10 Great Value SkiBike Essentials - # 1 Canterbury Knee Braces

I want to pay tribute to 10 excellent items that I have used whilst skibiking, they didn't cost much and have all delivered fantastic value for money.
All of them cost under £60, to stay in budget, some had to be bought from secondhand from eBay, usually in nearly new condition having seen a weeks use or less. SkiBike related bargains are out there to be had, providing you buy at the end of the winter season right through to late September.

Item: Canterbury Knee Braces

Price Paid: £25 each

What was so good about this item then?

It was tough finding the number 1 skibiking essential of 2012, but on reflection I chose a product that is of great personal significance, but should prove valuable to skibikers young and old alike. Life is so full of irony, if I had worn knee braces when I first tried skiing, I might never have damaged my knees and found myself on a skibiking odyssey. Now, I wear them whenever I head for the slopes whether that's on a skibike or skis.
There have been a number of occasions where I have got into the sort of awkward twisting falls that in the past caused havoc and I have felt the metal side straps take the load and hold me together. I am certain that without these there would have been a fair few situations where injury would have compromised my skibiking enjoyment.

Any gripes or whinges about this item?

The are produced in a "one size fits all" design, which I believe will inevitably lead to some compromises in the fit. After roughly 6 weeks use the velcro straps are starting to loose their grip.

Canterbury Knee Braces - #1 skibiking essential

10 Great Value SkiBike Essentials - # 2 SixSixOne Wrist Braces

I want to pay tribute to 10 excellent items that I have used whilst skibiking, they didn't cost much and have all delivered fantastic value for money.
All of them cost under £60, to stay in budget, some had to be bought from secondhand from eBay, usually in nearly new condition having seen a weeks use or less. SkiBike related bargains are out there to be had, providing you buy at the end of the winter season right through to late September.

Item: SixSixOne Wrist Braces

Price Paid: £18 each

What was so good about this item then?

In 2011 I made my first attempts to ride mostly in the freestyle / pegger method of riding. In retrospect, I think I must have been riding with a large amount of my bodyweight supported by my wrists. If you have followed this blog, you will know that I have skinny, weak, girls wrists, so this is a bad thing. I am certain that I stretched tendons and put a lot of pressure on my median nerve during that period and suffered mildy from the ill effects for many weeks afterwards.
For the 2012 season I was determined to amortise the risk of similar symptoms re-occuring and also guard against wrist fractures due to hyper-extension during the anticipated crashes and wipeouts. True to form, I had many crashes and wipeouts during th 2012 season, during some of which, I really thought I was going to do permanent damage.
Whether these wrist braces were a placebo or whether they really did save my physical integrity I will never know. All I can be certain of is that; they were comfortable to wear, easy to put on and it did me know harm to have them and I would have felt naked on a skibike without them.

Any gripes or whinges about this item?

After roughly four weeks of use, they are beginning to look worn, I had hoped that they would be a bit tougher for the money.

SixSixOne Wrist Braces - # 2 skibiking essential

10 Great Value SkiBike Essentials - # 3 Cooper Winter Tyres

I want to pay tribute to 10 excellent items that I have used whilst skibiking, they didn't cost much and have all delivered fantastic value for money.
All of them cost under £60, to stay in budget, some had to be bought from secondhand from eBay, usually in nearly new condition having seen a weeks use or less. SkiBike related bargains are out there to be had, providing you buy at the end of the winter season right through to late September.

Item: Cooper Winter Tyres

Price Paid: just under £60 including fitting and balancing

What was so good about this item then?

