Totally superfluous: 3 things you don't need when gravel riding - or do you?

1. electronic air pump

Cycplus, Fumpa, Rockbros - the small battery-powered pumps look like gadgets from a spaceship and weigh just a little more than a muesli bar. Nevertheless, a classic mini pump costs less, has worked reliably for 40 years, doesn't need a battery and doesn't give up the ghost in the cold. Technically speaking, the thing is unnecessary.

• Muc-Off Airmach
• Dynamic Turblo
• Cycplus

But: There's a reason why you suddenly see these things everywhere. Having your tyres ready to ride again at the touch of a button, without having to pump yourself into a frenzy after the fifth flat tyre - that's a real gain in comfort. Yes, they sound like an angry drone. Yes, you'll get weird looks. But when you're kneeling next to your bike after 80 kilometres, three climbs and a puncture, you don't want to invest another ten minutes of arm strength. You want to keep riding. That's exactly what this thing delivers.

2. torque spanner

A torque spanner belongs in the workshop, not in your saddlebag. Anyone who tightens their stem bolts to a precise 5 Nm on the road is perhaps taking the sport a little too seriously. On tour, "hand-tight plus feel" has been enough for decades.

Or not so superfluous after all? As soon as your bike is largely made of carbon - handlebars, seatpost, cockpit - "feel" becomes a risk. An overtightened carbon component won't crack immediately, but it will remember that. And if you have to tighten something after transport or a slight fall on tour, you don't want to scrap a €3,000 handlebar. There are also good mini torque spanners for travelling. For carbon riders on bikepacking tours: life insurance. For aluminium gravel bikes and after-work rides: leave it at home.

• Feedback Sports Range Twist
• Birzman Pocket Torque Wrench 2-10 Nm
• Lezyne Pocket Torque Drive
• Topeak Ratchet Rocket Lite NTX+

3. drinking waistcoat

Hydration waistcoats come from trail running and have made it into the gravel scene in recent years. Price: 150 to 250 euros.

• Restrap Hydration Vest
• Evoc Hydro Pro
• Apidura Racying Hydration Vest
• Albion Visibility Cargo Vest

Function: Fluid on the upper body instead of the frame. Necessary? Not really. Your gravel bike has two bottle cages, maybe even three. Or does it make sense? A hydration pack provides additional water - you don't have to stop as often and are on the safe side even in difficult supply situations. There is also an underestimated advantage: on rough terrain, you can drink from the tube in a much more relaxed way than if you spend minutes balancing on the handlebars with one hand while trying to manoeuvre the bottle back into the holder. On ultra-long bikepacking races such as Badlands or Seven Serpents, where you sometimes have to carry four litres through the desert and water sources are unreliable, the waistcoat becomes a real tool. For after-work gravel: costume party.