Jealous of the Specialized SWAT door for stashing tools, and wish you had one on your own bike? Now Topeak has a few solutions to allow anyone to store bike tools and gadgets inside their bikes.
The Ninja series from Topeak puts tools in three main spots on a mountain bike: inside the bars, inside the seat post, and underneath a water bottle cage. Starting with the bars, the Ninja C attaches a full chain tool to a set of bar caps that fit both road and mountain bikes. Sure, many multi-tools include a small chain tool but the Ninja C looks to be a good size, and having a dedicated chain tool tends to make the job much easier.
Next up, the Ninja P shoves a mini pump inside a seat post. Of course this won’t work with a dropper post and it’ll slow down your tire changes, but it will definitely free up space in your pack and will guarantee you’ll always have a pump when you need one.
Finally, the Ninja T Mountain is a bracket you can attach to your water bottle mounts to add a stealthy little case for your multitool. Ok, this one doesn’t really put a tool inside your mountain bike, but it does get the tool out of your pack and off your back. The case itself is sealed, which makes it almost like an external SWAT garage for your gear (as long as your gear is multi-tool size.) There’s a version you can use with an existing water bottle cage (or no cage if you prefer) and also a version attached to a Topeak water bottle cage.
Topeak also showed off a nifty set of mini torque wrenches at Sea Otter, allowing the trail mechanic to select from 4, 5, and 6 Nm bits, depending on what he or she is torquing.
Finally, Topeak continues to push floor pump innovation with a new version of the JoeBlow called the “Booster.” The Booster adds a compressed air canister that can be charged, using the pump itself for seating tubeless tires.
There’s also the JoeBlow Dualie, which features two pressure gauges: one for pressures under 30 psi that’s marked more precisely than the second for pressures over 30 psi. With mountain bikers running single digit pressures for plus and fat bikes, having a more precise gauge will certainly come in handy.
3 Comments
Apr 18, 2016
I do have some questions about their chain breaker tool. The silver chain breaker pivots on the black portion. Is it stiff enough to not rattle against the inside of your handlebars? Also the allen wrench looks to be loosely held in the black case. It may just be the picture but it doesn't look very secure. Also, do they have a place to store a spare link. That is an awesome feature of the SWAT top cap tool that I didn't fully appreciate until I put it on my bike.
I don't really know why they chose to stick a pump in the seatpost. I understand it is more "integrated", however there are tons of great pumps that use the water bottle cage bosses and just slide in under the cage. That is what I use and it works great and is easy to access.
All in all, more competition is only better because it gives riders more options.
Apr 19, 2016
Apr 18, 2016
So much WANT in this article!