off.road.cc published a guide to on-bike tool and spares storage, and the argument underneath it is one we build around: the tools that save a ride are the ones already on the bike.
Move kit off your back and onto the frame and two things change. You are more comfortable, and — more usefully — you stop having to decide what to bring on each ride.
Three places to put tools on a bike
Inside the frame's own tubes
The steerer and the handlebar are hollow and hold nothing. Granite's Stash kits use both: a ratchet or multi-tool in the steerer, a chain tool or tubeless plug kit in the bar ends. Once installed, there is nothing to pack and nothing to transfer between bags.
Two fit checks: the steerer wants a 23.5–27 mm round inner diameter, and the handlebar needs an inner diameter over 17.5 mm with a straight section at the end.
Granite Stash RT Ratchet Tool Kit
Granite Stash Chain Repair Tool Kit
Granite Stash Tubeless Tire Plug Kit
Strapped to the frame
For the things that will not fit inside a tube — a spare tube, levers, a CO₂ canister — a roll held against the frame is quieter and more secure than a saddlebag. The Quiver tool roll is 80 g and splash-proof; Rockband and Rockband+ straps hold it, or anything else, wherever there is a tube.
Granite Quiver Tool Roll
Granite Rockband Mountain Bike Frame Carrier Strap
Granite Rockband+ Mountain Bike Frame Carrier Strap
In a pack
Still the right answer for genuinely big days, when you are carrying food, layers and water anyway. The failure mode is the short ride — the after-work loop where the pack stays at home and so does everything in it.
A workable split
- Always on the bike: multi-tool or ratchet, chain tool with a quick link, tubeless plug kit.
- Strapped on for anything over an hour: spare tube, levers, inflation.
- In the pack for big days: torque wrench, spare parts, first aid, food.
Set up that way, the shortest ride you do is still covered for the three failures that actually end rides.
Read the off.road.cc guide
Your guide to on-bike tool and spares storage covers the wider category, including options we do not make.
