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Bargain GPS watch headlines latest Aldi cycling offers

Summer clothing & tools at low low prices too from this Sunday

 

Value-for-money supermarket Aldi is to unleash a collection of cycling gear again this Sunday, and this time the selection includes the cheapest GPS/heart rate/altimeter watch we’ve ever seen.


Aldi GPS Unisex Watch

For just £65, the snappily-named GPS Unisex Watch features GPS navigation with waypoints; GPS distance and speed measurement;  compass; backlight; altimeter; and heart rate measurement with a chest strap. It’s water-resistant to 3 atmospheres (which should mean it’s rainproof, but you wouldn’t want to go swimming in it) and has a three-year warranty.

If you’ve been toying with the idea of adding route recording to your riding, this looks like a bargain.


Aldi summer jerseys

As usual at this time of year, Aldi will also have a range of summer clothing that includes sleeveless base layers for a fiver, gloves for £3.49, and jerseys and shorts for £8.99.


Aldi shorts

If your bike needs work, you can get a basic home workshop kit for under £60 with a workstand (£30), tool kit (£20) and floor pump (£6). It’s very unlikely the quality is going to keep Park Tool awake at night, but it’ll get you started.

Other items on offer in this round of bike gear include a wireless computer for £6.99 and bike-themed t-shirts for a fiver.

Not everything is the biggest bargain possible, though. Aldi is listing 400ml cans of popular Teflon maintenance spray GT85 for £2.99, but bargain-hunters would be better off popping into their local Halfords, which is doing them for a mere £2.25.

These Aldi bike itens are part of a Special Buys collection that will be available from Sunday June 29. If previous Aldi cycling collections are anything to go buy, they’ll sell out fast, so you might want to go for a later ride this weekend and hit the store smack on 10am.

We've taken a closer look at Aldi's cycling kit before, and you always have plenty to say about it, as a browse through these stories will show. The summary is that some of it is not bad at all considering the bargain-basement prices, but you shouldn't be expecting Assos or Castelli quality.

John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.

He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.

Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.

John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.

He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.

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42 comments

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davkt | 9 years ago
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Well the Runtastic connect app sees there is a watch there but says "invalid watch connected" so I guess the Aldi one is just missing a line of code in the connection process that says "hello I am a Runtastic watch serial number XXXXXX".
Slight problem installing the GPSMaster software on my Mac as for some reason it installs with permissions set so no one can access the folder containing the application, not very useful! Easy enough to fix once I'd worked out what was happening (right click the folder and select 'get info' unlock the get info panel by clicking the padlock icon at the bottom and entering your admin ID and password then change the no one to everyone RW) but a little sloppy of Aldi's developers!
GPS Master is a bit old fashioned looking but downloads the data fine and exports gpx files so dead easy to read the data into whatever website or software you like best.

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drfabulous0 | 9 years ago
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Apply directly to the engine on warm days to prevent mechanical problems later.

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Him Up North | 9 years ago
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I notice on that Special Buys page they're selling something called SPF15/SPF30 Clear Spray. Can anyone tell me which part of the bike you're supposed to apply it to...?

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leqin | 9 years ago
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I bought one of the Pro series jerseys last time and it was a nice fit - it lasted about 3 months and then the zip broke and then the reflective stripes began falling off and then the rear pocket gave way leaving my pump and spare inner bouncing down the road.

None of my DHB or Castelli stuffs ever let me down, so I shan't try saving money again cause you have to pay for quality.

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freespirit1 | 9 years ago
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Just noticed they also have a toolkit on there.

Are they any good?

Only asking as stepson keeps on nicking my tools!!

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rich22222 replied to freespirit1 | 9 years ago
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freespirit1 wrote:

Just noticed they also have a toolkit on there.

Are they any good?

Only asking as stepson keeps on nicking my tools!!

The tool kit I bought a couple of years back was so so quality, some stuff great, some not so, but provided a good cheap base having now replaced a couple of things.

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JAndrewHill | 9 years ago
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Does it tell the time?

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Beatnik69 replied to JAndrewHill | 9 years ago
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The Aldi or the Garmin 10. The Aldi one does. In fact it can show dual times.

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horizontal dropout | 9 years ago
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Actually the bike stand is not that strong and stable. Mine (Lidl but the same) broke within a week. I fixed it and it's still going. It's fine as long as you treat it with a bit of care but not as sturdy as Park, Edinburgh bike co-op etc. Also no good for a Brompton, they are too tail heavy and the clamp is not strong enough to hold it horizontal. Don't let that stop you buying one, just don't expect too much of it.

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davkt replied to horizontal dropout | 9 years ago
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horizontal dropout wrote:

Actually the bike stand is not that strong and stable. Mine (Lidl but the same) broke within a week. I fixed it and it's still going. It's fine as long as you treat it with a bit of care but not as sturdy as Park, Edinburgh bike co-op etc. Also no good for a Brompton, they are too tail heavy and the clamp is not strong enough to hold it horizontal. Don't let that stop you buying one, just don't expect too much of it.

Sure it isn't a Park or similar but mine does the job fine and seems very well built, plus it has a 3 year warranty so if it does break it will be fixed/replaced!

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Cooks | 9 years ago
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NOtice how the shorts are loose at the hem... yikes

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antonio replied to Cooks | 9 years ago
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Cooks wrote:

NOtice how the shorts are loose at the hem... yikes

I must have big legs!

