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JensonUSA Holiday Gift Guide… for the Roadie

Written by Tyler Benedict
19 Comments
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Looking for the perfect gift for your favorite Road Cyclist? Ideas for your own wishlist? Or just wanna stuff your own stocking with a good deal? Since our Bikerumor Editor’s wish lists are focused on products we’ve tested and recommend, we turned to our friends at JensonUSA to provide a gift guide full of popular items and killer deals for every budget, from under $10 up to $100 and more. Even better? Use code “BIKERUMOR” and get another 10% off qualifying items through end of December…

UNDER $10

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  • When it’s this cheap, there’s simply no excuse for not having the right tool for the job. And in the case of Shimano’s cranksets, there simply isn’t a good way to hack it without chewing up the plastic on that little crank preload tightening thingy ($1.49).
  • It’s the little things that make life better, unless those little things fail, in which case an entire ride can get off to a bad start. Or a missed start. Pump heads wear out, but for a couple bucks you can bring your trusty floor pump back to life with the Park Tool replacement part ($2.99). Throw some Jagwire slick shift cables in there, too and things’ll really start feeling right ($4.00).
  • The Camelbak Podium bottle remains one of the best water bottles on the market, and every roadie can always use a fresh bottle ($7.95 for 24oz)
  • Schwalbe’s tires are some of our favorites, and finding one under ten bucks is almost too good to be true. Nab this all season Lugano 700×23 with Kevlar puncture protection. It’s a wire bead tire, making it a great trainer/training tire ($9.99).

$10 to $25

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  • What? Your roadie hasn’t gone tubeless yet? Then they’ll appreciate the supple feel of Challenge’s lightweight latex tubes ($17.99).
  • If there’s one thing that consistently drains our budget, it’s the convenience store gouging on mid-ride snacks. And if there’s one thing that stood out in this year’s nutrition introductions, it’s the scrumptious new Nut Butter Filled Clif Bars. Grab a 12 pack to fuel a couple weeks’ worth of riding ($19.99).
  • New bar tape makes your whole bike feel new, especially if it’s white. The Fizik Superlight Tacky Bar Tape comes in seven color options, is 2mm thick for just enough cush, and is made of a grippy rubberized Microtex ($19.99 to $24.99).
  • Another thing that makes your bike feel new? A fresh chain. And Ultegra level 11-speed parts deliver top shelf performance without breaking the bank ($24.99).

$25 to $50

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  • Wish lists don’t need to be all practical, right? For the cyclist that has everything, how ’bout a color-matched KCNC ceramic derailleur pulley. These 11-tooth models spin fast and free and fit any modern 11-speed road derailleur from the big three. Available in six colors ($35.00).
  • Blinky tail lights can save your life, so make sure yours is bright enough to be visible in broad daylight. The Niterider Solas 100 is, and gives you multiple flash modes and a lower power “group ride” mode to keep you from being “that guy”. It’s USB rechargeable and water resistant. If you love your roadie, this is the gift to give ($39.99).
  • If you’re gonna give them that new Ultegra chain, a matching cassette to go with it would be really appreciated. After all, you should replace both at the same time if they’re well worn. Grab a 10-speed 6700 ($45.99) or 11-speed 6800 version ($54.99, just a bit over $50) as needed.
  • Giro’s helmets fit well and look good, and the Foray is no exception. It’s styled after the top of the line Synthe, comes with MIPS and uses their Roc Loc 5 fit system. It’s more than half price, too, and comes in two colors ($38.99).

$50 to $100

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  • Keep it colorful with Kona Brewing themed jerseys from Canari.  They’re available for men ($70.00) and, even better, for women, too ($19.99).
  • Sugoi’s RPM Pro bibshorts are comfortable but get a pro-level fit for great muscle compression. Their chamois has a firm but comfortable padding to ease the long miles ($100).
  • With the trainer tire covered for cheap, perhaps there’s room to splurge on some sweet new tubeless road tires. The Schwalbe Pro One is a great option – durable, grippy and easy to set up. Available in 23, 25 and 28 millimeter widths ($78.75).
  • Serious roadies are out in the dark, especially this time of year. Keep ’em seeing and being seen with a proper headlight like the Niterider Lumina 750. It puts out more than enough lumens to light your way on dark back roads, with lower levels for city riding and longer battery life. Universal mount makes for easy on and off. USB Rechargeable ($79.99).

