Our weekly round-up of Five Cool Things usually shows off the latest and greatest products we've got in for testing here at road.cc... but this time we gave you the chance to show us some of your favourite bike-themed Christmas gifts for the chance to win some stunning road.cc socks.
Below are our five faves - we've also went on a virtual hunt to find the same or similar products online, you'll see the buying links above the pics if you want one for yourself... or if you're one of those annoyingly organised types who wants some Christmas gift inspiration for 2019. Congrats to the winners and we hope all our readers have had a great Christmas!
Buy road.cc socks here
Five cool things coming soon to road.cc
Lion Bellworks Classic Bicycle Bell
£18.90
Our winner Pfaff has bagged his/herself the Rolex of bike bells, with this solid brass beauty being one of the few still assembled and made in the UK. With a "beautiful loud musical sound with a long sustain" according to Lion, it's a pleasure to be made to get out of the way by an owner of one of these retro delights.
£1.90
With 99.9% of cyclists now owning some sort of bike pizza cutter, it's about time we all had something cycle-shaped to open our beer with too... and for road.cc reader Nick Bowden that's now a reality with this handy little trinket.
Proviz Reflect 360 Cycling Jacket
£63.99
Top marks for effort for this entry from Ali Diegutis, whose new Proviz Reflect 360 jacket has arrived just in time for a pretty foggy ride!
£3.66
"The Mr Men are all getting on their bikes for the Grand Tour cycling race. Or should that be unicycles, tricycles and octocycles?! Will Mr Rush be victorious again or will another rider cross the finish line first this time?" It all sounds intriguing and was gratefully received by Phil Reynolds, who reckons it's "the best cycling gift ever!" The book was written by Roger Hargreaves' son Adam Hargreaves, and is part of a new series that re-imagines some of his father's best loved Mr. Men and Little Miss characters in various new adventures.
Richard's Bicycle Book: a manual of bike maintenance and enjoyment
From £3.59 (yep, we actually found one online!)
We've saved our favourite of all until last, and it comes in the form of this gloriously vintage bike maintenance guide that we've discovered was first printed in 1972. You'll find nothing on electric shifting or ceramic bearings in here (it even pre-dates L-Shaped Cranks)... instead you'll be told that cassette-type gears will never catch on and five-speed touring bikes are the bomb, so says our winner Gill Caine: "I loved this gift, a cycling friend took the time to find it, and its re-cycled, the maintenance section even has oily fingerprints!" We might just try to get our oily mitts on a copy ourselves Gill!
The five winners above have all been contacted - but just to reiterate if you are one of the famous five then please email jack.sexty [at] road.cc with your delivery address, shoe size and preferred sock colour (black or white), and we'll post your prize out to you when our hangovers have settled on the 2nd January!