Incredibly this was my first experience with winter tyres in 5 decades of driving experience (I first drove a car in 1978 - true!) and I wasn't entirely convince that it wasn't all a scam, placebo effect, Emperor's new clothes, etc.
Following some research I discovered that in certain Alpine countries winter tyres are mandatory, at least for locals and I have heard stories about how the fine Gendarmes of France love to fine Les Rosboeufs and how legal action is possible if an accident is deemed to be caused by failure to have the correct boots installed.
My only benchmark was to compare the result of equipping Uncle Fester the tired old Fiesta with a pair of Cooper 155/70 x 13 winter tyres and see the difference compared to my "all seasons" tyres from Matador, an economy brand from premium tyre manufacturer Continental.
Cheekily, I only fitted winter tyres to the front wheels (driven) wheels and I discovered this season (2012) that such is the difference in grip from these tyres, that the rear of the car will tend to slide out and oversteer quite readily, even in the wet!
Driven gently, there was no noticeable slip driving on freshly snow covered roads. If provoked the driven wheels will spin, but even then they still shovel snow behind you and exert purchase on the snow. Likewise, if you brake too heavily and lock up wheels, they still provide friction, even when locked.
Such was the difference in grip between the front and rear wheels on a snow covered car park in Switzerland, that it was possible to drive away with the rear wheels totally locked by the handbrake and drive the car around like a sled.
It is worth noting that these Cooper winter tyres have also worked exceptionally well in wet conditions too, at the time of writing (April 2012), the UK is experiencing a cold snap and I have delayed swapping back to my summer boots. Considering the tread pattern, road noise was no different on the motorway to my normal tyres and fuel economy remained the same.

Any gripes or whinges about this item?

As Scotty would have said in the original Start Trek TV series "Ye cannae change the laws of physics!", the excellent grip comes from a combination of the soft rubber compound and high void ratio, in anything but cold conditions wear will be faster than regular tyres. You have to fit winter tyres in November and remove them at the end of April. It is simplest if they live on a dedicated set of winter wheels and therefore need to be stored somewhere away somewhere dark during the summer months.

Cooper Winter Tyres - essential for skibike expeditions

10 Great Value SkiBike Essentials - # 4 Tesco Winter Gloves

I want to pay tribute to 10 excellent items that I have used whilst skibiking, they didn't cost much and have all delivered fantastic value for money.
All of them cost under £60, to stay in budget, some had to be bought from secondhand from eBay, usually in nearly new condition having seen a weeks use or less. SkiBike related bargains are out there to be had, providing you buy at the end of the winter season right through to late September.

Item: Tesco F&F Thinsulate Winter Gloves

Price Paid: £6

What was so good about this item then?

I got these as an impulse purchase whilst doing my weekly grocery shop, at the price I expected them to last a week at most. Gloves take a lot of punishment whilst skibiking, the area between the base of the thumb and the forefinger is especially prone. Over 3 weeks later and after some very vigorous activity they hardly look broken in.
They have a tough waterproof outerlayer and a cosy Thinsulate inner layer. I didn't appreciate how efficient they were till I took them off for 5 minutes on an especially cold morning when it was -10 degrees. As a result, there was one finger that didn't regain sensation in the tip for nearly a month.

Any gripes or whinges about this item?

At this price, certainly not, a bottle of beer in Switzerland was more expensive.

Tesco Winter Gloves - fantastic value

10 Great Value SkiBike Essentials - # 5 Salomon SnowBoard Boots

I want to pay tribute to 10 excellent items that I have used whilst skibiking, they didn't cost much and have all delivered fantastic value for money.
All of them cost under £60, to stay in budget, some had to be bought from secondhand from eBay, usually in nearly new condition having seen a weeks use or less. SkiBike related bargains are out there to be had, providing you buy at the end of the winter season right through to late September.

Item: Salomon SnowBoard Boots

Price Paid: £26

What was so good about this item then?

Another item found off season on eBay, little used and in nearly new condition for a fraction of the retail price. These are the first pair of snowboard boots I have owned, so can only compare their performance to hiking and skiing boots. What a revelation these turned out to be, if all snowboard boots are like this, no wonder snowboard dudes always look so cool, they have warm, dry comfy toes the whole day long.
These are light, almost trainer like in, yet they provide just enough protection for your ankles whilst still allowing some articulation when its time to walk uphill or jump off the chairlift.
They remained warm and dry regardless of whether I was falling over in the deep stuff or hanging around the lift station. Grip was astonishing, sheet ice was the only surface they couldn't grip on, anything else, including frozen metal surfaces provided traction, remarkable.

