Best Maintenance Tools

While you can certainly take your mountain bike into the shop every time you need something, it’s going to be cheaper and more efficient to get some basic maintenance tools of your own.

Pumps, repair stands, wrenches, and basic cleaning supplies are a great place to start!

Best Mountain Bike Pumps

Best floor pump

If there’s one thing that every mountain biker must have, it’s a good bike pump! How else are you going to get your tires properly inflated for rides?!

While there are plenty of floor pumps on the market, most aren’t optimized for mountain bikes. Many floor pumps are intended for high-pressure tires and their gauges aren’t accurate at lower pressures such as those used in mountain bike tires. Secondly, they don’t help in any way with tubeless conversions.

At least they didn’t until the Topeak Joe Booster floor pump came along! It acts as both a pump and air compressor to make the inflation of tubeless tires much easier. In addition, its large dial is easy to read and is constructed of aluminum to ensure that it will last a long time.

Best Mini Pump

While floor pumps are excellent for use in the shop or garage, you certainly don’t want to tote them around. They’re awkward, heavy, and best left at home or in your vehicle.

For fixing flat on the trail, you’ll want to keep something that’s much more lightweight!

For its versatility and efficiency, I recommend the Topeak RaceRocket Mountain Bike mini pump. Thanks to its smart head, it’s compatible with both Prest and Schrader valves.

It also comes with a side mount bracket included for attachment to your bike.

Best repair stand

Tired of your back hurting from constantly bending over while working on your bike? A bike repair stand will fix that quickly!

I picked the Feedback Sports repair stand over other options because it’s incredibly stable, easy to fold up, and lightweight compared to other models out there. Its clamp is well made and sure to hold your bike reliably.

Best Wrenches & Sets

If you’re spending the money on any carbon components e.g. handlebars, stem, etc… then you better make sure that you’ve got a good torque wrench on hand to prevent over-tightening them. Doing so can result in stress cracks that damage the component and drastically cut its lifespan short.

Amongst their many fantastic products, I like this adjustable torque wrench from Park Tool. It’s super compact, and the adjustable nature means that it can do what would otherwise require 5 individual torque wrenches.

Best Cleaning Tools

Chain Cleaning System

When it comes to simplicity and effectiveness, look no further than the Park Tool chain gang cleaning system. This system is incredibly efficient when it comes to getting a sparkly, brand new looking chain. Better yet, you don’t even have to take the chain off the bike to use it!

This is perfect for a deep clean, or when you need to transition from a dry to wet lube or vice versa. Not only does this kit come with the cleaning housing, but also a brush for scraping the cassette and derailleurs, as well as a degreasing solution. Hard to argue with that kind of value!

Brush Set

A good set of brushes will be critical to keeping your bike clean and functioning well. It’s no surprise that your bike will get coated in mud and grime.

Rather than trying to share other brushes that you might have lying around the house, it’s worth investing in a bike-only set. This set is made by the well-respected Park Tool so you can rest assured that they’ve been perfected for bike maintenance.

Cleaning Cloths

No shop is complete without a good set of cleaning cloths!

This set from Simpli Magic comes with 60 premium terry cloth towels that are perfect for tackling any cleanup job. They’re strong, highly absorbent, and dry fast.

Best Lubricants

Keeping your drivetrain properly lubricated is incredibly important to keep it functioning well and lasting long. The type of lubricant that you use will be largely dictated by the environmental conditions that you’re riding in.

Wet lubes tend to last longer and are more robust in wet conditions, however, in dry climates they can cause a lot of dirt and gunk to accumulate. For dry areas, you will probably be better off using a dry lube.

There are literally an endless array of options for either type, but two that you can’t go wrong with choosing is Tri-Flow’s wet lube and Finish Line’s dry lube.

Best Chain Checker

Instead of guessing when it’s time to replace your chain you can use a chain checker like this one by Park Tool!

While traditional chain checkers only give you an idea of how much stretch has occurred, this one helps you know exactly where it’s at.

This is important to ensure that you’re replacing your chain at the correct time, and avoiding unnecessary wear and tear on your other drivetrain components.

Best Chain Whip

While you could certainly make your own chain whip using a piece of old chain, you’ll be better served for many years by simply investing in a great one like this option from Park Tool.