Gifts for Bikers
The hard part of buying for a biker is that they own the kit, the tools and the gadgets, and they chose all of it themselves after a lot of research. So buy the thing they cannot buy without feeling odd: a road they talk about, on the wall.
AI-made image.
It works when the machine is a mystery to you, which is most of the time. Every rider keeps a list of roads in their head, and a picture of one cannot be the wrong size, the wrong fitment or a duplicate of something already in the garage. That is a low bar, and a surprising amount of what gets bought for riders fails to clear it.
Which road, for which rider
There are five in the series, and that page describes each of them properly. What matters when you are buying rather than browsing is a simpler question: is this about somewhere they have been, or somewhere they are going? A road they have ridden is a record, and it should be the hard one, the one that took something out of them. A road they have not is an intention, and it should be the ambitious one. Get that distinction right and the specific painting almost picks itself.
If you genuinely have no idea which roads they ride, the Peak District pair is the safest ground in England and Scotland's far north-west is the safest ambition. Ask one question at the pub and you will do better than any guide can.
When you can get a photo instead
Then get the photo. A road is the safe answer. Their actual bike is the better one, and the two-minute photo guide exists because where you stand matters more than what you shoot on. Upload it to the Paint Shop and the preview is free and watermarked, so nobody spends anything on a picture that did not work.
If you are buying for someone in particular rather than for a rider in general, gifts by recipient points at the right guide, and the motorbike gift ideas guide runs the full comparison.
Questions answered
What do you buy a biker who has everything?
Their own bike as art. Upload a photo to the Paint Shop, preview it free before ordering, and have it printed - it is the one motorcycle gift they cannot already own.
What do you buy a motorcyclist who is not interested in gadgets?
A road. It is the one subject that survives not knowing the machine, because a picture of a place cannot be the wrong fitment, the wrong size or a duplicate of something already in the garage.
Best biker gift under £40?
An unframed A3 poster, either of their own bike or of a road they ride. Both sit inside that budget with UK delivery included, and both arrive ready to frame however they like.
Which print suits a touring rider?
A road, and preferably one they have not ridden yet, because it functions as a plan rather than a souvenir. The Great Roads series describes all five and what each one is for.
Do I need a photo of their bike?
Only for the personalised route. The curated artwork needs nothing but a rough idea of what they ride for: roads, racing, or the machine itself.
Keep reading
- Next For men
The man who rides already owns the kit. That is the whole problem, and it is worth being specific about why: kit is a consumable that he has already chosen himself, usually after more research than the gift deserves.
Also in the gift
All 11 in the gift