I don’t go out of my way to review med kits because I do my absolute best to not need them. But that doesn’t mean they’re not an essential part of my riding gear, and the new Freeride Kit from Mend It offers a new take on the classic mountain bike med kit that I think will make a lot of sense for everyday riders and professionals such as coaches and guides alike.

Mend It Kits is a Bellingham-based company focused on making med kits that are uniquely tuned to the needs of mountain bikers. The Freeride First Aid Kit comes with a Fidlock Twist mount so you can mount it directly to your frame, or to any two-bolt bottle or accessory mount. I’ve been riding with the Freeride kit for a few months now, and while I haven’t used it in earnest yet (knock on wood), I’ve got plenty of thoughts about what it includes, how it mounts to the bike, and where it makes the most sense.

Mend It Kits MTB Freeride First Aid Kit Details

• Includes:
  • SAM Splint
  • Slishman Pressure Wrap
  • Gauze Roll
  • Large Safety Pin
  • 800mg Ibuprofen
  • Benadryl
  • Neosporin
  • (2) Standard Band-Aids
  • (1) Large Band-Aids
  • (6) Steri-Strips
  • (2) Wound Prep Wipes
  • (2) Alcohol Wipes
  • Medical Triage Card
• Mount: Fidlock Universal or Bottle mount
• Weight: 160 g (with Fidlock base)
• Price: $99

Carrying First Aid

Let’s start with some common ground: we all agree that we probably should be carrying some sort of med kit when we ride, right? But, most folks I know tend to only carry one sporadically, and my time on a SAR team bears that out. The gap between “should” and “I have it right here” is vast. There are a couple of barriers here, but the biggest I see is that most med kits go in your pack, and most riders tend to swap between a few different packs as well as riding packless lots of the time. That means that our “quick afternoon ride with no pack” is likely to leave us without any kind of safety net.

Similarly, even when I’m being really responsible about making sure I have my med kit on every ride, my systems get upended when I go dig, which is, arguably an even more med-kit-worthy pursuit. Mend It Kits aims to bridge this gap with the new Freeride kit. It mounts directly to your frame so if you have your bike, you have a first aid kit. And, unlike options that hard-mount to your frame, you can still remove the kit to easily pack and unpack it, or move it between bikes, or even mount it on the outside of your pack.

In my Fidlock review I made pointed mention of my desire to see more innovation in terms of accessories to that system, and this kit is a perfect example of that. Its existence makes me much more interested in kitting out my bikes with Fidlock twist mounts.

Freeride Kit Contents

If you want to open a can of worms, ask three different wilderness medicine professionals what you should have in your med kit. I’ve taken classes from folks who ranged the spectrum from musing about how handy a battery-powered ultrasound machine could be, to those who go hundreds of miles with just some duct tape and super glue. The biggest thing folks seem to agree on is that your med kit should match your competency. By that mark, the Freeride kit is well-suited to a WFA (Wilderness First Aid) level education which, non-coincidentally, is also the minimum level of certification that many coaching and guiding outfits require. 

The folks at Mend It Kits say they’ve done a bunch of research into the most common mountain bike injuries and then put together a kit that best meets those needs. That means plenty of Band-Aids and bandages for abrasions, as well as a Slishman Pressure Wrap for your tourniquet needs, and a SAM splint to help stabilize fractures along with alcohol wipes, Steri-strips, Ibuprofen, and Benadryl.

The only item missing that I’ve found myself using during a couple of emergencies is a set of small trauma sheers. It’s nice to be able to cut fabric, and you can get a small set of sheers that doesn’t take up much space. And, if you ride in the desert, you’ll probably want to add some tweezers for cactus spines.

Mounting Options

You can either mount the Mend It Kit to any two-bolt bottle boss or accessory mount, or you can use the Fidlock Universal Base to mount it anywhere else on your bike. I’ve mounted it on the underside of the top tube of the Trek Top Fuel on the accessory mounts but, on my downhill bike which doesn’t have bolt-on mounts, I run it inside the front triangle with the Universal Base.

I really prefer the Fidlock system to a hard-mounted bag or strap in this application because I’ve found that it can be quite hard to stuff everything back into the bag with it attached to the bike. With the Fidlock attachment, you can pull the whole kit off your bike, use it to help someone, repack it, and then re-attach it. This also makes it super easy to swap it between bikes.

Finally, Mend It Kits has gotten feedback from some customers who want the full kit but want to carry it in their pack instead of on the bike. If that's what you're looking for, you can get the Freeride Lite kit, that's exactly the same product withtout the Fidlock system, and costs only $74.

Performance

I would group the mountain bike injuries I’ve experienced as either a rider or a responder into two categories, both defined by my reaction to them. The first is “oh bummer” injuries. Think skinned knees and elbows, wasp bites, light sprains, and the like. These are the sort of injuries that can be quickly addressed trailside before the ride continues. The second class is “oh f************ck!” incidents. Broken bones, big concussions, aggressive lacerations. Best case you’re walking out and going to the ER. Worst case, you get to ride in a helicopter.

I’ve been unlucky enough to be present at a ton of “oh bummer” incidents, and too many “oh f************ck!” crashes. This first aid kit is reasonably well-suited for both, although I think it is a little biased toward the big scary incidents just thanks to its packaging. All the essentials are vacuum sealed together, so once you open it up, you’ll never repack it as tight as it came. For me, personally, that means I’m much less likely to break it open in a situation where I maybe just need a Band-Aid. It’s like one of those expensive lightweight tubes, I’m not gonna just hand it out unless it’s an emergency. That applies to all med kits, not just this one. Once you’ve broken into a med kit’s supplies, it’s rare that it gets replenished like it should.

I ran a youth mountain bike program for three years and, in that time, I was constantly blown away by how many scrapes and cuts little kids get on bikes. So, if I was riding with this med kit professionally (as a coach or a guide), I’d carry a bunch of Band-Aids wrapped inside the SAM splint but outside the vacuum sealed wrap so that I could hand them out in non-emergency situations, without breaking into my main stash.

That way, when I’m far from cell service, riding something stupid with my friends, I can be confident that the main med kit still has everything it came with, and that I’m ready for any emergency.

For Now

The Mend It Kits Freeride First Aid Kit is a product that I’ve wanted to exist for a long time. If I was still running a youth program, I’d buy one for every coach, and mandate that it’s on their bike for every ride. And, outside of that structure, I’m stoked to have it on my bike any time I’m far from home without my pack. Good habits have good consequences, and the Freeride First Aid Kit makes it easy to get in the habit of being prepared.

Learn more: Mend It Kits