Mineral Bar Design Mini Bar Multi Tool

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When you're barreling down that singletrack and decide to wrap yourself around a half-rotted pine, the first thing that runs through your head may be a branch with a frightened chipmunk stuck to it. The second thing will undoubtedly be finding your multi-tool to fix the bent wheel/pedal/derailleur. The company that wants to put the kibosh on your field-side bike fixes is none other than Mineral Bikes.

Philadelphia based Mineral Bikes just launched the
Barstow System, a bike tool that stores secretly away in your handlebar, complimented by a minimalist multi-tool that cuts the crap on completing cycle fixes, by eliminating unnecessary tools and focusing on a simple set of bits to cover the majority of fixes.

Like you, Justin and Mike of Mineral Bikes have had a love/hate relationship with bicycle mini-tools. (There are certainly plenty of them.) It's great to have all those tool sizes available in a compact package, but most designs are just frustrating to use, don't provide enough leverage and inevitably come with a few tool sizes you don't need. Their 'Mini Bar' design fixes that, isolating the most common bits needed with the leverage to get the job done fast.

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The Barstow Chain Tool System (that tucks away in your handlebar) came about as the two were designing the Mini Bar. It's extremely rare to break a chain so they didn't want additional bulk added to the Mini Bar. However, when you do break a chain, especially in the middle of nowhere, you're in big trouble if you don't have a chain tool. So, they decide to hide it away on the bike until needed. With the handlebar easy to access, that seemed the most logical place.

"Iterating the design of the Barstow Chain Tool was simplified through the use of SolidWorks," says Justin. "By modeling chain links and components, we were able to accurately test the function of the parts in a 3D environment without having to build anything physical. 3D printing also reduced our cycle time between prototypes by allowing us to have full-size models in hand within a few days. Although the 3D prints could not break a chain, they were fully functional and even had working threads!"

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Early prototypes of the Mini Bar Tool and the Barstow System for quick bike and chain repair.

The Barstow tool fits most mountain and road bike handles while the Mini Bar tool is a lightweight multi-tool capable of holding three bits. Together they make trail-side or road-side repairs a snap. We like it because it's minimal, out of the way, and avoids all the unnecessary tools (and weight) of our other multi-tools.

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The Mineral Design Bike tools are currently available for purchase through the Barstow Bike Tools campaign on Kickstarter. The Mini Bar starts at $35 and the Barstow starts at $45. Early bird pricing for both is still available for $60 (regularly $75).