5 Products for MTB and Road

by Malia Burcham

For our first YouTube video, we reviewed 5 products that we heard would be good to carry for mountain and road biking. What you see in this video is how many would approach these products with a brief understanding of how it works. In a later video, we will update you guys on how these and other products worked for us in the long term.

Here is Brent's first impressions of the following 5 products:

  • Backcountry Research Mutherlode Strap
  • Stans Dart
  • Wolf Tooth Pack Pliers
  • Prestacycle Fix It Sticks Pro Tool Kit, 18 Piece Bit Set
  • Wolf Tooth EnCase System Bar Kit One

Overview

We are avid cyclists who are always looking for new innovative products to use. There are always big dilemmas for minimalists who hate carrying packs on what products and tools to bring on the trail or road ride and where to store them. We hope this article and video review helps give you some good ideas on what to bring on your next ride.

First Impressions

We do think all these products are worth trying out. There were a few things that we thought were odd about a couple products. First off, the Backcountry Research Mutherlode Strap did not come with any instruction on how to use it properly. Keep in mind that we intentionally did not look up how to use each product to see if each product came with instructions and/or was easy to figure out. We ended up putting the strap on backwards... but it still worked! We will do an updated video on how to properly install the strap.

The Stans Dart seemed to be the cheapest made item and we were very unsure about it. To our surprise, it actually performed very well in our test.

Other than that, all the products seemed to be very high quality and simple to use.

 

Performance

We are currently putting to the test all of the products that were reviewed in this video and so far we are very happy with the performance of all of them.

The Mutherlode strap did move on Malia, but she realized we actually installed it wrong! So that was our fault. Since then we installed it the right way and it hasn't moved in her way at all. Brent bought a strap for himself so he could also make room in his pack and it is working great so far.

On the Flume trail in Lake Tahoe, NV we came across a minimalist cyclist who needed help. His valve stem was loose and leaking glue and all he had with him was a water bottle and a cheap multitool that did not have the tool he needed. We used the Wolf Tooth Pack Pliers to tighten it and in a minute he was very thankful and back up riding again. Definitely a convenient tool that we will both carry from now on.

In Park City, Utah we were on the top of a mountain when Brent's dad, Greg got a flat. A big hole punctured his Maxxis Rekon and he was just about ready to put a tube in for the rest of the ride. We stopped him and pulled out our Stans Dart. We let him try it out and the Dart plugged the hole instantly. Greg was so excited about how well this product worked for him, he went out and bought a whole kit for himself and now carries it with him on every ride. For bigger punctures, the Stans Dart is a must-have. We believe the Dart is perfect for big holes, while bacon strips are perfect for small holes. But if you have to carry just one -- we recommend the Dart.

The Fix It Sticks have become Malia's favorite tool. She uses it all the time and there has been many scenarios where we helped our friends make some adjustments on the trial. She prefers this multi-tool above all and keeps it in her pocket on each ride. Definitely a tool that you must-pair with the Wolf Tooth Pack Plier.

Final Thoughts

We were very impressed with each product so far when it comes to quality and performance. The only product we are surprisingly not using yet is the Wolf Tooth Encase Bar System. The reason why is simply the other products are more convenient to use for mountain biking.

"Which ones should I buy and use?" Here's our straight-to-the-point answer...

For road biking, the Wolf Tooth Encase Bar System, Wolf Tooth Pack Pliers and possibly the Mutherload strap to hold a tube is all you would need to get you out of a bind.

For mountain biking, we recommend the Stans Dart, Mutherload strap, Wolf Tooth Pack Pliers and Fix It Sticks.

The reason for this is because there are way more mechanical problems that you will come across on the trail whether it has to do with your equipment or someone you're passing by. Because of that we recommend this set up for mountain biking over the Encase Bar System because these other tools are easier to access and at a good price point.

Where To Buy

We bought all these products from both Amazon and World Wide Cyclery. At this time, we are not sponsored by either company nor are we affiliated with them. We do suggest purchasing from World Wide Cyclery over Amazon if you can as they are an awesome company with excellent customer service and could use your help during these times. World Wide did not ask us to endorse them, we are just happy with their service 😁. You may also be able to find some of these products at your local bike shop!

Here are non-affiliated links to both World Wide Cyclery for each product:

Advertising Disclosure

We are not sponsored by any of these companies nor has anyone sent us products to review in this video for free.

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