Touring - way to carry spare wheelset on bike?

I have several ideas for how to carry extra wheels on my rigid MTB- curious if anyone has any input.

1. mount a junked fork to the rear rack

2. strap it parallel to rear wheel on rack

3. slanted 45degrees over the back rack/ wheel, secured to a fenderish type arm bracket..?


I have heard that in the old days when people would actually ride their bikes to the races, they had some mounts- I tried searching but cant find any pics..

the closest pic I have is the back of the Mavic neutral support vehicles http://www.bicyclefrenzy.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/neutral-support-motorcycle.jpg

woo!

[first post!]

Uh. I don't see how lugging and then swapping an entire wheel ends up as "less work" than swapping tires.

Besides, if you only need to ride on pavement for 15-30 miles, you could either use cross tires or just use the knobby tires on pavement.

well, I like to train hard and hate mounting tires when not neccessary

besides, say I buy some wheels off craigslist: it would be nice to have a way to bring em back on the back (no car!)

Which forum did you mean to put this post into? Did you mean it for the mtn bike forum? Or utility forum?

But if you mean that you're going to ride 15 miles to a trail, do a tour along the trail for a weekend or more, and then ride 15 miles back home ... why not just use the knobby tires you plan to use on the trail?

BackO'pack likely put it in Touring because he was hoping for some ingenious and helpful cargo hauling ideas.
But he won't get one from me.
My nearest dirt trails are also far away. I end up riding a long way on pathway and road to access them.
I'd say semi-slick MTB tires and a pump, to reinflate the tires after the dirt section, would be ideal.

it should perhaps be under cargo- I figured somebody in the 6.5x10^9 people out there must have gone touring with some spare wheels and had a clever way to do it

sure I can ride slow tires on the road- but thats not as fun as some good ol' 650cx23 gatorskins, eh?

Its more of a tow-truck idea- Im also working on a side project attaching (MIG?) a front hub to the rear rack {blackburn 3 support), in case I want to just tow a bike via QR as a hitch to the fork of bike #2-- just to give a clearer/ parallel idea of what the real goal is

Generally speaking ... although not always ... cycletourists try to travel as lightly as possible. Mainly because it's a pain to haul too much around with us.

Maybe Alt Bike Culture (http://www.bikeforums.net/forumdisplay.php?f=225).
Those guys are always looking for difficult ways of doing things.
Like this guy: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bikeportland/3953408419/

Everyones got their method- I fall on the side of preparing for near-certain apocalypse
traveling light sounds more like credit card touring to me- and when you arent in a rush and have a 24x34 gear to spin just about anything here

I need to get a picture of my old fuji touring series: high& lowrider front rack, plus rear, handlebar bag, seatbag- not to mention I carry it up 3 flights of stairs to my apartment while commuting w/ books and food stuffed in the panniers- makes cx seem easy, plus switching bikes makes the other feel like a rocket ship

metz, you the man- how you find that goodie?

http://bikeportland.org/photos/photo/3954188848/a-front-rack-for-carrying-wheels-6.html

I did this (http://lmgtfy.com/?q=carrying+wheels+on+a+bike).

ah, the ol' LMGTFY trick- I aint biting that hooked bait :)

I just strap them on to the rear rack somehow, vertically oriented. I do this for carrying home thrown-out wheels I find on the side of the road. Sometimes they're still perfectly useful. I wouldn't ride all that far with them attached the way I did (I found them when I already had the panniers with me - the panniers weren't too impressed).

Eh, have fun.

Cheers, A.

> It seems like just changing the tires would be too much work.

Oh, dude, we have such different definitions of "work". If you leave spare tubes in the tyres, they take no time at all to swap. (Checks...no, you didn't say tubular).

I once had to carry a spare wheel about 2km to the LBS. Ugh. Messed around with bungee cords a lot...guess I would have figured out something eventually. Strapped it parallel to the rear wheel, hanging off rack.

One word: trailer.

well, I like to train hard and hate mounting tires when not neccessary
So then, like I said, either use cross or knobby tires. Your training isn't going to change because of the tire type.

Adding the weight of two spare wheels won't impact your performance, but it will very likely degrade handling and, especially if attached to the front, will increase drag. So you might as well go for a tire that is good for the trails and acceptable for the road.

Not to mention whatever time you'd save by using the slicker tires will be lost, and then some, in the wheel swaps.

Why do something complicated and time-consuming, when a simple solution will do the job?

For the original poster it is more trouble than it is worth.

I did carry a spare rear wheel across much of my trip across Canada. A second wouldn't be too difficult.
http://www.mvermeulen.com/canada/fotox/jul12_04.jpg

Most ******** idea ever. Be a man and ride the knobbies the 15 freaking miles!

please- no more suggestions on "just ride the knobs"- that is not the point

simply: how does one carry extra wheels on a bicycle? 'nuf said

The only way practical way to do it is to buy build a trailer that uses the same wheels as the bike. A guy touring the outback on a surly pugsly adapted an extrawheel trailer to use a pugsley wheel. Since pugsleys use the same hub spacing both on the front and rear wheels, he was able to swap his both his front and rear wheels with the trailer, so he had very fault tolerant ride.

