Some of the best ideas in cycling components come from someone who rides a bike and thinks, “Hmm, if i had something that did this it would make my riding life a lot easier”. That person then trawls the internet for said part and probably comes up with a few items that seem to fit the bill with a few unwanted extras or things that are almost right but not quite what the person had in mind completely and undoubtedly cost and arm and a leg. 9.9 times out of ten that person compromises but ends up generally happy with their purchase. The remaining 0.01 thinks, “right, I’ll just have to make it myself then”
One such person is Ryan Fearne from Ridestash Components. He saw a need for easily accessible and secure bike storage. He had the idea but made it harder for himself by having the goal of making it as sustainable as possible. Luckily Ryan is a bit of an expert at 3D printing and so the Ridestash bike mount went from idea to prototype to finished product and it’s all made in a bedroom in Glasgow!
The mount comes in two parts and there are also two versions. Both feature a piece that fits underneath your bottle cage and a piece that fits at 90 degrees to this via two bolts, this piece has slats so that you can thread through the elasticated strap which holds everything you want to the mount. The first is a straight forward under the cage mount using longer than standard frame bolts (provided by ridestash) which make up for the extra height the mount generates from being underneath. The second is an offset version. if you have minimal room on your frame this is the version to get. your cage bolts directly to the mount, not the bike frame and the mount then bolts to your frame. sounds confusing but basically it moves your bottle cage upwards by 35mm towards the handlebar end giving you more room to lash stuff to the ride stash mount. In all you need around 1.5cm of clearance to fit a standard inner tube, if still tight for room even with the offset version a turbolito or equivalent light weight minimalist tube might work better.
I managed to get a standard gravel bike tube and small box with tubeless tyre repair inserts and a tubeless tyre repair tool wrapped up and secure.
The ride stash mount is super secure, when I bolted it together I did wonder how strong it would be but all the fittings and threads are very well made and aligned perfectly and i’ve given it some abuse through some of the wettest weather for years. I guess being designed in glasgow the midlands weather means nothing to it! the elesticated strap is secured by velcro and this hasn’t budged at all. after a crash i had to push the tubeless tool back down slightly but that was a bit of an inpact with the ground so very impressed with the way it holds on to whatever you strap on to it. I did, in the interests of testing also give it a bit of a kick a couple of times, nothing budged, nothing shattered or cracked.
As you can see from the picture the Ridestash mount intergrates well on my bike and frees up some room in the bags that would have been taken up with the tube etc. the only downside of course is that the tube and whatever you stash there will get a coating of mud in the worst weather. popping it all into a lightweigh waterproof bag and stashing that would be ideal.
Ryan’s idea has born fruit and The Ridestash Mount has performed flawlessly over around 2.5 months and for just under £21 for the standard mount it is worth every penny. Ryan also aceived his goal of sustainability as all the plastic used has been recycled. If this mount had a big companies name and brand printed on it it’d cost 3 times that, but probably will have been designed by a commitee rather than a rider like us who knows just whats needed. So, all hail the bedroom inventors!
you can find out and shop for the mounts at RIDESTASHCOMPONENTS.COM (non affiliate link)
UK GRAVEL COLLECTIVE 