6 Of The Best Gadgets For Bicycles, According To Cyclists

The beautiful thing about a bicycle is that it's low-tech, making it a great way to briefly escape modern life for a peaceful ride through nature. It's also a sustainable, healthy option for commuting around town. That said, as simple as a bike can be, there's no reason you shouldn't accessorize it to make it more convenient and useful.

The cycling community is vast and diverse, and as such, there are many different kinds of gadgets and devices that cyclists use to enhance their ride. Some are dedicated to safety, while others help with navigation or improving your workouts. If you're thinking about accessorizing your own bicycle with some of these add-ons, there are a number of longstanding publications that test and review various bike gadgets. You can also peruse a variety of forums dedicated to the hobby for suggestions from other cyclists.

These are six of the best gadgets for bicycles, according to cyclists, that have been vetted and given positive reviews. You can find more information on how these gadgets were selected at the end of the list. While you'll certainly want to use analog items — like phone mounts, sturdy bike locks, and, of course, helmets — with your bike, this list focuses on tech devices that include electronics in some form or another.

In one thread on the subreddit r/cycling that lists various "cycling accessories that are 100% worth buying," a Reddit user suggested that bicycle owners make sure they "get a bell that lets you control how loud you ring it." Rather than a standard brass bell that more or less emits the same tone, a more customizable bell can let you appropriately use it depending on the setting or situation. While you can hit a bell with different levels of force to somewhat achieve this, an electronic bell makes it a lot easier to ring it in different ways.

Ride Review gives a positive average expert score of 4.3 to the Daway A14 110 dB Electric Bike Horn, which can easily be used to alert others of your presence and is loud enough to let cars know when you're passing them on the road. A red button allows you to easily switch the horn between five modes, while the control switch for the horn itself can be installed where you're comfortable using it. It's powered by two AAA batteries that can last months before easily being replaced, and the horn has a universal mount for bicycles.

The Daway A14 110 dB Electric Bike Horn is listed for $23.99 on Amazon, though you can sometimes find it for less. Of course, bells are one of the simplest mechanical devices out there, so it might be a little overkill to pay more for an electric one — but some cyclists find the versatility of the latter makes it worth the higher cost.

A bike computer is perhaps the quintessential gadget for bicycles, as it functions very much like the traditional dashboard meters of a car, as well as newer navigational displays. Cyclist named the Garmin Edge 840 Bike Computer one of the best bike computers of 2024, praising its "huge range of features in a compact package." In addition to standard metrics like speed and distance, the Edge 840 has a ton of useful tools for training, such as personalized coaching tips, suggested workouts, an ascent and grade planner, training status updates, heat and altitude acclimation insights, nutrition and hydration alerts, grit and flow stats, event goals, and a power guide feature that recommends power targets throughout a given course.

Additionally, the Garmin Edge 840 Bike Computer is useful for cycling with others and includes the ability to plan group rides and track other cyclists in your group, as well as showing you the most popular routes taken in your area. It can also give you terrain-specific turn-by-turn directions and uses multi-band GNSS technology for enhanced positioning accuracy.

It also includes incident detection, a bike alarm, and many other handy features. The device offers both button and touchscreen controls and can last up to 26 hours on a single charge when used intensely, or 42 hours in power save mode. The Garmin Edge 840 Bike Computer is available on Amazon for $449.99 — unfortunately, you'll need to pay another $100 if you want to go with the convenient solar-powered option.

Lurk on various cycling subreddits and you'll find no shortage of recommendations for bike lights, which not only illuminate your surroundings but — perhaps even more importantly — let others, especially drivers, know where you are. The Garmin Varia RTL515 Radar Tail Light is particularly helpful because it includes radar that will alert you when a vehicle is approaching you from behind up to 153 yards away, giving you situational awareness. In its list of the best bike lights of 2024, Cycling News called the product the "best for radar."

The Garmin Varia RTL515 shines brightly even in daylight and has a visibility up to a mile, so vehicles will have plenty of notice that you're riding ahead. It can last up to six hours on a single charge or up to 16 hours in flashing mode. The device can integrate with various third party apps, as well as pair with Garmin's Edge Bike Computer. The light is compatible with most bikes and mounting it to your seatpost is simple to do, while its vertical design gives you comfortable leg clearance.

The light is fairly pricey, especially when considering you'll still need to purchase a front light as well. It's a lot more affordable to just attach some cheap LEDs to the rear of your bike, but cyclists find radar awareness to be very useful and safety should be your number one priority when riding. Amazon sells the Garmin Varia RTL515 Radar Tail Light for $199.99.

Many cyclists love to use action cams to document their rides, whether it's for personal use or vlogging for a wider audience. That's exactly why Cycling Weekly published a list of the best-reviewed bike and helmet cameras of 2024, which includes the GoPro Hero11 Black. If you're the type of rider who likes to have the newest version of every gadget, you can also opt for the GoPro Hero 12 Black, which is a great action camera for surveying hiking trails as well as filming all sorts of intense activities, including biking. Not only can you mount it to your bicycle's handlebars, but it's also compact and lightweight enough to attach to your helmet for a true POV perspective.