Any gripes or whinges about this item?

They feature laces on the outer shell and a speed lace on the inner shell, its a bit fiddly and is a job best attempted without gloves on.

Salomon Boots - Fiddly laces but otherwise excellent

10 Great Value SkiBike Essentials - # 6 FujiFilm av210 digital camera

I want to pay tribute to 10 excellent items that I have used whilst skibiking, they didn't cost much and have all delivered fantastic value for money.
All of them cost under £60, to stay in budget, some had to be bought from secondhand from eBay, usually in nearly new condition having seen a weeks use or less. SkiBike related bargains are out there to be had, providing you buy at the end of the winter season right through to late September.

Item: FujiFilm av210 digital camera

Price Paid: £60 including memory card

What was so good about this item then?

It is so tiny, it fits in the smallest of pockets and still leaves room for your other stuff. It is also lightweight, so won't weigh down your back pack or put you over the baggage limit on certain budget airlines. In an age where so much is driven by bewildering menu structures, I found the controls totally intuitive, you probably won't need to read the manual.
It boots up quickly and provides very good quality for outdoor photography. You can override some automatic features if, for example, you want fill flash in daylight, or to take close up macro pictures of skibike components.

Any gripes or whinges about this item?

In spite of the technological advances, it is power hungry and the rate of consumption requires the use of expensive Lithium disposable batteries or possibly NiMh rechargeables. The zoom lens doesn't have a huge range and there is some lag on the shutter, which reduces its usefulness for action shots. It doesn't have the feel of a hard wearing item designed for a long life, I hope I'm wrong as I really like it.

FujiFilm AV210 - #6 skibiker essential

10 Great Value SkiBike Essentials - # 7 Columbia Salopettes

I want to pay tribute to 10 excellent items that I have used whilst skibiking, they didn't cost much and have all delivered fantastic value for money.
All of them cost under £60, to stay in budget, some had to be bought from secondhand from eBay, usually in nearly new condition having seen a weeks use or less. SkiBike related bargains are out there to be had, providing you buy at the end of the winter season right through to late September.

Item: Columbia Salopettes

Price Paid: under £20

What was so good about this item then?

These Columbia brand salopettes were bought from eBay lightly used and in as new condition. Bought brand new, they would have gone over the £60 limit of this feature.

They are lightweight with an amazingly water proof shell* and a fuzzy, very warm inner lining. It is so cosy, that it is like walking around in a sleeping bag all day. They feature good sized pockets where you would expect them to put things and quality zips to keep them there. Being Columbia they incorporate technical features, such as, snow gaiters to stop the tops of your boots filling up with snow and getting damp as a result. There is plenty of articulation in the legs without becoming flappy in a breeze.

* I have used these for sailing too, believe me, sailing in the English Channel in December or the Baltic in April is much colder than skibiking.

Any gripes or whinges about this item?

On their first outing I made a visit to a newly surfaced dry slope with a very abrasive surface, 2 bad falls shreded the outer layer and my keys wore their way almost all the way through the exposed pocket material. I was able to make crude but effective repairs afterwards, but the same could have happened on rocks or icy snow. They have strenghtened sections around the knees and ankles but could really do with having something similar on the upper thighs. They didn't come with braces, nor could I find anywhere to button them on, not ideal.

The English Channel in December - colder than skibiking

10 Great Value SkiBike Essentials - # 8 Satori Stem Riser

I want to pay tribute to 10 excellent items that I have used whilst skibiking, they didn't cost much and have all delivered fantastic value for money.
All of them cost under £60, to stay in budget, some had to be bought from secondhand from eBay, usually in nearly new condition having seen a weeks use or less. SkiBike related bargains are out there to be had, providing you buy at the end of the winter season right through to late September.

Item: Satori Heads-Up 4 Adjustable Adapter for Ahead Stems

Price Paid: £15

What was so good about this item then?