Over $100

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  • If your roadie is still riding an alloy handlebar, a carbon upgrade helps keep them feeling fresher on long rides and rough roads. Easton’s EC70SL is proven and comes in at just 220g ($182.99).
  • The Garmin 520 is their compact, full color and fully connected GPS cycling computer. It tracks your Strava segments and all your performance metrics to paint a full picture of your performance ($299).
  • Nothing wrong with dreaming, so might as well as dream big and hope for the new SRAM Red eTap group under the tree ($1,660).
  • If you’re able to go (or get) bigger, new wheels are the biggest upgrade you can make short of a new bike. We rode the latest Mavic Cosmic Pro Carbon SL wheels at their launch and they are amazing ($2,199)

Check out JensonUSA’s gift guide for Mountain Bikers, and stay tuned for guides for your favorite Commuter and Cyclocrosser!

Full Disclosure: The editors at Bikerumor assisted in curating this list based on our experience to recommend only products that meet our standards. These are affiliate links that, if you end up buying something, might earn us a few pennies so we can keep the lights on and the servers humming.
Tyler Benedict
11,282 articles

Tyler Benedict is the Founder of Bikerumor.com, where he’s been writing about the latest bikes, components, and cycling technology for almost two decades. Prior to that, Tyler launched and built multiple sports nutrition brands and consumer goods companies, mostly as an excuse to travel and ride in new places.

Based in North Carolina, Tyler also loves the Vanlife & family adventure travel and is always on the lookout for the next shiny new part and off-grid adventure.

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Openmold
Openmold
8 years ago

Yay! Buy all of these things at less than the LBS can! Then wonder why your “11 speed” 6700 cassette won’t work right with your Drivetrain.

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Bill
Bill
8 years ago
Reply to  Openmold

That error is on BikeRumor, not Jenson. The support your LBS meme is tired. The internet is real, and it changed the game. There’s nothing so complicated on a bicycle that a youtube video and a little practice won’t figure out.

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Kernel Flickitov
Kernel Flickitov
8 years ago
Reply to  Bill

Vast majority of people out there do NOT have the mechanical aptitude to do a clean install of electronic groups, or rebuild shocks, or wheels. You speak for a very small percentage of DIY’ers out there, pretty arrogantly at that.

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myke2241
myke2241
8 years ago
Reply to  Kernel Flickitov

Disagree! I’m not sure where your from but you act like these things are rocket science…. please! Don’t insult yourself or the other readers. You do understand There are others besides jenson that sell tons of parts!

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Kernel Flickitov
Kernel Flickitov
8 years ago
Reply to  myke2241

Bikes aren’t rocket science, and most people don’t do the work at home via YouTube. If this was the case every shop around the corner won’t exist tomorrow. Being overly dramatic isn’t helping your argument.

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That guy
That guy
8 years ago
Reply to  myke2241

Yeah have fun when your derailleur goes into your spokes cause you dont know what a limit screw is and your 1000$ china carbon wheels you bought online are now a pile of waste…

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Allan
Allan
8 years ago
Reply to  Kernel Flickitov

Well I think the majority of people may not know how to properly work on their bikes (depending on what it is), but everyone knows about the internet, and cheaper prices. As stated above, the internet is real, it’s not going away, and most people ARE buying online, especially for things like groupsets, really most components. LBS’ have to adapt to the reality of the situation, and that’s a fact. You’ll still have plenty of people who wish to support their LBS, even if it means spending more, but being critical of people who wish to bottom-dollar shop is futile.

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Allan
Allan
8 years ago
Reply to  Kernel Flickitov

BTW, in a general sense, Bill is right. I have done 2 MAJOR home repairs that would have cost over $10,000 done by a traditional tradesman, but I was able to complete with a few hundred dollars in parts, and watching YouTube. I don’t have any license or studied these trades, but if you take the time to try to and figure things out, there isn’t much you can’t accomplish yourself. And really, a bike is NOT that complicated.

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Bikemark
Bikemark
8 years ago
Reply to  Bill

Spend a day working in an LBS and you’ll think different.

