Your guide to on-bike tool and spares storage
Here's how to carry everything you need on your bike using Granite's Stash and Portaledge systems.
[Sponsored by Granite]
Storing the essential tools and spares on your mountain or gravel bike is the best way to ensure you're sorted in times of need out on the trail. Moving kit/equipment from your backpack and onto your bike is a great way to make yourself more comfortable and free yourself to carry more for those big multi-day rides.
- Best bike packing frame bags for gravel and mountain bikes, reviewed
- Buyer's guide to mountain bikes - get the best MTB for you
- Mountain bike multi-tools: everything you need to know
There are two general methods of carrying smaller items on your bike without going the whole frame bag route. The bulk of tools can be carried neatly within the usually empty spaces of your cockpit, so that's your fork's steerer tube and your handlebar ends.
Multi-tool storage
Many brands, such as Granite, offer neat multi-tools built to slide into your steerer tube and provide nearly everything you need for trailside tweaks. Then there are options such as a chain tool and tubeless repair kit that hide in your bar ends – these take the form of a bar end or can be installed under your grips. The best bit about these solutions is they're very sleek and are on your bike at all times, so you'll never leave the house without them.
To frame strap or not to frame strap...
Next is the humble strap, which can provide an extra boost in storage capacity. With a strap, you'll generally carry a tube, tyre levers and maybe a CO2 canister but strapping it directly to your bike's frame can damage the paint.
That's where things such as Granite's Portaledge step in. These are small plates that bolt onto an accessory or bottle cage mount on your frame and act as an anchor for the strap to hook around. If you're stuck for space, there's another type of Portaledge – the XE, that mounts to your existing bottle cage mounts but extends a strap mount underneath.
You might also like:
Author block
