Stock your saddle bag for rad bike adventures

We absolutely love big mountain bike adventures, long gravel rides, and even just a pedal down to the pub. Getting stoked and staying stoked on bikes means we can manage any mishap that might happen along the way and a well-stocked saddle bag is one of the best ways to Be Prepared!

Here is a fairly complete saddle bag kit that you should have on every bike so your adventures are as worry-free as can be.

• Park Tool Tire Boot: Sidewall or similarly large tears in a tire mean using a tube, and this boot will prevent the tube from bulging out of the hole in the tire. You can use currency or a snack wrapper but I have these and they take up no room so I'm glad to include them
• Lens Wipes: A half decent "get the grease off this" towel as well as a mud-clearing lens wipe. I'm always wearing glasses when riding so these are always in reach.
• A patch kit: A keen eye will notice that this patch kit does not work with the tubolito tube I'm carrying. I don't always carry patch kits, but I do like to have them handy to give to other riders if they're stuck with a puncture
• Multi-tool: I really like the Crank Brothers M19 and use that primarily. I'm trying out this slightly slimmer and lighter option with nearly identical tool options in this pack for now.
• Wolf Tooth Pack Pliers: I mostly carry this because its a handy way to store and install/fix a master-link on your chain. You can also service presta valve cores. I don't use it as a tire lever because it's metal and I would never use that on nice rims.
• Park Tool tire lever: These are the best. I previously loved the Pedro's levers, but have heard from several bike shops that the scoop part is too long and sharp and can damage your rim tape. These are perfect. If you have those skinny old road bike ones in your bag, toss those. Tires and rims are so tight these days, you'll just snap them.
• Bacon Strips: Super light and cheap, use a thin tool from your multi-tool to push these into small punctures on tubeless tires
• Dynaplug Racer: Incredibly handy tubeless puncture repair tool with multiple plugs of different sizes
• C02 and inflator: I (now) ALWAYS carry a pump on every bike I ride, but if you are needing to fully inflate a tire from empty, c02 speeds up your repair time considerably. If I was slimming down this setup, I'd take these items out first.
• Extra presta valve core: I've had these valve cores go bad several times, so having a spare makes me feel so much more prepared. I keep 1 or 2 in every saddle bag.
• Presta-Shrader adapter: These are super lightweight and can be handy if you ever need to pump up a tire at a gas station or similar. This is like a backup to a backup but hey, no air, no ride.
• Lezyne Pocket Drive Pump: This is the most amazing, reliable, compact pump I've ever used. It has a hose you pull out, so your not stuck pumping in some awkward position inside your tire like some other small pumps.
• Zip ties: I've used these in countless ways and highly recommend carrying a few with you
• Tubolito spare tube: There are several brands that sell similar compact spare tubes now. I prefer Tubolito, but they are certainly for emergencies only. I've broken the valve stem on these before, with bad pumping technique, so be careful. Also, be very attentive to your spare tube size and make absolutely sure that your spare tube will fit the tire you're currently running. I've swapped tires and not swapped spares and had a bad time because of it.
• Almsthre saddle bag: This is the only saddle bag I've found that fits all of this, including that pump, inside the bag with no issues. They come in lots of different colors and patterns, and the strap is nice and thin, so it can even fit in the saddle bag strap slots that some saddles have.

How about some upgrades?

In addition to this "essentials" kit, some other things I'd consider:

• Basic first aid items such as -- medical tape, gauze, antiseptic wipe, athletic tape, nitrile gloves
• Water purification tablets – always handy on hot days when you need to refill but the water nearby is questionable
• Garmin InReach Mini – a great safety device so you know you can always get an SOS out if need be. Remember this requires an active subscription to be of any use. You can pause your subscription, so just make sure to re-enable before that next big adventure.
  

What about snacks? We're so stoked on ride snacks we'll cover those in another post. What do you carry in your saddle bag? Let us know!