The 4 essential items I use for bike park MTBing – up to 70% off this Black Friday

While it’s not high tide for bike park laps, Black Friday offers a good opportunity to stock up on items before the season starts again, while taking advantage of the good savings.

Hitting bike parks can be an expensive pursuit, with lift passes now hovering around the £50 mark and that’s not taking into account food from the scran van and the mandatory aprés beers.

Never one to miss out on a deal, I’ve trawled through near-endless online retailers to find genuinely good savings on items I use on bike park weekends – and which should come in handy from opening day and beyond.

These range from necessities to luxuries, and with Christmas around the corner some can be early entrants under the tree.

7iDP Project 23 Glass Fibre Full Face Helmet – £199.99 £79.99 (save 61%)

Many bike parks make riding in a full-face helmet a mandatory requirement, and after experiencing my fair share of heavy spills I wouldn’t visit without one.

This Project 23 Glass Fibre Full Face from 7iDP has some impressive features, with an easy Fidlock Magnetic closure and the brand’s S.E.R.T Slip-Plane System that works around the same concept as MIPS.

For £79.99, there’s very little that comes close to this level of protection and before you’re led down the garden path, common sizes M, L and XL are available at the time of writing.

• Buy the 7iDP Project 23 Glass Fibre Full Face Helmet from Tweeks for £79.99

Reserve 30 Industry 9 Carbon front wheel – £795 £299 (save 62%) / rear wheel £999 £399 (save 60%)

A new set of wheels has the potential to completely alter how your bike feels on the trail, and these Reserve 30 I9s should change it for all the right reasons.

We tested these mountain bike wheels as a set, awarding them 4 stars and praising their accurate and direct feel, and top-quality construction.

Unfortunately, sometimes swapping your wheels out is less of a choice and more of a necessity, but Reserve’s lifetime rim warranty should make that less of an issue going forward.

Priced at £399 for the rear and £299 for the front, you could buy both of them together, making the wheelset only £698.

While that's still pricey, I'm sure they'd roll easily down the chimney.

• Buy the Reserve 30 DT 350 Carbon front wheel from Merlin for £299
• Buy the Reserve 30 Industry 9 Carbon rear wheel from Merlin for £399

Maxxis Minion DHR II 3C MaxxGrip TR DD – £84.99 £34.99 (save 59%)

While I’ve not visited every UK bike park with a clipboard and pen, I would guess the Minion DHR II is the most popular mountain bike tyre in the lift queue.

Our senior technical shr-editor, Alex Evans, has reviewed this exact model, awarding it 4.5 stars. 

I personally run one on my long-term test bike and love its versatility and predictability.

The DoubleDown casing saves your bacon when ploughing through rock sections, or for me, heavily casing jumps.

I’d be tempted to pick up a few of these at this price, enabling me to feel pro with fresh rub-rub all season long.

• Buy the Maxxis Minion DHR II 3C MaxxGrip TR DD from Merlin Cycles for £34.99

Five Ten Freerider Pro Canvas Mountain Bike Shoes – £129.99 £39 (save 70%)

Fresh rubber isn’t reserved solely for your bike, with a new pair of mountain bike shoes upgrading your traction on the pedals.

While I’m lucky enough to have multiple pairs of mountain bike shoes, having a pair dedicated to scary days hitting large man-made features reassures me to push the envelope a little further.

I’ve owned a pair of Freerider Pros and still find the Stealth sole and wide toe box to be a benchmark.

With a whopping 70 per cent saving, this deal has already been shared in my Dirtbag WhatsApp group chat, so I’m expecting the boys to be repping the fresh creps some time soon.

As with the previously mentioned 7iDP helmet, this is no red herring, with all sizes ranging from UK 6.5 (40) to UK 13.5 (49) still available at the time of writing.

• Buy the Five Ten Freerider Pro Canvas Mountain Bike Shoes from Evans Cycles for £39

When is Black Friday 2024?

Black Friday falls on 29 November this year, with Cyber Monday on 2 December. 

However, Black Friday sales begin much earlier, so keep an eye out for deals throughout this week.

How to get a good deal on Black Friday

A little research goes a long way. Read a few online reviews before you commit to buy. There may be a reason for that 40 per cent discount.

Have you actually thought about what you want to buy? We recommend you put together a wishlist in advance so you don’t come to regret a rash decision.

Take price drops with a pinch of salt: they can often be hugely exaggerated, since they’re listed against an RRP that might be years old. Helpfully, we track deal prices and do our best to let you know about a product’s price history so you know you’re definitely getting the best deal.

Don’t let the stress get to you. If you see a deal that’s marked as ‘nearly out of stock’, add it to your shopping basket straight away. Then take a look at the prices other retailers are advertising. You normally get at least a couple of minutes before the item leaves your basket.

Consider installing the CamelCamelCamel browser extension, especially for Amazon-related shopping. This tool will monitor the prices of products on Amazon and notify you if you're truly securing the best possible deal.

Why Black Friday?

Black Friday is the day after America’s Thanksgiving holiday. Previously, the Friday was spent recuperating from the turkey and pumpkin pie, but sensing an opportunity, retailers began to offer post-Thanksgiving sales to tempt people off their couches and into the stores.

Black Friday really took off when the internet offered people the chance to stay sat on their couches and still go shopping. It has turned into an online sales frenzy, with online retailers often offering their best – or close to best – prices over the Thanksgiving holiday period.

It’s become such an internet event that the Monday after the holiday has been anointed Cyber Monday and offers yet more opportunities to buy at a discount. Bargains are appearing ever earlier in November as retailers try to steal a march on their competitors and generate extra turnover.