cyclezealot

I am too busy a person to take a bike maintenance class. Locally "Bike USA, Inc." shops used to offer simple needed bike maintenance procedures like once every four months...
THink I have the tools and have read about certain procedures we should be familiar with..Heck, it took me six months of riding to address changing flats..Some time I will take a real bike maintenance class somewhere...Particularily before I like attempt to cross like the Sahara on a bike.
Yes, We are told about it and some reading.But that is not experience.
Two procedures worry me on a commute, since there is no bike wrecker service.
1- Chain breaks..THink I know what to do..Think I have the tools....Question..Do most of you carry replacement links to make for a totally normal ride.? 2- What worries me more...A spoke breaks and your ride is impossible..How do you all get preparred for that.?
ANy condensed links to help out the mechanically feeble.thanks.

Revtor

As for chain, I carry spare link parts and pins and a master link.. and a decent chaintool. This has come in handy a few times. It is nice to be able to rebuild your chain with parts you have in your bag and not have to spend 30 minutes looking for a piece that fell off 30 feet down the road. I keep the parts in an old patch kits plastic box.

I dont think that a broken spoke would ruin your commute. You could probably go on for quite a ways, especially if you're not carrying alot of weight. Take the spoke out or wrap it around another spoke to keep it in place, or, use a bit of tape to secure it to this other spoke. Might have to adjust or disconnect the brakes if the wheel gets a bad enough wobble.
This has never happened to me though, so Im not sure how bad a broken spoke would warp a wheel. I guess the more spokes you have, the less it would warp. ?

I carry a patch kit, tire levers, my chain tool and spare chain bits box in a waterbottle on my seattube. A mini pump is mounted in the seattube too. Kinda heavy but it has saved me numerous times. I think Ill get a multitool someday soon.

Recently I was riding with a buddy of mine for a few hours and he had a slow leak.. We pumped it up a few times along the way, and eventually the tube failed at the valve stem. We had no tube so we started walking . . My cel phone got him a ride in 20 minutes though, so it was no big deal in the end. Ill be carrying a spare tube for now on.

Soon it'll all go in an under seat bag. .
prepared!
~Steve

froze

A chain tool is ok to have with you, but keep in mind that breaking a chain is a rare event, in fact in over 30 years of riding I have never had a chain break; thus I do not carry in spare links! If a chain were to break and you did not have spare links available all you do is remove the bad link and hook the chain back together again. You may not be able to get all the gears to work but most will and you can still get home.

I carry a Park MTB1 (I have a road bike) minitool and a cheap Walmart very small mini tool that has pliers that fold. I also carry 2 tire irons, a Quik Stik (makes taking a tire off very fast once the irons get it started); a tool called a VAR that helps put on the last inch of tough tires like my Armadillos without damaging the rim, tire or tube doing it; I also carry a new ultralight spare tube in it's box; a ultralight racing folding tire; 6 glueless patches; a tire boot; spare batteries for the rear tailight and the computer; ID with phone number and blood type on it (this is also written on the inside of my helmet); $25 in cash; I did have a small first aid kit but I used it about 2 weeks ago to help a kid that fell and skinned up his knees, so now I have to get another one.

My mini pump is connected to the side of my water bottle cage; I do not carry spare spokes because my rims have 36 spokes each and when I did break one about 8 years ago I just twisted it around an adjacent spoke and rode home without having to even true the wheel...BUT if you have one of those Shimano type of wheels that use paired spokes, if you break one spoke the wheel will taco on you, the same is true with high tension wheels! If you have a wheel that has less than 32 spokes you could carry a spare spoke just in case one broke, but the hassle of putting in the spoke on the side of the road VS the rarity of this happening is not worth carry it in my opinion.

I don't carry stuff in my water bottles other than water or Gatorade diluted 50/50.

The reason I carry so much crap is because of two reasons: I do commute on the bike to work and don't want to have to call my boss and say, " gee I got a problem"; and I ride unsupported in remote areas that could have me walking 40 miles or so back home! And my wife is not my mommy, so if I ever had to call her it would be due to dire emergency and a flat tire, or busted tire or tube, or no air or some simple repair thing you could have handled with a mini tool had you had one, is not a dire emergency in my book. I've only had to call my wife twice in the 25 years we've been married (and over 140,000 miles of riding), once was because of an accident and I was at the hospital; and the other when I got diarrhea so bad that I grew too weak (after about 7 mad hunts for toilets or bushes), to ride home and it wasn't stopping, so I had to get home to take medicine.

