Comfort has become a key buzzword among bicycle manufacturers in recent years.

That’s particularly the case as far as sportive or endurance bikes are concerned. It’s a fast-growing category, with the range of almost every bike brand now including a machine which seeks to strike a balance between comfort and performance.

It’s worth mentioning that the two – comfort and performance – aren’t mutually exclusive. A content and comfortable rider will be subjected to less fatigue (or injury), enabling you to ride faster, for longer. It’s why WorldTour teams switch to comfort-focused bikes at the Spring Classics, when taming the cobbles of northern France and Belgium tops the agenda.

Manufacturers have come up with ever-innovative ways to smooth out the imperfections of the road on rough tarmac, from Trek’s IsoSpeed decoupler on the Domane, to the Cannondale Synapse’s helixed tube profiles, to Bianchi’s vibration-cancelling Countervail technology, which uses a viscoelastic material built into the carbon fibre layup.

Still, that’s not to say that any machine which falls outside the sportive/endurance bracket is uncomfortable nor is a new bike, likely to involve a significant outlay, the only way to soften the ride.

Of course, the frame remains at the heart of any bike but there are a number of relatively inexpensive ways to boost the comfort of your ride. Here are five for starters.