Are you still on the lookout for last minute presents for a Christmas stocking, or a Secret Santa gift for work? Are you still casting around what to buy for that friend or relative? Well if they are cyclists, then read on…..

There is something very iconic about bikes, their basic design has been unchanged for 150 years, and they are the most efficient machines in the known universe. The iconic nature of the cycle gives cycle accessories the same allure.

Now imagine if you were buying accessories for a walker or a car driver. A walker – a reflective arm band? A car driver – some furry dice or a nodding bull dog? No – there’s just nothing to compare with the widgets and stuff you can get for bikes.

So go and browse in your local cycle shop (and there may even be just time to do some on-line browsing and ordering). You will find a treasure trove of cycle stuff to provide you with those essential gifts.

Here are eight suggestions for the cycle lovers’ stocking fillers.

* The helmet light: this comes with front and rear beams with a host of different combinations of flashing and steady beams, making the wearer look seasonably festive.

* The mini compact light: this has easy release attachment to tie to bags or helmet. One can’t have too many of them.

The cyclist can have backup lights in every bag they own, and in every jacket pocket. And any spares can be used to light up their Christmas tree as well.

(Of course the added bonus of lights is that they to ensure that your beloved is on the right side of the law, which reminds me of a poem my grandfather used to cite – “If ‘ere you ride without a light, Keep at your fingertips at night, The name of someone else afar, To tell the bobby who you are.”)

* A helmet camera: You can get one reasonably cheaply and now those receiving the gift can have fun recording their journey and causing mayhem with motorists by recording bad driving.

* A puncture repair kit: the perfectly sized gift for slipping into the toe of the stocking.

* A cheerful head band or ear warmer: ignore protests that covering ears will make the cyclist deaf, not covering them will give them frost bite.

* Waterproof gloves: for the avoidance of sodden icy numb fingers, though the cost of those may be pushing them out of the stocking to under the tree.

* For those who are truly bike-fanatics, there are plenty of household objects that use that iconic image of the bike – a pizza cutter, book ends, key hangers, fridge magnets, cushions and many more.

* And of course you can’t have a Christmas without the sound of jingle bells. There are all sorts of wondrous cycle bells, of a variety of shapes, colour and sounds.

So go forth and buy those objects of beauty! You can’t go wrong.