Fortunately my bike has been extremily reliable over the years and never broke a part except for a spoke, so the only real repair issues on the road have just been flats.

cyclezealot

Guess an add on to my original question...Any other fears in regards to a mechanical failures ruinng your ride/commute...? and what do you do for that concern. Guess, like a tacoed wheel..We are just out of luck. Reason for a cell phone.
Often on favorite rides, I am conscious of where is the closest bus stop.Hope that never needed.

rmwun54

I carry a 3 inch piece of tuffy and some duct tape for those times when the tire gets a cut or side wall gets puncture. By placing the tuffy on the area of disaster I duct it onto the tire to cover the ruined area of the tire. Works for me. I carry the three major L wrenches most bikes use and a couple of spare spoke nipples. A spoke wrench, patch kit, spare tube, chain tool, some rubber band, and a little lube, two tire lever, and sun block.

DieselDan

No more worries of mechainical failure with the bike then the car. Out of ignorance, employers are less tolorent of mechanical problems with a bike rather then a car.

Regarding the chain: you don't really need to carry a spare link or go looking for the missing link, considering that link is broke and unuasable. Just put the chain back together, but watch your shifting, avoid using your large chainring and the three large cogs on the cassette/freewheel. Use a Sram chain, those are easier to repair then Shimano's.

For a broken spoke: loosen the spoke on each side of the broke spoke a half turn to true the wheel a bit. This works best on 32 spoke, or more, wheels. Tacoed wheels can be fixed to a point by bashing the rim against the ground and a bit or work with a spoke wrench, but you'll need to disconnect the brakes to keep rolling.

Hunter

Well me personally I carry a Topeal Power 21 multi tool 3 tire levers 2 tubes and spare links. A mini pump and a patch kit. I have either seen or experienced alot of "malfunctions" and anywhere from small to major failures. Therefore I take no chances. As the saying goes, "better safe than sorry."

Retro Grouch 

I've done tech support for a few large group rides. The first time that I tried to get tooled up for one, I couldn't find ANYBODY who was able to give me a good idea of what to expect. Here's a synopsis of my experience:

1. Flat tires. Far and away the most common malfunction. If you can repair your own flat tire, you are about 98% self sufficient. For a commuter, I'd recommend flat resistant tires because you'll probably have broken glass somewhere on your commute route. Your pump will be the factor that determines how long the flat repair will take. I don't like mini-pumps.

2. Broken spokes are by a wide margin the second most common problem. The number of spokes on the wheel will determine how much it affects your ride. I've broken 3 spokes on a 48 spoke tandem wheel and not even realized it till I got home and checked out the bike. If you break even 1 spoke on an 16 spoke beautique wheel and you'll be dead in the water because the rim will rub your brakes.

3. I'm going to guess that shifting problems are number 3, but most of them have been simple adjustments that didn't require any parts. I did have a guy visit me on the second or third day of a 600 mile ride whose shift cables were so badly frayed that they looked absolutely "hairy" where they ran through the cable stop. He had even signed a statement that said his bike had been checked over prior to the ride.

4. Bottom brackets are next but most of them involved older bikes that didn't look like they had the best of maintenance. The best thing to have with you roadside for a failed bottom bracket is a cell phone.

Joat

pump, multi tool, spare, patch kit.
Levers are handy, but you can survive without them.
Chains rarely break.
Most important tool, is your cell phone.

Hunter

I disagree the most important tool is your brain. Your cell phone cannot patch or replace a tube.

Joat

ah, but my brain rarely works correctly, whereas my cell phone works great all the time

Alrocket

Related (and dumb) question - how do the glueless patches work? I have a bunch but haven't been forced to use 'em yet (and they don't come with instructions). Do you wet them (water or saliva)? That's what I was guessing anyway.

Avalanche325

Glueless patches usually have a little piece of sandpaper with them. Use the sandpaper to clean and rough up the area to be patched. Put the patch on and apply pressure for about 30 seconds. That's it.

