Best motorcycle Christmas gifts 2023

Winter is a great time to get on top of some of those motorcycle maintenance tasks that you’ve been putting off for most of the year. And what better way to bask in the warmth of your new-found mechanical genius than by giving your bike a good old clean? Giving your bike a wash is a great way to get up close and personal with it, and with all that road dirt and crud removed, any areas that might need a bit of attention in the coming year will be much easier to spot. This Muc-Off Motorcycle Essentials Kit is an ideal Christmas gift for any biker, and at under £20, it won’t break the bank either.

There is nothing, and I mean nothing, that irks my other half more than me walking in after a long (and wet and cold) motorbike ride only to fling my stinking wet textiles over the back of the dining room chair. So, think of this as you will as not just a Christmas gift for a motorcyclist, think of it as a peace-keeping device for the biker in your life.

Christmas really wouldn’t be Christmas if you didn’t get to unwrap some socks on the big day. And imagine the joy you’ll bring when the socks in question are not ridiculous novelty Rudolph items, complete with flashing LED nose and Jingle Bells sound effects, and instead are these lovely, Respol-coloured Honda NSR socks, perfect to keep your tootsies warm and toasty.

I find it physically impossible to be disappointed when somebody buys me tools for Christmas, and yes, I am the kind of person who can spend many hours in my local tool store just looking at all of the lovely trinkets - most of which I’ll never even need! This motorbike tool kit is the ideal thing to stash in your pannier, or even under your seat, and with some combi spanners, pliers, hex keys and more, it’s a handy thing to have should you need to get your hands dirty at the roadside.

Take this Christmas right back to your childhood, although instead of (badly) attempting to build a WW2 Spitfire, build yourself a genuine icon of the two-wheeled world. The Honda CB750F was an air-cooled game-changer when it was launched, taking the 750cc sector into a new dawn of performance, handling and styling. On today’s market, the 750cc inline-four from Honda is starting to appreciate, so why not bag yourself a much more reasonably priced option? And anyway, what better way to spend Christmas day than by losing tiny bits of plastic in the carpet and super glueing your fingers to your eyelids?

Getting ready to swing a leg over your bike and finding you have a flat tyre is a bit of a rubbish way to start a ride. Normally what follows is taking the majority of your riding kit back off again, digging out the pump (which is never where you think it is) and then getting on with the task of going for a ride - by which time the weather will have probably turned! This is a handy addition to your riding kit that could stop that from happening because it’s a cordless compressor. It can run up to 150PSI and features a 6,000mAh battery. That means it’ll have enough power to pump up a fleet of flat tyres. It’s also small enough to slip into your rucksack or pannier to help with any road-side issues.

This gift idea does kind of go hand in hand with the one above because it’s a motorcycle tyre repair kit. The premise is that should you be unfortunate enough to get a screw or nail through your hoop you can plug the hole with a rubber, err, plug. It comes with everything you need to get your bike back on the road and even includes some bottles of compressed Co2 so if you’ve not taken the cordless compressor with you (silly!) you can also inflate the tyres and get back on the road.

A wheel roller is one of the motorcycle gadgets that you don’t know that you need until you’ve got one! From chain maintenance to cleaning, they’re extremely handy. They make spinning the front or rear wheel of the bike a doddle while it’s still safely sat on its side stand.

Now, I’m not really one for anodised tat on a bike (preferring the OEM look) but we are giving these CNC aluminium brake lever bottle openers a pass, because look at them!

What better time to begin planning your 2024 motorcycle tours than Christmas? There’s still plenty of time to get things in place, and two or three months to enlist some riding buddies to join your adventure. In this book, Motorcycle adventurer Colette Coleman takes you bend-by-bend along the narrowest passes and up the steepest climbs as you ride through some of the most impressive scenery in Europe. Experience the snowy peaks of Norway's Arctic Circle, head to the balmy French Riviera and further.

If you ride a bike and need a rucksack or some soft luggage, Kriega makes some of the best in the business. There’s a reason 80 per cent of motorcycle journalists use them, and it’s not because they give them away for free, before you say it! The waterproofing is second to none, and they will genuinely last for many, many years. This Drysack tank bag is a perfect companion, for shorter tours or just to stuff your vitals in so you always have your passport, driving licence and cash close by. It can even be attached to an existing Kriega rucksack, creating a kind of super backpack.

If your bike doesn’t include an inbuilt satnav system, having the ability to secure your phone to the handlebars so you know where you are going is a lifesaver. This SP Connect system can be chosen to fit a shedload of the latest popular smartphones on the market. Its CNC aluminium bar-mounting system also looks great once it’s bolted on to your bike.

If you ride track days or motocross and bring your bike to the venue either on a trailer or into the back of a van, this handy ratchet strap set could make your life a lot easier when packing up to leave. The straps feature double J-hooks that are crafted from ultra-strong, 100 per cent weather-resistant polyester webbing, plus, there are sturdy metal ends designed with an easy lock and unlock mechanism.

An Optimate battery charger is a must-have piece of kit for any bike, and they come in especially handy over winter when a bike’s battery condition could otherwise deteriorate. They keep your battery in check by monitoring the level of power in the battery, and only topping it up when it needs a bit more juice. All of this means that come spring when it’s time to start riding again, you can be sure your battery has got the minerals to get you out on the road.

If you’re looking for a gift for somebody who restores and maintains their own bike, this thing will come in extremely handy. Putting filthy parts back on a bike is just bad form, but blasting every component isn’t a very economical (or ecological) way to do it. Using a parts washer like this is less wasteful, and will have you cleaning small and medium-sized components until they are as gleaning and clean as the day the bike was built. That’s the theory, anyway…