always looked like something that got nailed on afterwards, having been forgotten in the design process. Sometimes that 'thing' was itself actually a lovely looking piece of machinary - that then got nailed on..
Of course it's all very personal and I fully understand I shall be ceremoniously hung, drawn and quartered in short order
Do any of them allow you to pick the same colour for the frame and logo, so that you don't have to ride around with a big f* off logo plastered down the side?
I tried that on the Bianchi site and they said 'selection not allowed'. I think you can pick matt and gloss in the same colour though.
This article looks like it was knocked together in 2 mins. What about all the other ways you can customise a bike????.... Come on please think about, anodised bolts (yes I have), anodised headset spacers (yes), beer bottle opener headset spacer (yes and currently on my bike), getting your frame resprayed to your own personalised scheme (yes), anodised seat posts and handlebars (not tried yet), rebuild your wheels using one of the multitude of anodised coloured rims available from Hplus Son (yes), unique style laser cut carbon chainrings (very tempted for a 1x11), dual colour bar tape (yes), brake cable liners available in block and metallic colours (yes), coloured/anodised chains (yes but prefere only the ones with the inner plates coloured/anodised), coloured brake hoods (not my cup of tea), etc, etc
So many ways you can that were missed by this article
the best way to customise your bike is to have it made to measure.
#peaksdown
I customize my shoes with scuffs from my falls and my socks with blood. Does that count?
Blimey - lighten up guys, scribbling is just fun - this pair of shoes are mostly white, which I find dull, I have some time waiting in between test and compilation runs and there's a big tin(s) of Sharpies downstairs.. what's not to like ? I imagine they really won't take any longer to put on afterwards and might be interesting to see what the kids do if they get a chance !
I had a go at this one bored evening.. it took ages and although I sorta like the result, I really can't be bothered to do the other shoe... so just the one sharpied shoe for me then.
Gotta wonder how long it takes some cyclists to "get ready" for a ride. I suspect that pulling on a pair of shorts and pinching the tyres doesn't really cover it for the guys who customise their own shoes.
A good ride probably includes 20 minutes of pre-ride aero-beard adjustment, not including a serious think about sock length and whether to wear a cap, cap under hat and peak up or peak down.
Shoes peaked with the Giro empire.
All the messing with markers and etchasketch on your kickers and golf socks has all gone a bit 'talk a bout ridin and not really ride'
What about drawing on white shoes with sharpies?
Co-incidently something i'm about to experiment with, starting with this purple one on the desk. I may get the kids involved too...