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Rixter
Rixter
8 years ago
Reply to  Bill

Our neighbourhood LBS do a LOT of trail maintenance and voluntary community events. If they all became casualties of the Internet, our biking community would not be well served. Having said that, many LBS haven’t even figured out how to respond to email inquiries or provide reasonably competitive pricing. My favourite LBS’s know how to do both and they keep me coming back

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Tyler Benedict
Author
Tyler Benedict
8 years ago
Reply to  Openmold

Good catch, I linked to the wrong one. Just added link to 6800 11-speed, too.

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myke2241
myke2241
8 years ago
Reply to  Openmold

Jenson has the worst customer service bar-none!

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gtj1
gtj1
8 years ago

A monkey can install electronic groups, read the instructions. Buy on-line, save your money for beer.

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Kernel Flickitov
Kernel Flickitov
8 years ago
Reply to  gtj1

Your facts are a clear departure from reality. Just because we can doesn’t mean everybody does, not even close.

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goridebikes
goridebikes
8 years ago

Good job Bikerumor – take that dirty advertising money to promote a site that has no physical presence and sells Shimano products at or below cost..
Solid favor to cycling culture..

Being able to do your own work is secondary to the discussion of supporting business that take away from small local shops. Small local shops employ real people that you know and have a relationship with – and for every terrible one there’s a great one that leads a legendary group ride, teaches clinics, helps you out on your ride home, etc..

There’s a lack of foresight – you don’t NEED the etap group – if the only way you can buy it is by giving the sale to Jenson, or some other, then you should re-evaluate… because when your expensive purchase stops working you’ll turn to a local mechanic for support. You’ll be upset if he charges you a full rate for the work he does, and be even more upset when it’s not free – this isn’t drama, this is a point about the sum of parts. Much as it takes attention to the weight of every single bolt to build a 10-lb bike, it takes thought about small actions to keep the culture that we love alive.. Any one person buying a part online may be innocuous, a simple 5g weight gain to save $50.. but habitually buying online and not even giving your local shop a chance to compete (what if they can come within 10% on the price… would you pay an extra 10% to have that free group ride or advice?) is how you end up with a 20lb $20k carbon wonder suckfest..

Just a thought bikerumor.

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Allan
Allan
8 years ago
Reply to  goridebikes

These types of comments are literally the same thing as the old man shaking his fist “GET OFF MY LAWN!”. Dude, the internet aint going away. Deal with it. I can watch my LBS literally order the exact same part from the same website I could, and upcharge me, or I can buy it myself, and install it myself. The times have changed people, you can’t make the internet go away and force people back to paying more for parts that you may have to go to 3 different shops in order to find. I’d actually feel stupid if I went to my LBS, and had them order me a Shimano derailleur or something.

Frustratingly, though, this argument is akin to abortion or capital punishment, people’s mindsets are ingrained, and arguing will accomplish nothing. But the final point is that FACTUALLY speaking, consumer shopping on the internet isn’t ever going away, never ever. So, instead of whining about the poor LBS, the poor LBS had better learn to adapt. The one I go to has, by offering amazing service, by knowledgeable, friendly staff who genuinely want to help, and talk to customers like they matter.

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Rusty
Rusty
8 years ago
Reply to  Allan

Allan, you obviously do not understand the actual problem. The internet is not going away, true…. but that isn’t the ethical problem at hand. It’s a distribution model that makes different continents play by different pricing rules, but then one continent sells to another continent that can pay more. The pricing advantage comes from a poorly set up geographic prices that are good intended to support the intended local market, but in reality the product gets shipped out to other countries (never support the market it’s price was adjusted to support). The places the products find their way to are places where price barriers are in place, and cannot compete.

Example:

Shimano American says price of “Product A” is $50 (a price picked to maximize profit based on what consumers will pay in that market) to authorized dealer and MSRP is $100
Shimano Asia says price of “Product A” is $28 and MSRP is $56 (a price set to maximize profit in a poorer market where customers have less disposable income). The idea is to price discriminate to maximize the revenue generated across different geographic incomes. What actually happens is “Product A” gets sold into North America from a different continent (which Shimano North America is suppose to only be allowed to supply, but it cannot be policed) and they sell the product.

