Topeak launch new 2016 tools and accessories

Did you get what you wanted for Christmas? Or just socks and a Lynx box set again? Either way, put all that behind you and start thinking about some new shiny things you can add to your birthday list. We had the chaps from Topeak in the office just before Christmas showing us some of their new 2016 products, so that's a good place to start.

Increasingly, people are using their phones for recording and navigation while out on a ride. That's likely to be an ever-growing trend as smartphones get better and, importantly, more waterproof. One thing that can be an issue on long rides is battery life, though, and there's also the problem of mounting your phone effectively.

Step forward the catchily-named Topeak Phone Holder with Powerpack (£69.99). No prizes for guessing what it does, eh. The unit attaches to your stem with a Velcro strap, and there's silicone straps (not unlike the Finn mount road.cc/content/review/99482-bikecityguide-finn) that keep your phone in place. They worked pretty well on my Xperia Z1 compact and they're stretchy enough for much bigger phones too.

Underneath the mount there's a 7800mAh battery pack. That's enough to charge most smartphones to full at least twice; the powerpack has 1A and 2.1A USB sockets and there's a row of LEDs to let you know how much juice the battery has left.

Ninja series

Topeak are also launching a range of Ninja tools for 2016. The idea is that you can carry the essentials around on your bike without spoiling its graceful lines. Hidden stuff, basically.

The Ninja C chain tool (£24.99) fits in the ends of your handlebars. One side houses the tool body and the other the allen key you need to do the splitting. It's designed to work with 11-speed chains. You rarely need a chain tool but on the other hand having one can save you when you're many miles from home. So one that's permanently with your bike but hidden from sight makes some sense.

The Ninja TC cage and tool box (£24.99) adds an unobtrusive pocket to the bottom of your bottle cage, in which is stored an 8-function mini-tool. You get 2, 2.5, 3, 4, 5 and 6mm Allen keys, a T25 driver and a Phillips screwdriver which is enough for most things short of your cranks falling off.

Lastly there's a Ninja P pump (£16.99) that fits inside your seatpost. It's rated to 160psi, which probably means it'll be okay to get your road tyres back up to a meaningful pressure, and it's available in 27.2mm, 30.9mm and 31.6mm widths to fit most bikes. It comes with a rubber seatpost position indicator so you can get your 'post back to exactly where it was before you removed it.

TorqBar Nano and TorqBox nano

Increasingly we're all becoming aware of the need to correctly torque the bolts on our bikes. Arguably this is most important in low-torque areas where over-tightening could do damage tosensitive components.

Topeak's Torq Nano serires of tools is designed to help with this. There's two flavours: The TorqBar (£24.99) comes with its own handle which doubles as storage for a couple of the five bits (3, 4 5mm Allen key, T20, T25) that you get with the torque wrench; The TorqBox (£15.99) just contains the wrench and bits in a plastic case, and you can use it with any 5mm Allen key. There are three preset versions: 4Nm, 5Nm and 6Nm.

JoeBlow Booster

Tubeless is a thing now, and getting tyres seated is the most faffy part of the job. The JoeBlow Booster (£119.99) is a pump that's similar to the Bontrager Flash Charger TLR (road.cc/content/review/152196-bontrager-tlr-flash-charger-floor-pump) that we tested recently. It features an air chamber that you can charge up to 160psi, then release into your tubeless tyres to get them seated on the rim. Once that's done you can switch to standard pumping mode for fine-tuning pressures, or dealing with non-tubeless tyres.

The JoeBlow Booster has a long hose with smart head, easy-to-read gauge and comfy rubber handle, as well as a steel base to keep everything steady when you're pumping.

Airbooster Extreme

We've currently got an Airbooster Race Pod X in for review (http://www.extrauk.co.uk/product/detail/Topeak/Inflators/3706/) which contains two CO2 cannisters, an inflator head and tyre levers. The Extreme version, which is also £32.99, mounts to your saddle rails and looks like it'll be a good option for TT ot triathlon bikes

DualSide Cage

Anyone who has a bike with a small frame will know that sometimes it's difficult to get bottles out of a standard cage. The DualSide cage (£13.99) addresses that issue by moving the entry point to the side to make it easier to pull the bottle out. The two-piece design means you can flip the main cage so if you're left-handed you can have the bottle exit to the left rather than the right.

See Topeak's full range at www.topeak.com