9 badass bike components - easy ways to make your bike look cool

You won’t find a ‘badass’ section in your local bike shop but if you look carefully you’ll find certain components that can't fail to make your bike look cooler.

We’re not talking about performance here, although most of the products below are designed to give you some sort of advantage in terms of weight, aerodynamics, or whatever. That’s not the point, though, and practicality certainly isn’t a consideration either. No, we’re simply and unashamedly showing you stuff that look badass. That’s it.

If you want to point out that a £3,500 set of wheels just isn’t a sensible purchase for most of us, fill yer boots, but sensible and cool are two different things.

That brings us on to one other factor: cost. Cool bike components aren’t necessarily expensive… but they usually are. If they were cheap everyone would have them, and if everyone had them they wouldn't be cool any more. Sorry, I'm not particularly happy about this either to be perfectly honest with you, but that's just the way the world works. Don’t shoot the messenger.

If you’ve got other badass components to add to our list, let’s hear about them in the comments below.

Nokon Universal Cable Set — £53.99

Of course, you can use the standard cables that come fitted to your bike or in the pack with your new shifters, but they’re just not badass. Nokon cables, on the other hand, with anodised aluminium outers, are. The practical reasons for fitting them are decreased friction and lightweight, but the main thing is that they look very cool.

www.nokon.com

Hope Jockey wheels — £39.99

The idea of ceramic jockey wheels is that they reduce drivetrain friction. That’s all well and good but the committed badassateer knows that the fact that they look cool is equally important so don’t go for anonymous black or grey. You need to choose red, orange, purple or blue for maximum points.

www.hopetech.com

Zipp 454 NSW Carbon Clinchers — £3,500

“£3,500 for a set of wheels?!?”

Yes, but with their Sawtooth rim profile these look fast even when stationary. Yes, but the shaping is inspired by the pectoral fin of a humpback whale and how many other wheels can boast that?

(It's none, by the way).

www.zipp.com

Selle Italia SP-01 Boost Tekno Superflow Saddle — £310.48 / £348.99

The Selle Italia SP-01 Boost Tekno Superflow is the ultimate statement saddle. Engineered in partnership with an F1 constructor, it is a carbon fibre chassis for your sit bones that's jaw-droppingly expensive, breathtakingly light, beautifully finished and actually surprisingly comfortable.

www.selleitalia.com

THM Carbones Clavicula SE cranks — £816.81

So you noticed that THM’s Carbones Clavicula cranks aren’t cheap (the price above is without the chainrings). They are all carbon, though, including the axle, and very lightweight at just 420g (including bottom bracket).

www.thm-carbones.com

Vision Metron 6D Integrated Bar and Stem — £460.99

You’re absolutely right, a combined handlebar and stem doesn’t give you the set-up versatility of separate components but it's still somehow cooler. Maybe it’s because it gives the front of your bike a cleaner look. Vision's Metron 6D cockpit is made from carbon fibre, of course, and has loads of internal channels for your cables or hoses, again adding to the neatness.

shop.visiontechusa.com

TRP R970 SL brakes — £378.00

Light weight is badass so these brakes are off to a good start at just 104g per brake. Chuck in the fact that they have forged and CNC machined magnesium arms, titanium hardware and SwissStop pads and you’re onto a winner.

www.trpbrakes.com

Arundel Mandible carbon bottle cage — £65

The Mandible has been around for a long time now and it still looks cool. It weighs just 28g and it holds your water bottle ultra secure. It might only be a water bottle cage but it’ll increase the sexiness of your bike by 9%*.

Read our review

* Perhaps.

Kapz custom headset cap — from £16.95

Most headset caps are fairly nondescript and not remotely badass, and for that reason they must go. Kapz will put anything you want onto a headset cap with prices starting at £16.95

www.kapz.com

Do you have any more suggestions? Let us know down below.