My transition from the skibob riding technique over to freestyle / pegger skibike riding was not a smooth or painless process. I found riding my diy skibike "on the pegs" was a knife edge balance the whole time, one slip and I would overload the front ski and before you could say "Matt Hanson" I would be face down eating snow.
I was advised by Wayne Richards to install one of these Satori stem risers to put an extra few inches height on my handlebars. The result was instantaneous and deeply satisfying, there was still a knife-edged element, but now my skibike's skis were giant knives spreading gooey butter onto warm toast!
Installation takes only a few minutes and the kit came with a selection of spacers, top cap and long bolt for the star cap washer.

Any gripes or whinges about this item?

None what so ever, it is a tired cliche, but this item "Does exactly what it says on the tin"

Satori Heads-Up 4 Adjustable Adapter for Ahead Stems - available here

10 Great Value SkiBike Essentials - # 9 BullSkate SkiBike Saddle

I want to pay tribute to 10 excellent items that I have used whilst skibiking, they didn't cost much and have all delivered fantastic value for money.
All of them cost under £60, to stay in budget, some had to be bought from secondhand from eBay, usually in nearly new condition having seen a weeks use or less. SkiBike related bargains are out there to be had, providing you buy at the end of the winter season right through to late September.

Item: BullSkate SkiBike Saddle

Price Paid: Sponsored, but should be around £50

What was so good about this item then?

I was kindly donated this item by BullSkate skibikes to help me utilise the scary T-bar lift infrastructure in Sorenberg, Switzerland. Previously I had a basic, slimline saddle, such as you would expect to see on any regular mountain bike.
Regular saddles don't interface with drag lifts, you really need something fat-ass like the BullSkate's to give a suitably large and yielding surface for the T-bar's handle to interface with.
Of course having such a well padded seat, with additional springing, adds that extra level of shock absorption and is likely to keep you on the slopes longer and away from the doctor's surgery.

Any gripes or whinges about this item?

The mounting rail design raises the saddle height a couple of inches, on my skibike this makes it a tad too high even on the lowest seat post setting.

BullSkate fat ass saddle - perfect for drag lifts

10 Great Value SkiBike Essentials - # 10 Steiner Snow Goggles

I want to pay tribute to 10 excellent items that I have used whilst skibiking, they didn't cost much and have all delivered fantastic value for money.
All of them cost under £60, to stay in budget, some had to be bought from secondhand from eBay, usually in nearly new condition having seen a weeks use or less. SkiBike related bargains are out there to be had, providing you buy at the end of the winter season right through to late September.

Item: Steiner Snow Goggles

Price Paid: under £20

What was so good about this item then?

I bought these before I first went skiing in the 90s, practically every holiday after that was in perfect conditions so they sat virtually unused, until quite recently. I noticed that all the freestyle "dudes" you see on extreme YouTube videos are not to be seen without goggles and it took till this season (2012) to understand why.
If you go riding in whiteout conditions, as soon as you pick up any appreciable speed, snow flakes hit your eyeballs at a speed that makes them unbelievably painful. Wearing sunglasses doesn't help at all, the little buggers are swept by air flow around the sides to ping off your cornea. By the end of the day your eyes look like Christopher Lee's performance of Count Dracula in numerous Hammer House of Horror movies. Furthermore, even on a good day, once you start going above 25 mph, your eyes stream in the icy blast and you simply can't see where you're going anymore.

Put simply, these work, they don't fog up and were comfortable to be worn over my regular prescription sunglasses, once in place I didn't want to take them off again. Sadly Steiner don't appear to make snow goggles any more and now produce binoculars, these will have to last me a bit longer then.


Any gripes or whinges about this item?

The sealing foam disintegrated and the glue on the replacement draught sealer wouldn't hold, so I got rid of it completely. Oddly enough, the bare plastic is quite comfortable against the skin, although it does leave a great comedy line on your face when they finally come off. Still if you don't have a sense of humour you shouldn't ride a skibike.

Steiner Snow Goggles - SkiBike essential #10