Touring - Two Day Trip

My friend and I have never toured before, so we are starting with a two to three day tour.
I've looked through articles on the internet and threads in the touring section about things to bring for bike repairing, but how relevant are those things on a short trip such as ours?

Here is what we were planning on bringing:
extra tubs
patch kit
pump

Do we still need to bring things like an extra chain, spokes, tires, etc?

thanks.

ps. i forgot to mention the miles (just incase it will help with the answer); our destination is 50 miles away, which we plan to get to the first day and after that we're just going to keep riding.

Well, you can probably forego the tires and chain... You're not going terribly far, definitely not out of range of a friend who could possibly rescue you. If you know how to shorten a chain with a chain tool, you should be OK in your short trip. Plus, you probably know if there are any bike shops nearby that you can go to.

Now, if you're looking at this as practice for longer trips, feel free to carry the extra weight and stuff.

I would bring the tubes, patch kid, pump... Good bike toolkit, including the chain tool, hex wrenches, a knife. duct tape. spokes.

Jay

The more bike repair skills you have the more self-sufficient you will be on a tour.Carrying an extra chain link or spoke won't do you much good if you don't have the tools and skill to install them.Odds are for a short trip you have the essentials covered adding perhaps a multitool for minor adjustments(but you might as well get one that has a chain tool and spoke wrench included and learn to use them as its not complicated).You can increase the odds in your favor by making sure the tires have decent tread left(I don't carry spare tires) and the chain and spokes are fairly new .
If a chain breaks you are out of luck w/o a chain tool and perhaps an extra link though you can usually get away with just shortening the existing chain.You can usually get away with one or two spokes broken(though you may need to adjust the trueness of the wheel somewhat which still involves a spoke wrench) and broken spokes are usually on the rear derailler side anyway which is complicated to replace (have to remove cassette/freewheel).Other things besides broken spokes can knock the wheel out of true(and this can sometimes be bad enough to cause the wheel to rub against the brake pads ) but with a spoke wrench you can shorten or lenghten various spokes to realign .

Well, you can probably forego the tires and chain... You're not going terribly far, definitely not out of range of a friend who could possibly rescue you. If you know how to shorten a chain with a chain tool, you should be OK in your short trip. Plus, you probably know if there are any bike shops nearby that you can go to.

Now, if you're looking at this as practice for longer trips, feel free to carry the extra weight and stuff.

I would bring the tubes, patch kid, pump... Good bike toolkit, including the chain tool, hex wrenches, a knife. duct tape. spokes.

Jay

originally we were just going to use this trip as a test run to see about distance, but I think we've decided to add some weight, just to see what it'll be like.

The more bike repair skills you have the more self-sufficient you will be on a tour.Carrying an extra chain link or spoke won't do you much good if you don't have the tools and skill to install them.Odds are for a short trip you have the essentials covered adding perhaps a multitool for minor adjustments(but you might as well get one that has a chain tool and spoke wrench included and learn to use them as its not complicated).You can increase the odds in your favor by making sure the tires have decent tread left(I don't carry spare tires) and the chain and spokes are fairly new .
If a chain breaks you are out of luck w/o a chain tool and perhaps an extra link though you can usually get away with just shortening the existing chain.You can usually get away with one or two spokes broken(though you may need to adjust the trueness of the wheel somewhat which still involves a spoke wrench) and broken spokes are usually on the rear derailler side anyway which is complicated to replace (have to remove cassette/freewheel).Other things besides broken spokes can knock the wheel out of true(and this can sometimes be bad enough to cause the wheel to rub against the brake pads ) but with a spoke wrench you can shorten or lenghten various spokes to realign .


being able to keep riding with a few spokes broken is good to know, thanks!
i'm going to bring my multi-tool and the book 'zinn and the art of road bike matinence' just in case (also because our load is pretty light and it looks like it won't be a big deal).

thanks Jay H and RWTD!

It looks as though the stuff you're bringing is sufficient. I know from experience that about half the crap I lug along on my tours are never needed. Every tour I take, I fine tune and learn from my previous tours and cut down on the extras that I won't use. I learned an expensive lesson when I had to ship back a crapload of stuff from Switzerland... I'll not be caught in the same situation again if I can help it!

For three days, what you originally planned sounds sufficient. And besides that, if you are concerned, why not map out where the nearest bike shops are to where you're going, so if you have any problems, you can run over there or at least call them if you have problems?

Good luck with your trip. Report back!

Koffee

As a P.S., remember, a folded dollar bill will get a rip in a tire covered to where you can ride to the bike shop for repairs, so right there, you can cut back on at least one extra. And be sure you do have a good multitool kit so you can tighten up bolts that may loosen from having stuff on your racks.

Koffee