Tech of the month: The hottest bike tech from November

November has, for me at least, rolled by in a bit of a blur. My desk faces out of a window towards a magnificent red Acer tree; over the last four weeks, the seemingly unrelenting wind has stripped it of all but a handful of its leaves, much to the disgruntlement of the two doves who regularly use its branches as a perch. 

The normal routine of testing, reviewing, and the usual news cycle get somewhat upturned in November here at Cyclingnews as the juggernaut of commercialism that is Black Friday rolls into town. This year as ever we devoted quite some time to finding you, our dear readers, the best deals out there on stuff you might actually want to buy. While the Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend is officially over, many places just quietly keep products at a discounted price for some time after. If you missed out on the bonanza because you were out riding (I’m definitely NOT jealous, honestly), you can find all the best finds collated in our Cyber Monday Bike Deals hub. 

By way of a counterpoint to the Black Friday weekend I put together a guide to Buy It For Life cycling tech; gear that, while maybe not the pinnacle in terms of performance (or the pursuit of speed), wins out in the long run by lasting noticeably longer than the competition. It included some premium components from the likes of Chris King, Rene Herse et al, but also some decidedly budget options too. 

Even if square taper cranksets and hub gears aren’t your thing It’s full of a load of pictures that I’m particularly fond of, so you can at least get some eye candy out of it. 

While Black Friday might have ruled the airwaves for a while that doesn’t mean normal duties were totally suspended. Given that we’re into winter riding now we put together a good number of totally new buyer’s guides to help you make the best purchasing decisions possible.