In your case, with a mtb, I would build a two wheel trailer with a rear spaced hub on one side, and front spaced on the other. carry your gear in the trailer, and in the event of a spoke breakage, swap the wheel with the busted spoke for one on the trailer.

For the original poster it is more trouble than it is worth.

I did carry a spare rear wheel across much of my trip across Canada. A second wouldn't be too difficult.
http://www.mvermeulen.com/canada/fotox/jul12_04.jpg

How did you decide which one to carry? It would have been a drag to trash your front wheel and you brought a rear . . .

Everyones got their method- I fall on the side of preparing for near-certain apocalypse
Obviously, not, because you should be carrying a complete backup bicycle!


traveling light sounds more like credit card touring to me- and when you arent in a rush and have a 24x34 gear to spin just about anything here
"Traveling light" doesn't mean "credit card" touring.

==================

Anyway, if the dude wants to carry some extra wheels, who cares?

Carrying extra wheels would be overkill for most touring but he's not talking about that.

There are MTB tires that work better on the road than some others.

I am working on the towbike!

I need to find my camera to show the rig I whipped up at 4am-- its basically a fork laid horizontal extending off the rear rack- one QR secures to each fork dropout (like those mtb monoblade forks)

seems the rear would keep handling pretty normal

I like the pugsley-esque extra wheel trailer idea, but not quite what I want

Big Dummy

sweeeeeeeeeetness!!

sweeeeeeeeeetness!!

the beginning of Dumb-dom
http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=391518
and more yet, dumb-ness
http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=519016

is it a touring machine?
uhh... ok, sure
maybe its relative

i've made my down the cost, camping along the way.

i guess anything is a touring machine
depends on how you want to pedal?

I have several ideas for how to carry extra wheels on my rigid MTB- curious if anyone has any input.

1. mount a junked fork to the rear rack

2. strap it parallel to rear wheel on rack

3. slanted 45degrees over the back rack/ wheel, secured to a fenderish type arm bracket..?


I have heard that in the old days when people would actually ride their bikes to the races, they had some mounts- I tried searching but cant find any pics..

the closest pic I have is the back of the Mavic neutral support vehicles http://www.bicyclefrenzy.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/neutral-support-motorcycle.jpg

woo!

[first post!]

Probably be easier to use a trailer for this.

Ask in utility cycling. They had a thread on using a bicycle to carry a bicycle, so a wheel shouldn't be to much trouble.

I had this idea for carrying an extra rim, requires re-building the wheel, though that isn't all that big a deal. You just get a few rims and cut some pieces out of them so you have three sections that you can reassemble with the tabs they used before everyone went nutty on the welded joints. The spokes hold the joint together, no welding required. This would be useful in case of rim failure, not as a convenience should one flat.

How did you decide which one to carry? It would have been a drag to trash your front wheel and you brought a rear . . .

:)

There was a bit of history there...

I lost my rear wheel near mile 500 of the Alaska Highway (where it crosses the Laird River). The 36-spoke rim was tearing apart. It took 6 days including Victoria Day holiday but a new wheel was built in Ft Nelson and sent up via Greyhound bus.

Unfortunately this new wheel was a 32-spoke wheel and I already started having some troubles with it riding towards Edmonton. So in Edmonton, I decided to replace the rear wheel with a 36-spoke well built wheel at a local bike shop there. Rather than throw away an otherwise good 32-spoke wheel, I decided to carry it along as well.

A day out of Kenora, Ontario the 36-spoke wheel also started to develop some cracks and the spokes started to pull out. Better safe than sorry so I took a rest day in Kenora and got a new rim sent from Winnipeg and had new replacement 36-spoke wheel built. I still carried along my 32-spoke Ft Nelson wheel as an extra spare.

The photo I included was in Cape Breton Nova Scotia where I was still riding the Kenora wheel and had the Ft Nelson wheel strapped on the back. The Kenora wheel did fine until I was outside Corner Brook, Newfoundland where I noticed another wobble and spokes starting to tear out again. So, I found a local bike shop. At that shop, I decided to switch over to the 32-spoke Ft Nelson wheel, though I also bought a steel rim replacement wheel just in case to get me the last bit to Cape Spear.

It might have just been bad luck with rims or wheel building or perhaps a combination of extra weight from both myself and the bicycle. However, after that trip I switched over to using a 48-spoke tandem wheel on the rear. On my longest trips, I still had an occasional rim wear out but the incident rate went way down and I also didn't find myself carrying a spare wheel like I essentially did from Edmonton to St John's.

Utility Cycling Forum:
http://www.bikeforums.net/forumdisplay.php?f=261

woo!

[first post!]

woo

Everyones got their method- I fall on the side of preparing for near-certain apocalypse
traveling light sounds more like credit card touring to me- and when you arent in a rush and have a 24x34 gear to spin just about anything here



Traveling light means not bringing an extra 10 lbs of wheel on the bike, it is similar to ultralight backpacking.

