The Best Small Upgrades Under £50 That Actually Improve Your Ride
Motorcycling has a funny relationship with money. You can spend a fortune on shiny bits that look brilliant in photos and make absolutely no difference the moment you roll off the driveway… and you can spend twenty quid on something boring that quietly makes every ride smoother, easier, safer, or more comfortable.
This post is all about the second category.
These are small motorcycle upgrades under £50 that genuinely improve your day-to-day riding—comfort, visibility, convenience, bike feel, and the little annoyances that slowly drain the joy out of a ride if you ignore them. None of these requires a full workshop; most take minutes to fit or use, and they all earn their place because you’ll notice the difference straight away.
A quick note before we get into it: prices change, and different bikes need different versions of the same item. But every upgrade below is widely available at around £50 or less, and I’ve included a few real UK price references so you can sanity-check what “under £50” looks like in the real world.
1) Proper motorcycle earplugs: the cheapest comfort upgrade you’ll ever buy
If you ride without earplugs, you’re basically paying for fatigue.
Wind noise is relentless, especially on faster roads, and it’s one of the biggest reasons riders finish long rides feeling more tired than they expected. Earplugs don’t make you “less aware.” They reduce the damaging, draining roar so you can focus on the ride itself.
A good, rider-specific set is comfortably under £50. For example, Alpine MotoSafe Tour earplugs are listed at £13.99 at Sportsbikeshop.
That’s the kind of upgrade you buy once and then wonder why you waited.
2) A Pinlock insert: stop riding inside a steamed-up snow globe
Fogged visors create panic. Panic creates bad decisions. Bad decisions create… well, you get the idea.
A Pinlock insert is one of those “invisible” upgrades that transforms wet, cold, and stop-start riding. It keeps your visor clear, which keeps your brain calm. Many Pinlock inserts are well under £50—JS Accessories lists Pinlock inserts at £19.99 for at least some models.
If you commute, ride in winter, or do early morning rides, this is an instant quality-of-life improvement.
3) Visor cleaner you actually carry: because visibility is not optional
You don’t notice how dirty your visor is until you’re riding into low sun, drizzle, or spray and suddenly everything becomes glare and smears. A small cleaner you can keep in a pocket or tail bag fixes that.
Oxford Mint Helmet and Visor Cleaner (50ml) is shown at £4.99 at Mega Motorcycle Store.
It’s not glamorous, but it’s one of those tiny upgrades that keeps rides calmer and safer, especially on UK roads where “weather” is basically a hobby.
4) Rain repellent for your visor: the £9 cheat code for wet rides
When rain beads and rolls off your visor instead of clinging and smearing, you feel instantly more in control. That’s particularly noticeable at speed, where water build-up can turn your world into a blur.
A budget example: Kart Care SHIELD visor rain repellent spray is listed at £8.95.
Used sensibly (and tested on a small area first), this can make wet-weather riding noticeably less stressful.
5) A decent tyre pressure gauge: the bike feels better when tyres are right
Tyre pressure affects almost everything you feel—steering, stability, grip, comfort, braking. It’s also one of the easiest things to keep on top of, yet plenty of riders “guess” pressures by eye like they’re judging a soufflé.
A proper gauge removes the guesswork. Two Tyres lists a digital motorcycle tyre pressure gauge at £21.95.
That’s a small spend for a big improvement in how the bike behaves and how confident you feel—especially when road conditions change.
6) A chain brush: the lazy way to make chain care quicker (so you’ll actually do it)
Chain maintenance doesn’t have to be a grim chore. The reason many people avoid it is because they make it harder than it needs to be. A simple multi-face chain brush dramatically speeds up cleaning, helps you do a better job, and makes “I’ll do it later” less likely.
Oxford’s Chain Brush is listed at £11.99 on Oxford Mint’s site.
Pair it with the right cleaner and a rag, and suddenly chain care becomes a five-minute job instead of a weekend event.
7) All-weather chain lube: smoother drive, less wear, less mess
A well-lubed chain makes a bike feel smoother and reduces wear. A neglected chain makes throttle response snatchier and adds unnecessary friction.
