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A cool tool can be any book, gadget, software, video, map, hardware, material, or website that is tried and true. All reviews on this site are written by readers who have actually used the tool and others like it. Items can be either old or new as long as they are wonderful. We post things we like and ignore the rest. Suggestions for tools much better than what is recommended here are always wanted.
After breaking four or five “rugged” bike pumps in four or five years, I made the hefty investment into a Topeak Floor Pump four years ago, which cost about half what I had paid for the “cheap” ones before. It’s still going strong and doesn’t show any sign of wear.
As to which model to choose, it depends on the bike. For a racing bike you’ll want a pump with a small-diameter cylinder, e.g. “Topeak Joe Blow Sport II” while for a commuter bike or a mountain bike you’ll want one with more volume, e.g. “Topeak Joe Blow Max II”.
These pumps are well-built, large enough (that includes handles, too) and have a good pressure gauge. The tube is long enough. But probably the best thing is the “TwinHead”. Depending on the valve type, either side fits. One side for Schrader valves, the other one for narrow valves. No adapter, no hassle, just push on and turn the lever. — Bernhard
Most days I ride my bike to work, and about twice a week I do a several-hour trail ride. On average I was getting a flat a week (mostly rear pinch flats on downhill trail rides). My friend told me about Stan’s NoTubes system. The next time I sat in the dark cursing yet another flat, I decided to convert.
In the NoTubes system you remove your inner tube from your tire. No tubes! You add a rim strip that seals your spoke holes. Since there is no tube you need a filling stem to put air into the tire…..this is built into the NoTubes rim strip. Then you add some white liquid inside the tire that seals it airtight. It’s one of those things that seems like it would never work, but it works amazingly well. The white liquid sloshes around inside the tire and immediately reseals any punctures as they occur without any air loss. If you still need convincing, watch this amazing video.
I have not had a flat since switching, and I can run at much lower pressures when needed for technical downhill without the danger of pinch flats. The system even saves some weight (and un-sprung rotational weight at that). Installing the system is pretty easy, especially if you use lots of soapy water while installing the rim strip and tire. The only maintenance is that you have to keep adding a bit of the liquid every few months or so. The site also has preferred tires that work the best, and other good installation tips worth looking at before committing. I will never go back to tubes. — Alexander Rose
The Topeak Turbo Morph is a lightweight frame pump that functions like a floor pump. It has a fold-out anchor for your foot, and the handle also flips sideways into a T-shape. It’s also got a hose, so you can easily inflate the tire while it’s mounted on the bike. Before getting the Turbo Morph about two years ago, I had a tiny frame pump that was just this side of useless. Most portable bicycle pumps are designed to be used exclusively with your arms/hands. Since they attach directly to the tire, they’re cumbersome to use and difficult to get to the full tire pressure. Contrast this to the floor pump in your garage. You anchor it with your feet and use your body weight to power it. Unfortunately, they are also too large to easily carry with you. I tried another “mini foot pump” before the Topeak, but it wouldn’t quite work with a Presta adapter. With my other frame pumps, I’d spend more time inflating the tire than I would fixing it, and it would be hard getting the thing past 60 PSI. With this pump, I can get the tire to its full 120 PSI in just a couple of minutes. I have the G model, which has a built-in gauge. More convenient to have a gauge on the pump than to have to carry a separate one. But if you’ve already got a gauge, then you probably won’t want the gauge version. I have puncture-resistant tires, but the key word is “resistant.” I still wind up getting a flat a couple times a year. This is well worth carrying. — Joe D.
I had two punctured tires in three weeks right before I bought these. Since I switched to the Marathon Plus tires a few months ago, I haven’t had a single puncture. The Marathon tires come in two grades: normal and Plus, which is the more flat resistant of the two (Schwalbe also makes a model called the Supreme, which I haven’t tried). They are truly for everyday commuting, with tread and real heft. Most importantly, they have Schwalbe’s SmartGuard, a layer of “highly elastic, special india rubber” to help better protect your tubes from sharp objects.
The Marathon tires aren’t cheap — and it’s hard to tell whether it’s just been good luck or good engineering — but I feel confident it’s the latter. I ride a lot (28 km, two or three times a week, 10 months or so a year) and I used to get tons of flat tires, sometimes once a week. This month in particular is very bad for debris; it’s the thaw here in Toronto, so all sorts of junk gets left behind as the snow banks melt.
I’m sure part of why I was getting so many flats is due to the fact I usually ride an EZ-1 Recumbent. With a ‘bent, the front wheel is very lightly loaded and the back wheel is heavily loaded. I sit right on top of it (I’m 6’2″ and 240 lbs), so it probably carries 90% of my weight. I think this makes the tire more susceptible to punctures because I’m guaranteeing that anything sharp that doesn’t bend or move goes right in. I’ve ridden on a few other kinds of tires: Continental slicks (nice), cheapo knobbies (garbage), some satisfactory tires that came stock, and Primo Comets (dartboards).
I am riding under the same conditions, circumstances and in the same areas as when I used to get the flats, and haven’t had any trouble. Just last week I rode through quite a lot of glass with no problems. — Adam Norman
While the need for a two-legged kickstand on a large tandem is fairly obvious, it’s not as clear why you’d need one for smaller bikes — until you start riding with children aboard. Whether you’re using a front-mounted Kangaroo WeeRide or a traditional rear-mounted child seat, preventing the bike from falling over when a child is strapped into the seat is a serious safety concern.
I first saw this Pletscher kickstand about seven years ago, when it came on our Bike Friday Family Triple. It’s an aluminum kickstand with two legs; the second pivots via a cam mechanism, so that it stows alongside the first leg. Made in Switzerland, it’s a cool piece of hardware for the folding design alone. Stowed, it looks like a standard Greenfield kickstand, with an extra leg.
The double-legged stand makes a big or heavily loaded bike far more stable when you dismount, and it can also double as a makeshift workstand for back-end fixes, as it lifts the rear wheel off the ground. We now have two bikes outfitted with this kickstand, and with our youngest still 17 months old, we’re considering a third. — Yitah Wu
Once a week we’ll send out a page from Cool Tools: A Catalog of Possibilities. The tools might be outdated or obsolete, and the links to them may or may not work. We present these vintage recommendations as is because the possibilities they inspire are new. Sign up here to get Tools for Possibilities a week early in your inbox.
Michael Garfield, Paleontologist-Futurist
12/20/24 Picks and shownotes