In the Southeastern US, we’re already seeing
hints of Spring. But the trails are still too wet to ride. So today we’ll take to the garage and examine
another 10 products, for mountain bikers and outdoor enthusiasts. Let’s get started. The Bomber Strap is a mini tailgate pad that
holds a single mountain bike, and that makes it a pretty unique product. But it’s not for everyone. For one, the bomber strap costs as much as
a normal tailgate pad which can hold many bikes. It also leaves your tailgate exposed to contact
with the front tire which can cause scuffs. To mitigate that they include an additional
strap which holds your bars turned, keeping the tire free and clear of your paint job. That’s an extra step every time you load
your bike. If you think these shortcomings make it hard
to justify over a tailgate pad, you’re right. But the Bomber strap does have its strengths. First of all, it’s built amazingly well
with metal buckles, ballistic nylon construction, and plenty of straps to hold your bike in
place. It also looks REALLY good, with rugged tactical
styling and a very nicely designed logo. It also doesn’t block your backup camera. But even with these strengths, you’d still
struggle to justify it over the capability and value of a normal tailgate pad. That is, unless you travel as much as I do. A few weeks ago I flew to Austin Texas with
my bike and rented this pickup truck to get around. I should have brought my bomber strap. We were forced to use pool noodles from my
bag to keep the bikes from sliding around the tailgate, and it was kind of sketchy. The bomber straps can fit in my flight bike
quite easily, and install on any rental truck. The ability to store a Bomber strap is definitely
its biggest selling point, and for me, that makes it an indispensable travel accessory. I wish I could say the same for this shoe
drier. I bought this by commenter request after doing
this newspaper hack in another video. If your shoes get wet from a creek crossing,
you put these little electric heaters in them, and wake up the following morning to dry shoes. These took about 10 hours to dry my very wet
shoes, and I guess that’s fine. But the more I examined this shoe drier, the
more sketched out I was by it. It is, after all, a mini space heater that
you leave unattended inside of wet shoes. My curiosity got the best of me, so I took
it apart. I was horrified to find uninsulated connectors,
no fuse, no breaker, or anything other than a resistor to keep the LED from blowing. I’m going to find an alternative product
and not link to this in the description, because I’d be super bummed if one of you had an
incident with one of these. From the makers of the fork cork, come two
products today. First, we have the Everclear Frame Protector
roll which is available in glossy or matte finishes. On a brand new bike, you can basically make
this stuff look invisible with a heat gun and some patience. It even manages to conform to some pretty
challenging spots. But like any clear film, it won’t look good
over an already damaged surface. It will instead, entomb the battle scars under
the laminate. Each roll is 2” x 60” which is more than
enough to cover all the important parts of your bike. If you’re looking for stealth frame protection,
this is tough to beat for $14, as the quality is very similar the much higher priced precut
alternatives. Also from Miles Wide Industries, are Sticky
Fingers brake lever grips. They promise a better grip, insulation from
the cold, protection from scratches, and a unique feel. They seem easiest to install with a bit of
alcohol which will dry up after a few minutes. I’m not sure why perfectly good brake levers
would need grips, although they do fit really nicely. Now for the test. They feel amazing? I might need some time to acclimate to this
new reality, where I like grips on my brake levers. I don’t quite understand why they feel so
good, and I am a bit worried the other kids will make fun of me, but damn. Don’t knock it ‘till you try it. I guess if you like to troll hard, purposely
misalign your tire logos, and install weird sht on your bike, these will be perfect for
you. I will personally refrain from installing
these on my other trail bike, because I’m afraid I’ll like them too much and leave
them on. This is the Camelbak Mule LR 15, hydration
backpack. Truth be told on my own recreational rides
I avoid packs altogether, but sometimes I need one to lug around camera gear. The LR15 has tons of space, and opens really
wide so you can get a good view of everything. It also has lots of bonus compartments for
tools, or lesser used supplies. For quick access, it has both a mesh pocket
and a zip up compartment on the front. It also comes with a built in rain fly, which
is now getting pretty common. The reservoir is contained to the bottom third,
keeping all the weight low down on your back. It disconnect with a little button. This reservoir is deceiving large, as it actually
holds three liters. My one criticism about this pack is the mess
of straps on the belt, which I get needs to accommodate different sized people, but just
seems overly complex. Otherwise, the Mule LR 15 is my new favorite
backpack, if I can’t avoid wearing one. Let’s look at some pumps. I’ve been sitting on this Crankbrothers
Klic digital floor pump for quite some time now. In its $225 configuration it comes with a
detachable burst tank, which is of course used to seat tubeless tires. You can either fill it with the pump, or with
the included shraeder valve. Like you would expect from Crankbrothers the
Klic floor pump looks, feels, and works really good, which it had better for 225. It has a surprising amount of solid metal
parts on it, including the base which helps keep this monster from toppling over. For bikes up high on a work stand, they even
include an extension hose. To top it all off they even went through the