Personally I think it would be insane to bring an extra set of wheels on a tour with me, I would make sure that what I had was in good shape.

And it is a little less work to change tires than to drag the extra weight and bulk around for hundreds of miles.

If all you want to do is to bring your race wheels to a race then get a wheel bag and strap it to your rear rack.

please- no more suggestions on "just ride the knobs"- that is not the point

simply: how does one carry extra wheels on a bicycle? 'nuf said

I posted you a link, if you can't be arsed to click it.

I posted you a link, if you can't be arsed to click it.

Metzinger posted the same link 4 minutes before you. thank you for the link.

nice posts only, all negative energy will be frowned upon :notamused:

I dont see what keeps that rack from bouncing every time a bump is hit.

here is my rig up holding some fine wheels fished from the LBS dumpster- the crabon fork was crashed (not by me), and would nag my conscience to use normally- the system is even relatively QR, by undoing the carabiner (sp?) and the quill stem bolt

inspected by Twix, an expert in the field of bicycle study:

Traveling light means not bringing an extra 10 lbs of wheel on the bike, it is similar to ultralight backpacking.

...
And it is a little less work to change tires than to drag the extra weight and bulk around for hundreds of miles.

my wheelset comes in around 6lb, plus the stupid crabon fork for attaching- and you could do without the fork with a pretty simple weld job if properly designed. a gallon of water weighs about 8lb..

- if you are already bringing [while touring] spare spokes, and a tire, and a rim, why all the complaining about a weight penalty. I dunno how long it takes any of the master wheelbuilders out there, but it takes me numerous hours [with a nice truing stand] to build a wheel up. on a good day.

I have a friend who comes from Nebraska. he was riding home racing a storm, flatted. he would have loved a spare wheel then! turned out to be a tornado. ya never know. plus I would rather fix a flat at the end of the day sitting around waiting for dinner to cook than in the flooded ditch in Timbuktu.

the easiest way to carry a spare wheelset is to take an old tube and cut the valve stem off. then tie each end of the tube around both tires so that you have a strap. Put the strap over your shoulder and ride away... its extremely easy and it works surprisingly well.

I have done that before, and its fine for the random short trip. but not too comfortable in my experience. either the strap puts pressure on me, or the axles stab me.

its like carrying a backpack full of junk instead of tossing it in the panniers and forgetting about it.

I wind up hauling a significant around of wheels around, running 2 bike co-ops, and being a car-free student (Ok, the GF has a car, but thats cheating and lame) too broke to buy a Xtracycle. . . by the time I have that kind of cash, they will come probably come stock with S&M couplers at wallyworld- anyways I am taking a class in welding, so I will be frying up some experiments over the winter, but I digress.

IMO, make the bike carry the load, my legs are happy to pedal faster to go slower.

it's not clear to me the purpose of carrying a set of wheels.

alright- my question is not WHY it is HOW

but heres a few examples for thought:

1. I find wheels in a dumpster. How do I bring them home across the city?

2. Ride super skinny slick set of wheels to escape suburbia. Swap set for big knobs when I get to the trailhead an hour later. swap back for the ride home.

3. My friend Fred smashes his Zipp wheel in the middle of the boondocks. Hey, wouldnt it be nice if I brought him something rideable?

'nuf said?

4. its cold as pluto in the winter. changing flats when your hands are numb sucks. perhaps I want to bring a studded set for coming home at night when the melted snow begins to freeze over.

5. because I want to look like a hobo for halloween.

6. to thumb my nose at people who do not have spare sets of wheels to carry.

7. as shielding protection from projectile ejecta beer bottles.

8. touring across the midwest: MO = hills =big wide range rear gearing. IL = flat as my front tire = very tight rear gearing

For those interested, I have been using the fork method for carrying wheels several times- works fantastic! I have carried several pairs into storage, plus about 20 tires secured in between- highly recommended!

In my local vintage/used bike shop they had an ancient sprint-wheel carrying device. Picture here (http://www.classiclightweights.co.uk/components/cyclo-sprint-wheel-carrier.html).

For those interested, I have been using the fork method for carrying wheels several times- works fantastic! I have carried several pairs into storage, plus about 20 tires secured in between- highly recommended!

For times when you don't want to carry a fork around, a simple solution would be to weld a couple drop outs off the back of your rack. You could place them so they would not be in the way of normal loads, but would be available when needed.

thank you for the pics, I looked hard to find some and couldnt

I like the dropout idea too- any pics of a good orientation?

In my local vintage/used bike shop they had an ancient sprint-wheel carrying device. Picture here (http://www.classiclightweights.co.uk/components/cyclo-sprint-wheel-carrier.html).

elegant

In my local vintage/used bike shop they had an ancient sprint-wheel carrying device. Picture here (http://www.classiclightweights.co.uk/components/cyclo-sprint-wheel-carrier.html).

I bet you could make one of those easily enough with a piece of flat aluminum, a vice, a drill and a hack saw....