In result we see products from mass online merchants, who have no fear of loosing their ability to buy from the North American Shimano distributor, because they are not buying from them anyway. They sell the products in bulk for a small margin in an environment that cannot compete due to a supply that is more expensive wholesale than the retail of the mass merchants.

Local shops cannot complete because they large variety of part numbers that make up their industry are incredibly fragmented (no single sku’s generating the majority of revenue) so they rely on quick local shipping for a JIT inventory model. This is only provided by a distributor like: Shimano North America, QBP etc.

Mass merchants, hitting a much larger audience and having no responsibility of time and staff for in store support/ repair, can order large quantities at slow lead times from countries that provide pricing advantages.

Your customer is not going to wait 2 weeks for a shop to order a derailleur from Cambodia, but Jenson and the others can source parts on lead times like this when it means moving 500 of that unit a day or more.

It’s different rules for different people. It’s price discrimination. Don’t hate on the shop, they are frustrated, and watching people support online discounters (which of course why not buy them cheaper) directs anger even though the real problem is a messy distribution model.

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goridebikes
goridebikes
8 years ago

I don’t think anyone’s whining, crying, etc.

I’m making a rather well reasoned point about the things an LBS provides that the internet cannot – and how those things are subsidized by the margins an LBS makes on products.

That you can buy something on the internet doesn’t fkin matter to me at all – anyone can..
That you can buy something on the internet for the exact same price that I can and I have to sign a contract, have minimum orders, and try to keep the heat on during the winter while doing so… that I have a problem with.

It’s not your fault. It’s Shimano’s fault. What is your fault is when I can come within 5-10% of the price but you never even ask – because obviously everything is cheaper on the internet.

I had a guy last summer buy some Zipps “on sale” on the internet for $2k (before they dropped their pricing with the new wheels) – when I would’ve sold them to him for the exact same price and installed them for free..

You yelling at me about how you can install stuff yourself and how the internet is the future is ALSO “GET OFF MY LAWN!!” as if because you can do it yourself everyone can or should, or that’s a sustainable model… People are always going to want a professional to do the work, and they are always going to want a pros advice. You even acknowledge that – you go because of the service. That’s awesome! But when you go for service, is it always with a box of parts from the internet? Or do you shop reasonably, and allow them to have the sale when the price is the same or close? Do you know what the margins are on service? On service parts? What the shop pays its staff, their benefits, the rent, etc.. ?

If my shop goes out of business, I lose my paycheck.. Then I can’t come to you for whatever services you provide. And you lose your paycheck..

Amazon, etc. thrive on volume over margin – that model does not scale to a bike shop. No shop is going to sell 500 inner tubes a day to afford selling them at 5% over cost instead of 35%.. My point is not get off my lawn. My point is evaluate what your money does to your neighbors, riding buddies, and those who support your passion

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Seth
Seth
8 years ago

This is Seth from Jenson USA. It seems like there’s some confusion about who we are, what we’re all about, and our involvement in the community. Please consider coming out to one of our many events and get to know us better. We’d welcome an opportunity to further a dialog in person. Many of us have worked at and grown up in bike shops, and most everyone that works at Jenson is an active rider with years of cycling history and involvement. Here’s a list of a few of our recent endeavors. Our employees led an effort to donate 26 bikes to World Bicycle Relief on Giving Tuesday. Many of our employees commute to work every week, and our CEO awards that effort by allowing us to earn bikes for kids by commuting. As a result, we just earned and delivered 60 bikes to kids at local schools with limited means. We conducted over 25 shop rides during the year this year and also sponsored a couple dozen events such as Sea Otter, Outerbike, Bike for Bender, and Over the Hump among many others. We also are highly involved in trail building and advocacy both locally in our backyard of SoCal, as well in several other states. Our CEO is an active member of IMBA’s board as well, promoting trail access on a much bigger scale. Further, we actively work to educate our customers, stand behind the products we sell, and strive to provide tools to develop the skills to properly work on their bike(s). I know I won’t be able to respond to all of the comments in this thread, but I hope to see you out on the trails or at one of our events. The cycling community is super important to me, and hope to have an opportunity ride with you at some point in the future. Keep Pedaling!

Cheers,
Seth

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