Originally Posted by
timmythology
Now in that time, and with two bikes; I have had one broken spoke, broken chain ring, and a broken derailleur during the ride. So of the major mechanical issues on the road, I think only one could of been planned for. Which I guess is one incident every two years, knocks on wood.
I'd say two: neither a broken spoke nor a broken derailleur should completely disable a bike.
So now I am trying to gauge what the least amount of mechanical knowledge a person should have on long distance rides is. Especially at night, regardless of weather, in the middle of nowhere.
What's your comfort level?
I, literally, know how to take a set of steel tubing and TIG-weld it into a bicycle frame, then install every component necessary to turn it into a working bicycle including hand-building wheels. I've built one mountain bike frame, one set of wheels, and assembled 5 or 6 other bikes from the frame up. I would not, however, consider myself to be especially mechanical.
But it doesn't take a whole lot of mechanical skill to be able to build a bicycle. If you can remember "right tighty, lefty loosey" you know 90% of what it takes to assemble a bike from the frame up. If you own a #2 Philips screwdriver and a set of metric hex keys (sometimes called "Allen wrenches") you've got 90% of the tools you'll ever need. Tons of info on
Sheldon Brown's site and the
Park Tool website to get you started...
On a long-distance ride, you should know how to:
1) Replace/repair a flat inner tube
2) Boot a torn tire
3) Adjust the height and placement of your saddle
4) Fix a broken chain (can also be used to bypass a broken derailleur and turn the bike into a single-speed)
5) Perform minor derailleur adjustments (hint: copy the adjustment instructions and keep them in your seat bag; I can never remember which adjustment screw does what nor the correct order for futzing with them)
6) Replace a broken spoke (a FiberFix spoke replacement kit makes this much easier... in theory) and retrue the wheel