Riders often ask me what they should carry with them on the bike in case of a minor mechanical problem.
My own seat bag is a dense mass containing a spare tube, patch kit, chain tool, multi-tool hex key set, individual 8-, 9-, and 10-millimeter box-open wrenches, a spoke wrench and a little scrap of rag. I ride a rural route and sometimes venture onto roads much less traveled. I like to get myself out of a predicament rather than ask anyone for help.
The comprehensive tool kit developed during the time when our shop held weekly mountain bike rides. Many of the participants did not have tools or know how to use them. But I was always the guy with the tools, even 30 years ago when I raced. On the training rides I bothered to carry the stuff other riders just hoped they wouldn't need.
Not all the riders who ask my advice take it. Some of them just carry a cell phone so they can bother a willing supporter to come fetch them back from wherever they broke down. Others want to pick their emergencies. Most often they prepare for a flat tire. They get a tube and a pump or CO2 inflater.
"Should I carry a patch kit?" they ask.
Absolutely. Not only might you patch a minor puncture if you have already used your spare tube, in case you have a serious mechanical problem or -- god forbid -- an injury, you can sniff the glue in the kit to amuse or anesthetize yourself until help arrives.
8 comments:
I'm a tool-carrier, too. It's well worth it when trouble strikes! Here's my opinion of the contents of a proper bicycle toolkit. In my own kit, nearly all the metal tools listed below are included in a Park MTB-3 repair tool rather than carried separately. The entire kit, including two tubes and a clif bar, fits inside (and fills) my midsize seat bag.
Grego's Cycle Toolkit
chain quick link x2 (sram powerlink, connex, etc.)
chain press
chain pins x2
allen wrenches: 3mm 4mm 5mm 6mm (8mm?)
flat and #1 phillips drivers
spoke wrench
box wrench: 10mm? canti brake bolt
dollar bill / rectangle of tyvek (for tire boot)
lubeylube
rag
5 dollar bill, 10 dollar bill
tire levers x2
patch kit
park glueless patches
tube x2
releasable zip tie x2 (strapped on bike)
hair elastic x2
small zip ties
press-light
presta to schrader adapter (on wheel)
mini med kit (tecnu, antibiotic, medi-wipes, bandage)
Hope this helps someone!
I don't carry all that, but I do carry a sock which keeps the other stuff all together and it doubles as a rag if needed. I also carry a spare headlight. From past experience, I know I can make it six miles on a hot day even if I have to shoulder the bike, but such episodes are really rare.
Grego -- that's a wicked comprehensive tool kit. I avoid the all-in-one tools because if you lose one you've lost 'em all. Also sometimes they're not that well designed to allow you to use combinations of the include tools. I haven't checked out the specific one you cited. It was more of a problem in early versions of the mega-tool when the genre was still being developed. But there's still that "lose one lose 'em all" thing.
Steve -- you're definitely the expert on hot and dry conditions. Notice I don't have the complete service garage Grego sports. I use tee shirt fabric for rags instead of socks. I've got little scraps of it tucked everywhere. And a lot of the stuff Grego mentions resides somewhere else in my kit: money, cell phone, camera... My Beamer light doubles as a detachable flashlight. The first aid kit consists of a bandanna and duct tape. I should probably include some whiskey.
You only have to be walking down the side of the road in encroaching darkness with a mangled chain and no cell service once before carrying enough tools to get yourself out of reasonably predictable situations becomes a priority.
I've experienced shredded tire sidewalls (fixed with boots or park glueless patches), broken chains, slowly-loosened essential bolts on shoes and shifters and stems, "spare" tubes whose valve delaminated from the tube (patched the original tube), kinked cable housings (lashed to nearby housing and tube with removable zip ties), bent components ("fixed" with flat screwdriver prybar), broken spokes, loosened hubs (that one i couldn't fix without two box wrenches), buying a tube from a passing rider (with $5 bill), and stuck a mini flashlight to my handlebar (with hair elastic). The kit has evolved over time. :)
Really, other than a set of box wrenches, a seatbag-portable bike repair kit can really be quite complete. Also, the added weight improves training, right?
Speaking of weight, the Park MTB-3 comes apart into three pieces, so you can use reasonable combinations of tools, and has worked well for me so far.
Grego had a follow-up comment, but it does not show up here. I didn't see it in the moderation queue either. If I hear no objection, I will copy it in from the email notification.
You only have to be walking down the side of the road in encroaching darkness with a mangled chain and no cell service once before carrying enough tools to get yourself out of reasonably predictable situations becomes a priority.
I've experienced shredded tire sidewalls (fixed with boots or park glueless patches), broken chains, slowly-loosened essential bolts on shoes and shifters and stems, "spare" tubes whose valve delaminated from the tube (patched the original tube), kinked cable housings (lashed to nearby housing and tube with removable zip ties), bent components ("fixed" with flat screwdriver prybar), broken spokes, loosened hubs (that one i couldn't fix without two box wrenches), buying a tube from a passing rider (with $5 bill), and I stuck a mini flashlight to my handlebar (with hair elastic). The kit has evolved over time. :)
Really, other than a set of box wrenches, a seatbag-portable bike repair kit can really be quite complete. Also, the added weight improves training, right?
Speaking of weightiness, the Park MTB-3 comes apart into three pieces, so you can use reasonable combinations of tools, and has worked well for me so far.
Hey, yeah, there it is!
When I lost a chain, my bike became a sidewalk scooter to get home. Sidewalks are great for pedestrians and broken bikes! I've also used sidewalks when the batteries on lights pooped out and, most notably, when I had flats that I simply concluded were too much trouble to fix before getting home.
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