Gear: Stocking stuffers for the cyclist on your holiday list
It’s hard buying holiday gifts for cyclists. Whether they ride a road, mountain, gravel or e-bike, cyclists have everything they need — or that’s what they think. These effective, clean and convenient accessories are a welcome upgrade on some basic equipment that hasn’t changed in decades.
Stepped-up tire inflation
Stompump: It’s a tiny, high-volume foot pump that mounts on your frame.
What we like: It’s way faster and easier than a hand mini-pump and eliminates trash, such as a CO2 cartridge. Regular pumps can take you 10 minutes of exhausting arm strokes; Stompump does the job in less time with no-sweat, body-weight foot stomps. A 2½-inch knobby tire fills up in half the time, and mountain and gravel bikes easily fill to 60 PSI (higher pressure is difficult unless you’re a heavyweight). Stompump weighs 6.5 ounces, with a built-in air filter to keep it running smoothly. It’s triple the price of a good hand pump but far more effective; one reviewer reported using it to fill- up inflate a truck tire.
Info: $69.95; stompump.com
All-in-one dropper-suspension seat post
PNW Components Coast Post: It’s the only seat post that combines suspension and a “dropper,” which allows an immediate drop in the seat height for better descents on off-road terrain.
What we like: The Coast Post can smooth the jarring ride of a gravel, commuter or nonsuspension mountain bike and improve your center of gravity, handling and safety by letting you instantly lower the seat post on the steeps. No other product does both. Its 1.6 inches of shock-absorption travel provides minor bump relief. Flicking a remote handlebar control lever will drop, then raise, the seat 4 or 5 inches. Installation is a breeze.
Info: $179; pnwcomponents.com
All-night light
Light and Motion Rando 500 bike light: This light has an extra-long run time and can be charged on the go.
What we like: Ideal for randonneuring, 24-hour mountain-bike events and long gravel races. This compact, internal-battery light can power a high beam up to three hours at 500 lumen — double the time of most others in its class — and can shine all night when charged from an external battery pack, dynamo or e-bike USB port. Light and Motion claims the Rando 500 is the first on the market to “trickle-charge” while in use. It has a built-in side light that can help you avoid getting T-boned by traffic and is waterproof to a depth of 3 feet.
Info: $79.99; lightandmotion.com
No-mess lube
Flectr Lubri Disc: Here’s a simpler, easier, cleaner way to lube your chain.
What we like: Lubing your chain is the cheapest way to keep your bike running great, but few cyclists do it often enough. Lubri Disc is a disc-shaped sponge in a 2½-inch plastic housing that, held between your fingers, rolls oil on your chain as you rotate your crank backward. The sponge thoroughly surrounds the pins and plates of the chain without getting your fingers messy. Two to three turns of the crank, and the chain is lubed with the oil of your choice. With the lid in place, the 1.4-ounce device tucks in your tool bag.
Info: About $22 (19.80 euros); flectr.bike
Hide-in-the-handlebar tools
Wolf Tooth Components EnCase System: This system puts essential multitools and other small items inside your bike’s handlebar.
What we like: Clever and practical use of previously unused space for two key devices: a 14-function hex wrench multitool and a chain repair tool. Each one, scrunched into a form-fitting, nonrattling rubber sleeve with an aluminum end cap, stays clean and tucked out of the way, ready to use in an instant. The hex-wrench tool includes an 8 mm hex head with a 4 mm insert that fits eight Allen bits from 2 to 8 mm, plus a spoke wrench; valve core wrench; flat head No. 3.5; Phillips No. 2; and three Torx-wrench heads. A swivel head helps access hard-to-reach places. Works with most mountain, road, aluminum and carbon handlebars starting with diameters of 17.5 mm.
Info: EnCase Bar Kit One, $119.95. Separately, Chain + Tire Plug Multitool, $49.95; Hex Bit Wrench Multitool, $49.95; Handlebar Storage Sleeves with end caps, $34.95; wolftoothcomponents.com