trouble of putting a battery level indicator on the digital gauge. The only thing I dislike about the Klic floor
pump is the screw on connector. Although it is the best screw on connector
I’ve used, it’s still a screw on connector. At $225 it’s impossible to justify the value
of this pump, so I don’t recommend it to the average mountain biker. On the other hand if you geek out over really
well made things and don’t mind spending some extra money, this will not disappoint. As for this Rockshox Boxxer pump, it’s pretty
disappointing. I was hoping to keep this in my travel bag
since it works with both shocks and tires. While it does make a pretty good shock pump,
it’s nearly useless on tires. After installing the included converter on
to your presta valve, you need to turn this lock to convert the pump into high volume
mode. With enough strength, persistence, and luck,
you will eventually get it to cooperate. Maybe mine is defective or maybe I’m an
idiot. After you get it to turn the pump then telescopes
out further to achieve high volume. It is then excruciatingly difficult to inflate
a tire with, even compared to other hand pumps. There’s also no way to secure the hose,
which even this free pump that came with my bike can do. Overall it’s just disappointing, so I’ll
continue to carry two separate pumps for travel. I film mountain bike stuff for a living so
I’m always on the lookout for a really compact video camera. The Dji OSMO pocket fits somewhere between
a point and shoot camera and a GoPro. It has a built in gimbal for stabilization,
a ridiculously tiny touchscreen, and loads of shooting modes. It’s also $350, which is less than a Hero7,
and a third the cost of the best point and shoot cameras. Included is a little connector to hook it
directly to your smartphone, which is a lot more reliable that competitors wifi solutions. It also shoots up to 4k60, and unlike the
hero7, has full stabilization at every setting. The video quality is impressive, much better
than a cell phone. It’s not quite up to par with my Sony point
and shoot, but it boots up quicker and easily slides in and out of my pocket, making it
really effective at getting shots quickly. For that reason the OSMO now stays on my hip
at all times. The OSMO has great battery life, some cool
features like panning timelapses, and ongoing updates which seem to improve it every month. It also has a Cine D color profile which the
video nerds in this audience will appreciate. While the OSMO does make a really good pocket
camera, I will tell you right now that can’t replace a GoPro. Many have wondered what this would look like
chest mounted, and the answer is, hot garbage. The field of view is way too narrow for first
person video, and the gimbal tends to wander as soon as you lean forward. There’s also a learning curve. If you hand the OSMO to a friend to get a
shot, they will struggle to keep you in frame, as the gimbal behaves unpredictably if you
just point it at stuff haphazardly. Once you get the hang of it though, you can
get some really cinematic shots. With all this capability in a reasonably priced
camera the size of a cliff bar, it’s hard not to recommend the Osmo pocket. This is the Zero Gravity Rack, a bike storage
solution which might be useful for some people. I have the space to hold my bikes this way,
but some people need the overhead space, making this rack one of the only solutions of its
kind. You install it on your wall using the included
hardware, put your bike on it, and then lift it into the horizontal position which is made
easy by the gas cylinder. It does do what it says. I have a few criticisms about this product
starting with the packaging. I had to scavenge my parts bin to replace
these two bolts which were not long enough to make it through the tubing. Also, the strap which holds the rack in the
down position was adjusted wrong out of the box, which required additional disassembly
to correct. This rack, is also incredibly ugly. That’s fine for a garage or dungeon as shown
here, but probably not for an apartment, especially if you’re trying to get your significant
other on board with storing bikes inside. I’m also concerned with the orientation
given that suspension oil will settle on one side of the seals, although one could argue
that this is no worse than orienting bikes how I have them. These shortcomings could be forgiven, but
not for $180. On one good note, it works exactly as advertised. This really can easily lift a heavy bike way
up near the ceiling. So, if you need that, this product might be
your only option. Finally, we have the potty glove which is
an emergency bathroom kit for when you don’t have a bathroom. In the included plastic bag comes these two
nitrile gloves. The left one has built into it, a dispenser
with 5 wet wipes. After you’re finished you can grab all the
wipes, take the gloves off over it, and pack everything out in the included bag. Since they make the eco friendly claim, I
need to point out that nitrile gloves and plastic bags are not eco friendly, even if
you’re using them to pack out. If you are doing a lot of camping a roll of
toilet paper is a more economical and eco friendly option, but that’s not what this
is for. The Potty Gloves is to be kept stashed in
your pack for years, until that one day where it saves your life. I stashed a similar product in my bag a while
back, and recently I was really glad to have it. That product is called the sh!t kit, and it’s
actually cheaper and smaller than the potty glove. Still, should your coffee kick in at the exact
wrong time, you’ll be equally happy to have either option on hand. I hope you enjoyed these product reviews because
at the end of the day, they’re for entertainment. If you do want any of these items, except
for the shoe driers, I have included links to everything below. So until I accumulate another 10 interesting
products, thanks for riding with me today, and I’ll see you next time.