Oxford Mint Wet Weather Lube (500ml) is listed at £9.99 on Sportsbikeshop.
That’s firmly in “cheap upgrade” territory, and it pays you back in drivetrain feel and longevity.
8) USB charging on the bike: small convenience, huge practical value
If you use your phone for navigation, music, comms, or emergency contact, battery anxiety becomes part of the ride. A simple fused USB charging kit solves that.
Oxford USB charging kits are available under £50; Urban Rider lists the Oxford USB Type 3.0 Amp Charging Kit at £18.74.
It’s the sort of upgrade you don’t think about… until the first time you arrive with 3% battery left and realise how much stress it quietly removes.
9) Grip covers (like Grip Puppies): a comfort upgrade that’s ridiculously effective
Vibration, thin grips, cold hands, hand fatigue—grip comfort affects how relaxed you are on the bike. A simple foam grip cover can reduce fatigue on longer rides and make the bars feel nicer without changing anything permanent.
Grip Puppies Universal Grip Cover 5″ is listed at £14.99 on Moto Central.
It’s one of the best “cheap motorcycle accessories” because you feel the improvement on the very next ride, particularly if your bike’s grips are hard, thin, or worn.
10) A phone mount that doesn’t wobble: confidence for navigation
Not everyone needs a phone mount. But if you use your phone for directions, stopping every ten minutes to check your pocket is a pain—and trying to glance at a loose mount is worse.
Quad Lock’s Motorcycle Handlebar Mount is listed at +£39.99 on their UK site.
That’s under the £50 line, and it’s the difference between confident navigation and constantly wondering if your phone is about to launch itself into the countryside.
(If you do mount a phone, consider vibration protection where appropriate—modern phones can be sensitive to prolonged vibration.)
11) A wheel/chain alignment helper: small tool, smoother setup
If you adjust your chain, wheel alignment matters. Even small misalignment can affect handling feel and chain/sprocket wear. A simple alignment tool takes the “I think it’s straight” guesswork out of the job.
Oxford’s Chain Laser is listed at £34.99 on Sportsbikeshop.
This is a classic “small upgrade” because it’s not exciting, but it improves how confidently you maintain the bike—and that affects how the bike feels every time you ride.
12) Microfibre towels: the boring item that keeps everything nicer
Cleaning sounds like vanity until you realise how often a clean bike makes problems easier to spot: leaks, loose fasteners, chain fling, tyre damage, worn pads. Plus, a clean visor and mirrors are direct safety improvements.
Oxford microfibre towels (pack of 6) are listed at £6.98 on Demon Tweeks’ website.
Cheap, useful, and somehow always needed.
How to choose the right upgrades for your riding
If you’re staring at this list thinking, “Okay, but which ones actually matter for me?”, use this simple filter.
If you ride in the rain or cold, prioritise: earplugs, Pinlock, visor cleaner, rain repellent, and decent gloves (gloves often stretch beyond £50, but the visibility and hearing upgrades here don’t). If you do longer rides or commuting, prioritise: earplugs, USB charging, phone mount, grip comfort. If you like doing basic maintenance yourself, prioritise: tyre pressure gauge, chain brush, chain lube, alignment helper.
The best upgrades aren’t the ones that look cool on the bike. They’re the ones that remove friction from the experience of riding—literal friction in the drivetrain, or mental friction in your head.
Conclusion: the best upgrades are the ones you feel every ride
You don’t need a thousand pounds of accessories to improve your bike. Most of the time, the biggest gains come from small, sensible tweaks: better comfort, better visibility, better control, and fewer ride-killing annoyances.
Start with one or two upgrades that match how you actually ride. Keep it practical. Keep it under £50. Then enjoy the quiet satisfaction of real improvement—the kind you feel on every journey, not just when you’re standing still admiring your bike in the driveway.
If this helped, share it with a mate who thinks “upgrades” means “expensive.” And if you want, tell me what you ride and how you use it (commute, weekends, touring), and I’ll pick the best under-£50 upgrade combo specifically for your setup.
