Bike Tool Bag With External Pump

I wanted a small bag to hold my bike tools. The bag I had was just a bit too small to fit them all and my bike pump too, it got me thinking about a bag with the pump mounted outside of the bag. The bag is a bit smaller that way and as a bonus you can use the mounting hardware from the pump to attach the bag to your bike too!

I tried to do it as much as possible with just the things I had lying around to minimize the cost, you could easily adapt the idea using different materials to make the bag waterproof using different materials or anything you'd like.

The first step is to gather up your materials and tools.

I made most of the bag out of the leg from a pair of pants that had a hole worn in the crotch from my bike seat and a bike tube with a hole close to the stem which is a hard place to patch. I also used the cutoffs from hemming a pair of maroon coloured jeans too so the whole bag wasn't black but it's not necessary.

For tools all you need is a needle, thread, scissors and something to mark the cloth with, I used a ruler and some white chalk.

The first step is to cut out the sheet of material you'll use as the base of the bag. the dimensions I used are in the photos. The pump I used is a Btwin 100, the cheapest one from decathlon.

I cut my piece from the leg of my pants just a bit longer than the pump is, you can go a bit long here and cut it down more later, you'll want it basically the length of the pump plus a bit of fabric on either end (I gave myself about 1cm) so you can make the seams.

then I cut along one of the seams of the pant leg to get a rectangle.

the next step is to make the first end of the pump pocket. this pocket is for the end of the pump that has the handle. the end where the air comes out is on the other side of the bag.

you want to leave enough room between the two pockets that the mounting hardware to attach the pump to your bike still fits

I put the pump along the seam in the middle of the fabric rectangle and marked where I wanted my pockets to go. the width of the lengthwise marks are determined by the pump and the piece you add to make the pocket. the distance between your marks plus the width of the piece you add should be just a hair more than the circumference of the end of the pump that goes in the pocket so it can fit in easily but doesn't fall out.

you want the piece you add to make the pocket to be long enough to cover the length of the pump you want covered and to fold down and make the end of the pocket too. In my case I wanted 5cm of the pump covered so the fabric I added was 10cm long. I sewed it onto the lines I marked then sewed the fold down to meet the bag and make a closed pocket. (I think the pictures describe this better than I can with words)

The next step is the pocket for the other end of the pump. This is done in the same way as the other side but the fabric is just over the top of the pump so it can slide out of the pocket. In order to keep it from sliding out when you don't want it to I used a length of bike tube that's a bit elastic so you can stretch it out of the way to get the pump in and out.

In my case the pump is L shaped so it works well to twist the pump to move it away from the tube retention and it will slide right out.

I just sew my tube sections to the fabric, which is a little difficult but you could also do less sewing and also use some contact cement, if you constantly stretch the tube the holes from sewing might tear.

Next is to make any internal pockets if you want them.

I made pockets for a tube repair kit and tire levers. This was done simply by cutting enough fabric that you could wrap the item then sewing a tube. Tabs were left at either end of the tube so they could be easily sewn into the bag.

once the tubes were sewn the tabs could be used to sew them into the bag.

the next step was to attach the sides. since the bottom of the bag has a V shape from the pockets for the pump a corresponding V shape needs to be cut from the sides before sewing them to the bag.

The next thing to do was to sew seams on all the exposed edges. just fold over some fabric and sew along it so the edges don't fray.

Next is to add the closing mechanism to the bag. I didn't want to spend anything on this project so I came up with a way to keep the bag closed just with bike tubes.

I used two straps made of bike tube and two "rings" of bike tube per strap. you can leave the straps long to begin with and cut them shorter if you need. just sew them well to the lid and thread two rings onto each strap near the lid.

To use the straps to close the bag you just wrap them around the bag then through both rings. fold the strap back through the first ring to lock in in place so it doesn't slip. this holds quite well and you can close the bag quite tightly

Finally you can load up all the things you want in your bag!

I keep a patch kit, tire levers, a pump, a small multi tool, front and back lights, small pliers, a rag and a pair of disposable gloves.

the patch kit and levers went in their pockets and the pump went on the outside.

now it's finished!

you can secure it to your bike by the pump mounting hardware.

I had some 3M reflective tape that I added to help with visibility.