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Rich71 | 9 years ago
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Id recommend the Garmin Forerunner 10 over this supposed cheap option from Aldi,the Garmin is only 10pound extra and looks nicer,has a better display,very easy to use and uploads to Strava with no niggles or problems
I would be very hesitant before i spent 65 on this one
As for the cycling gear,i found the last shorts i bought from Aldi to have a very stretchy material although the padding was comfortable for longer rides,the shirt was fine though
I dont understand some of the typical snobbish comments about the faux Garmin colours though,its fine if you are on a budget

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bikebot replied to Rich71 | 9 years ago
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Rich71 wrote:

Id recommend the Garmin Forerunner 10 over this supposed cheap option from Aldi,the Garmin is only 10pound extra and looks nicer,has a better display,very easy to use and uploads to Strava with no niggles or problems
I would be very hesitant before i spent 65 on this one
As for the cycling gear,i found the last shorts i bought from Aldi to have a very stretchy material although the padding was comfortable for longer rides,the shirt was fine though
I dont understand some of the typical snobbish comments about the faux Garmin colours though,its fine if you are on a budget

You can now find the Garmin 10 at a good discount, but no HRM, and as it doesn't have ANT+ you can't add one.

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LJM | 9 years ago
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A watch of 3atm/30m water resistance will withstand "splashes and brief immersion" ie you can wear it in the shower but it is not suitable for swimming. a 5atm/50m watch is suitable for swimming.

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Shamblesuk | 9 years ago
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I bought the same workstand from Aldi a few weeks ago. My bike is red and the stand is blue. So I had to buy an R3 to match.

Damnit. Could have saved a fortune by just waiting.

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antonio | 9 years ago
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I too have an Ultrasport Navrun, it does more than I need or want, great to track my regular circuits and monitor my fitness.

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antonio replied to antonio | 9 years ago
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antonio wrote:

I too have an Ultrasport Navrun, it does more than I need or want, great to track my regular circuits and monitor my fitness.

Forgot to mention, it tracks my local ten mile tt's perfectly, reminds me constantly I must improve.

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choddo | 9 years ago
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I got HRMs from Aldi last year for the wife & kids - 1 out of 4 worked. Absolute tat. I hope the GPS watch is better quality.

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parksey | 9 years ago
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It'll do the job with no particular fuss, seems to be the general ethos of the Aldi gear. Your phone will likely do the same via GPS too though...

I'm not so fussed about anything on offer this time round. The watch is admittedly something of a bargain, but the clothing seems a bit naff with the faux team kit look (not least the one in the blatant Garmin colours!).

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notfastenough | 9 years ago
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Another fan of the workstand. I did do a bit of looking around before buying, and for anything less than £100-odd you're looking at only 2 or 3 legs and less stability. Make sure to check the tightness of the clamp though before gripping your carbon frame with it!

The tyre levers in the toolkit didn't last 5 minutes though. One tyre change with a tight-fitting tyre/rim combo and that was that. Just a shame they aren't doing a torque wrench!

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robert posts child replied to notfastenough | 9 years ago
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Anyone any experience of the wirless computers? I just want some basic speed/ distance info . I am a newbie and just want to see improvement.

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Redvee replied to robert posts child | 9 years ago
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robert posts child wrote:

Anyone any experience of the wirless computers? I just want some basic speed/ distance info . I am a newbie and just want to see improvement.

It will do the job, just be careful around traffic lights and security barriers in shops as this will cause the speed reading to spike hugely. I had one on my bike and was waiting for a friend outside a shop and was doing 33mph whilst stationary.

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Deac | 9 years ago
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Re Garmin the blue shirt looks familiar.  39

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jollygoodvelo | 9 years ago
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Sport Pursuit have Garmin Forerunner 110 + HRM sets for £89.70... I'd pay the extra I think.

Tempted by a workstand though.

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harrybav | 9 years ago
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The workstand is great. Big, solid, heavy. But better to buy same model on ebay for <£30 incl postage, saves breaking a bungee cord trying to strap it to the bike outside Aldi!

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bikebot | 9 years ago
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Good spot, the Ultrasport Navrun is the watch that Runtastic adapted for their own store.

You can see the similarity to the Audi watch - https://www.runtastic.com/shop/en/runtastic-gps-watch-with-heart-rate-mo...

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Beatnik69 | 9 years ago
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The GPS watch looks very similar to the Ultrasport Navrun 500 (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ultrasport-GPS-Navrun-500-Heart-Rate/dp/B003XII6YS). I got my wife one of these when she started running then got myself one when I started cycling. If it is the same watch it comes with GPS Master software which uses Google maps and allows data to be exported in various formats which I believe could then be uploaded to Strava (I'm ot on Strava but did have a look at it).

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davkt replied to Beatnik69 | 9 years ago
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Beatnik69 wrote:

The GPS watch looks very similar to the Ultrasport Navrun 500 (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ultrasport-GPS-Navrun-500-Heart-Rate/dp/B003XII6YS). I got my wife one of these when she started running then got myself one when I started cycling. If it is the same watch it comes with GPS Master software which uses Google maps and allows data to be exported in various formats which I believe could then be uploaded to Strava (I'm ot on Strava but did have a look at it).

Got my daughter one in the hope I'll get my Polar RC3 back off her and it seems a decent bit of kit. It either is the same watch or a direct copy right down to the charging/sync connector. Or possibly an over run of production of the Runtastic ones as it looks identical, right down to the very loud pink colour of the one darling daughter has. It uses GPS Master like the Ultrasport but I'll give it a try with the runtastic sync app once it has some data on it.The GPSMaster software will export gpx files so you can import it to your favourite website no problem.

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