Joe Bikerider

These days I rarely carry any tools but this time I really regretted it. Sitting here resting in my favorite park a young kid asked me “do you have a monkey wrench”. He was riding a bmx bike. I had to say no. Seems his chain had fallen off. He had gotten the chain back on but it was really loose and likely to be another problem. He was super polite and I really sympathized. But what could I do? He knew that he should loosen the wheel and then pull back to tighten the chain. Good luck young man, sorry I couldn’t help.

CrimsonEclipse

Can't save the world.

themp

I ride mostly on Greenways/MUPs and this has saved the day on various occasions:

https://www.amazon.com/Adjustable-Sp...4&sr=8-15&th=1

It usually is a family or couple riding a coaster brake bicycles. Also, for some reason E-biker's saddles always come loose.

Joe Bikerider

I saw this young man a little while later and he seemed to be riding fine. But that chain is not going to oil itself now is it?

Crankycrank

I will usually offer help if someone looks like they're hopelessly stranded and help fix the issue and try to teach them to repair/patch their bike on their own next time. I'll never forget stopping to help a family of 4 with a bike for a girl probably about 7 years old with a flat tire. The dad just took off??, the older sister of about 11 yo was texting on her phone the whole time and the mom was at least watching and listening to me. The 7yo jumped right in and helped to get the tire on the rim, no encouragement needed and picked up on what was needed on her own. That makes it all worthwhile to see someone who wants to learn. As for the OP's kid, maybe he learned to check his bike before a ride next time and/or carry some tools.

RCMoeur 

Most of the time on the bike, I carry a toolkit that can fix my bike and some problems with others' bikes. When I lead my weekly group, I also carry a couple extra 700C and 26" tubes, as although riders are asked and expected to carry a spare tube & tire tools, sometimes they forget or end up with a second flat. I also have a small box with a few extra nuts & bolts (typically 4/5/6 mm) plus zip ties which have come in handy. In the past, I had problems with thumb shifters breaking gear cables near the head, so I put a gear and brake cable in the bottom of the bag, which has come in very handy once in a long while. I also carry a kevlar emergency spoke, which has been deployed once or twice, and tire boot material. Also a first aid kit per club recommendations, which has patched up minor boo-boos, supported seized knees, and a SPD pedal into thigh meat (eeewww).

We've helped other riders we've encountered with flats or mechanical problems. One of the oddest was a rider whose seatpost clamp bolt had snapped - we were able to get a long 6mm bolt & nut in there to hold it together until he could get to a shop. At another time, I started helping a rider with a flat, but unsuccessfully tried to explain to him that the fact that his tire bead had completely separated from his sidewall meant it wasn't going to hold pressure, no matter how much he insisted it would.

When I've done bike patrol for big events with thousands of riders on everything from carbon to big-box, I've run into just about everything from snapped chains to unscrewed bottom brackets to stuck brakes to loose headsets to woobbly wheels. So for these events I add 8-10 tubes (mostly 700 Presta but also others), a set of fine screwdrivers for inevitable derailleur adjustments (especially on rented road bikes), a set of channelocks for headsets & 1-piece BBs, a 13/15 cone wrench, even more zip ties, my small bag with the rechargeable dremel for fast patching of tube sizes I'm not carrying, a full range of missing links, and an enhanced first aid kit. But every year I go through the tool list again to see if there is anything I should have brought, or didn't need to bring.

andrewclaus

The one common tool I don't carry is an axle nut wrench. I also had to pass on an assist recently because of that.

The other day my friend flatted on his vintage bike, and he had a 6" adjustable that did the job. I'll carry that on a tour, but not on fun rides. We reminisced about the dog bone wrench we both had BITD.

roadfix

None of the essential tools I carry on my rides could have helped this kid.
BUT, if I were riding my fixed gear I certainly would have been able to help the kid. I always carry a 15mm wrench.

wheelreason

LOL. When we were kids riding around, at least one of us would have a visegrip clamped on the seatpost.

RCMoeur 

At the co-op, we'll sometimes have a customer ask for a Vise-Grip or pliers, and the response is "and what are we using it on...?" We'll typically steer them toward the correct wrench size instead. That being said, sometimes Mr. Vise-Grips is the least-worst tool for the situation.

grumpus

I used to clamp mine to the saddle rail, but I left it on the bike one day, when we went in a bike store, and it wasn't there when I came back. It was a genuine Mole too.