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Fuelit Discovery BoxFuelit Discovery Box.jpg

Fuelit Discovery Box

8
by Stu Kerton
UPDATED Fri, Sep 02, 2016 15:46

First Published Sep 2, 2016

3
£9.99

VERDICT:

8
10
An excellent and novel idea if you like to custom pick or vary your cycling nutrition
Weight: 
554g
Contact: 
www.fuelit.co.uk
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The home-delivered 'selection pack' isn't a new idea when it comes to food and drink, but we're pretty sure Fuelit's Discovery Box is the first in the cycling-specific nutrition market. The ease of use and large selection of products is great if you like a bit of variety in your life.

Fuelit is a one-stop-shop for energy bars, gels and various nutritional products not only from the big names we're all familiar with but a few that it is sole distributor for.

> Buy this online here

I'm not a big-time energy product user on the bike – years of commuting mean I can ride fasted for about three hours and I never carry a bottle on the bike – but every once in a while when I do a big event I need some sustenance.

I like a bit of variety if it's a long ride – some sweet, some savoury, gels or bars – so the Fuelit method really appeals. Basically, you can select each product individually in a Custom Box, or, if you don't mind surprises, go for the Discovery Box.

For the Custom Box you go onto the website and select 10 items that you fancy to make up the selection and Fuelit will chuck in an extra 'Discovery' product free of charge. This will set you back the price of whatever you've added to your box plus £1.50 p&p.

Order before 4pm and it'll be dispatched that day in a cardboard box like you see in the picture, designed to fit through your letterbox so you don't need to be home for delivery.

> Read more road.cc reviews of energy bars here

Price-wise things are pretty similar to your local bike shop for individual items, but if you just want a box of one product, High5 energy bars, for example, then you are better off buying from one of the internet giants.

Where Fuelit really excels, though, is the Discovery Box, a selection of 10 products: 5 energy bars and 5 energy gels, 10 gels or 10 bars, you decide. These cost £9.99 plus the usual £1.50 p&p for a box, with a guaranteed £15 worth of stuff in it. If you subscribe, you can choose how many boxes you receive and how frequently, and it'll cost you £8.99 plus postage. A great way to try new things.

> Read more road.cc reviews of energy gels here

As well as high street names such as High5 and SiS, Fuelit also stocks smaller brands like AM Sport, OTE, Firestar and 32Gi, a South African nutrition company which Fuelit is sole stockist for. It's a very impressive range of products that we'll hopefully get in for individual review soon.

Overall, I think the Fuelit concept is a very good one for riders like me, who aren't tied to a structured training or nutrition plan and are willing to give things a try. The Discovery Boxes offer really good value, prompt delivery and a great way of trying different products on the market. Fuelit also says it's committed to contributing 1% of all revenues to charity.

Verdict

An excellent and novel idea if you like to custom pick or vary your cycling nutrition

If you're thinking of buying this product using a cashback deal why not use the road.cc Top Cashback page and get some top cashback while helping to support your favourite independent cycling website

road.cc test report

Make and model: Fuelit Discovery Box

Size tested: 5 Bars ,5 Gels a different variety in each order,

Tell us what the product is for, and who it's aimed at. What do the manufacturers say about it? How does that compare to your own feelings about it?

Fuelit says, "Huw and Jon here, founders of fuelit. We've been cycling and running for over 10 years, participating in everything from 24-hour endurance events to international level races. In this time, we've sought out and tried just about every endurance sports nutrition product under the sun, experimenting with what works well for us and what doesn't.

"We were tired of taking up lots of space in our homes with big bulk packs of the same thing, and we thought it would be great to be able to shop online in the same way as you can in your local store (but with much more choice!), but still at the same price per item as in bulk packs."

I think Fuelit is on to a novel idea and it's competitively priced for individual items – a great way to try new stuff too.

Tell us some more about the technical aspects of the product?

From Fuelit: "Given that everyone's different and has different preferences, we believe that the best way to do this is to try a wide variety of sports nutrition products and see what works best for you. Hence the creation of the Discovery Box!

"Once you've found your new favourites, you can order them in any combination in our Custom Boxes, containing any 10 products of your choice."

Rate the product for quality of construction:
 
8/10

Hard-wearing cardboard box which means your deliveries arrive undamaged.

Rate the product for performance:
 
8/10

Website is very easy to use, with good product descriptions with delivery as promised.

Rate the product for value:
 
8/10

The Discovery boxes are very good value, plus for individual pieces Fuelit can compete so it's beneficial if you simply can't – or can't be bothered – to go to the shop.

Tell us how the product performed overall when used for its designed purpose

A very simple system to use with lots to try.

Tell us what you particularly liked about the product

The size of the selection.

Tell us what you particularly disliked about the product

If you want to bulk buy one particular product it's cheaper elsewhere.

Did you enjoy using the product? Yes

Would you consider buying the product? Yes

Would you recommend the product to a friend? Yes

Use this box to explain your score

Fuelit has used the model of the likes of Graze to bring some selection to the cycling nutrition market. Yes, maybe you can bulk buy certain products from the big boys for less, but Fuelit gives you that choice to select a variation plus its exclusive products give you even more selection.

Overall rating: 8/10

About the tester

Age: 37  Height: 180cm  Weight: 76kg

I usually ride: This month's test bike  My best bike is: Mason Definition

I've been riding for: 10-20 years  I ride: Every day  I would class myself as: Expert

I regularly do the following types of riding: time trialling, commuting, club rides, sportives, fixed/singlespeed

Fuelit Discovery Box 2016
Fuelit Discovery Box
Fuelit 2016
Fuelit
Stu Kerton

As part of the Tech Hub here at F-At Digital, our senior product reviewer Stu uses the knowledge gained from putting well over a 1,000 products through their paces (including hundreds of bikes) to write in-depth reviews of a huge range of kit. After first throwing his leg over a race bike back in 2000, Stu's ridden more than 160,000 miles on road, time-trial, track, and gravel bikes, and while he's put his racing days behind him he still likes to smash the pedals rather than take things easy. Although, as he spends a fair bit of his time reviewing ebikes these days he's becoming an expert in letting the motor take the strain. He's also waiting for 23mm race tyres to make a comeback!

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3 comments

Avatar
postmandick | 7 years ago
0 likes

An excellent idea ..... as I have brought bars to try and after two bites ....... Arggg
so my postman buddies get all the ones I don't like .
good idea to try other bars as your stomach might be stronger than mine 1

Avatar
JonMack | 7 years ago
0 likes

The Feed has been around for a few years in the US - https://thefeed.com/ and I've always been slightly envious that such a website existed so it's great to see someone doing it in the UK.

Avatar
bendertherobot | 7 years ago
0 likes

https://roubaixcycling.cc/2016/04/19/fuelit-packed-with-energy-and-love/

I was really impressed. Such as simple idea, and such good stuff to discover within

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