SlashGear reviewed the GoPro Hero 12 Black and gave it an excellent 9 out of 10 score, though we did find that it didn't improve much on the Hero 11, so there's no reason to buy one if you already own the previous-gen camera. We were also dismayed that the camera lacks GPS, but other than that, there is a lot to love about the Hero 12.

With improved video stabilization, you'll get a smooth recording even if you're using a mountain bike on bumpy trails. A timecode sync feature allows you to wirelessly synchronize multiple GoPros if you're shooting and editing footage with multiple riders in a group. It includes a curved adhesive mount, mounting buckle and thumb screw, and built-in tripod support, and it's weatherproof. It's also waterproof up to 33 feet — which of course isn't relevant for cycling unless something goes really wrong — but it's a nice feature regardless. The ultra hi-res camera can capture a 156-degree ultrawide field of view and shoots in 5.3K at 60 fps, 4K at 120 fps, and 2.7K at 240 fps. You can purchase the GoPro Hero 12 Black for $349 on Amazon.

Many cyclists prefer an electric pump for their tires over a manual one, with one redditor saying that the former is "way, way easier than a hand pump." There are plenty of powered pumps on the market, including the Ryobi 18V One+ Dual Function Inflator/Deflator, which is perfectly sized for air mattresses, pool floats, and bike tires. On the r/bicycling subreddit, a rider claims that they own three different air compressors from the brand, which checks out as its inflators are some of Ryobi's best 18V tools available.

However, Ryobi's inflators are fairly bulky and can be pretty expensive. If you're looking for something a little more portable and under $100, the Denvix 150 PSI Tire Inflator is a solid option. SlashGear reviewed the Denvix 150 PSI Tire Inflator and found it to be "incredibly user-friendly" with several useful features, which include four illumination modes for using it in the dark, the ability to remember previous PSI targets, and a huge 15,000 mAh battery that allows you to use it many times before recharging, as well the ability to charge other devices in a pinch — including tablets and laptops.

Plus, the compact compressor works quickly and can top off your bike tires in seconds. Its touchscreen display and interface looks sleek and modern while also making it simple to operate.  The inflator is a little loud, but not unbearably so. Amazon sells the Denvix 150 PSI Tire Inflator for $99.95 — it comes with a storage bag and various valve accessories for more versatility.

Browse various biking subreddits and you'll discover a number of homemade Raspberry Pi gadgets used by cyclists that enhance their rides in innovative, convenient ways — including as customizable (and sometimes more affordable) versions of other gadgets on this list, such as horns, lights, and vehicle alert systems. Among the many Raspberry Pi projects for bicycle riders you can make yourself or buy from others, you can find impact force monitors and even bike computers.

The latest generation of Raspberry Pi is the Raspberry Pi 5, which has a perfect 5 out of 5 score from computer publication PCMag. The Pi 5 includes a Broadcom BCM2712 2.4GHz quad-core 64-bit ARM Cortex-A76 CPU with cryptography extensions, 512KB per-core L2 caches, and a 2 mb shared L3 cache, as well as a VideoCore VII GPU that supports OpenGL ES 3.1 and Vulkan 1.2. It features dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, and Bluetooth Low Energy for wireless connectivity.

You should note that, depending on what you plan on using it for, the Raspberry Pi 5 might not be the ideal model for your project. There are several different kinds of Raspberry Pi computers available, and — as noted in SlashGear's Raspberry Pi 5 vs. Raspberry Pi 4 breakdown — while the Pi 5 is more powerful, the Pi 4 is better in certain situations. You can purchase an 8 gb Raspberry Pi 5 on Amazon for $159.99, while a 4 gb RAM option is available for $10 less.

The items selected for this list of best gadgets for bicycles (according to cyclists) sourced both cyclists who post on various subreddits such as r/cycling and r/bicycles, as well as reputable publications that cater to cycling enthusiasts, like Cycling News, Ride Review, Cyclist, and Cycling Weekly. The definition of "gadgets" in context of this list are items that can attach to or be used for most standard bicycles and include at least some basic electronics or technology in their construction, as opposed to purely analog devices such as mechanical bells and phone mounts.

To ensure that any recommended products that are based on gadget ideas selected using the above cycling-related sources reliably work as advertised, hands-on expert reviews were referenced. These include reviews from experts who tested the recommended products for the cycling publications named above — Cyclist, Cycling News, Ride Review, and Cycling Weekly — as well as from tech and gear experts writing for PCMag, and — of course — SlashGear. So, in addition to cycling enthusiasts considering the above list of gadgets useful for your bicycle, the specific branded items recommended in this list have also been vetted and given positive reviews by appropriate experts.