What to Carry, and What Not To

Marianne Prowse · 26 July 2026

On a hire bike you fix nothing. That changes the list considerably.

The Short List

Lights if there is any chance of dusk, because scheme lights are often dim or dead. A phone with charge, since the phone is the key. Something waterproof.

That is genuinely most of it. You are not carrying tools for a bicycle you do not own and are not permitted to work on.

The Bag Question

Front baskets on hire bikes are a trap. They are fine for a jacket and terrible for anything you would mind losing, because they have no lid and you cannot see them while riding.

A small rucksack keeps everything attached to you, which matters at the point where you leave the bike somewhere and walk away from it.

Wet Weather

A jacket that packs small beats a good jacket you left at home. Overshoes are a luxury; dry feet on the way to work are not.

Mudguards are usually fitted on scheme bikes and are one of the genuine advantages over a borrowed road bike.

Gloves, Actually

The one piece of kit that gets left off every list and improves every cold ride. Shared handlebars are metal, wet and have been held by a thousand strangers.

A thin pair lives in a jacket pocket all winter and weighs nothing. It is the highest return-per-gram item on the list.