I have broken a couple chains on my MTB. I have repaired other peoples chains, road and MTB several times. I carry a Park chain tool. It is pretty small and light. I do carry a couple links, but you dont really need to. Just take the bad one out.

I carry two tubes and a glueless patch kit. Also a multi tool, mini pump, cell phone, and a few $$.

I have broken spokes, chains, bent a couple rims, destroyed a rear der on a stump (broke the replaceable dropout off too), and have been able to ride home.

I did blow out a freewheel ratchet at the top of a climb. That would have left me stranded, except that I was at the top of a 7 mile downhill.

rykoala

Well I've only been commuting a month or so but here's what I carry:


- 8" crescent wrench (shortened to 6" with a grinder)
- 2 tire levers
- screwdriver (disassembles, shaft comes out, has small/big of flat and phillips)
- stuff to fix a flat (glue and old tube bits)
- a few allen wrenches
- $.50 (for air if I get a flat anywhere near a gas station)
- celphone


I lack a pump but will have one next month. All the stuff fits in an underseat bag, including my work keys and home keys.

SchreiberBike

They are glueless like stickers are glueless. The glue is part of the patch and doesn't need to be applied separately and allowed to dry before use.

Basically they are little stickers where you peel off the backing and put them on. I don't find that they work reliably for permanent repair, but I carry some in case I have more than one flat.

madpogue 

It's pump, multi-tool, spare tube, levers for me. Ditto on the spoke-breaking. Our tandem has only a 36-spoke rear (prob. replaced by prev. owner), and we bust a spoke once or twice a year. I loosen the opposing spokes a bit to pseudo-true the wheel, and back off the brake, and we're fine 'til we get home.

Another bit I read somewhere else on these forums: cut a 3"x3" or so piece of tyvek from an envelope and throw it in your bag. If you have a tire problem, it might keep the tube from herniating through it, at least under low-medium pressure.

If you carry a cell phone, another thing you might want to carry is a Better World Club card. They're a competitor to AAA, with two major differences: (1) they aren't lobbyists for the roadbuilders and auto industry, as AAA is, and (2) for about the same price, you can also get bike breakdown protection.

Oh, and some bus tokens.

DieselDan

another thing you might want to carry is a Better World Club card


Do you have a URL for these folks?

madpogue 

Yup, it's https://www.betterworldclub.com . NOTE: I'm not affiliated in any way with BWC, and I offer the reference as just that, not as an endorsement. So far our service has been satisfactory; we've had to use it just once, when my wife's truck battery went dead last winter. But they're the only company I know of that offers bicycle roadside assistance. I haven't used them for this purpose yet.

seely

If a spoke breaks, take out the spoke that broke, undo the brake on that wheel (since it will be horribly outta true) and ride on. Done it many a time myself.

As for a chain tool, get an old 8spd chain that your LBS is throwing away and practice on that. Ask them to degrease it first though, makes it a more pleasant learning experience (and give them a few bucks for their trouble of course).

froze

Some folks don't like good new technology, and glueless patches is good new technology. I remember as a kid we use to vulcanize are patches to the tube with a short duration flame; I also remember when the first glue on patches came out, AND remember all the old timers crying about how the new patches don't work, they fail, they don't last, blah blah blah. Well the rest of course is history now everyone excepts them. Now I hear the same blah, blah, blah with the glueless patches and it's all a bunch of bunk.

I have been using glueless patches now for 5 years and NEVER had a failure, AND these patches remain on as permenant patches. I currently have a 3 1/2 year old tube that has a glueless patch on now for 3 years, and that tube has been used in my tires all that time, and this is on a road bike. I even expermented once by putting on a glueless patch on a MTB tire and pumped it up to 180psi (I know, that was stupid), I did it to see if would last, I kept that pressure in there for 3 weeks, then took it back down to 65 psi and it still held; in fact it has now held for about a year. These glueless patches (I use the Park) are great, and you never have to worry about finding a dried glue tube plus you eliminated the waste of time glueing and waiting for the glue to dry.

Cyclezelot, don't worry about the bike breaking down, even if something went wrong you can usually fix it enough to ride it. I forgot to mention one thing that another poster fortunately did and that was to get the best flat resistent tire on the market: the Specialize Armadillo; with these most flats are eliminated, thus the need to repair a flat on the road will be greatly reduced. You have a problem with a car on the way to work and it's unlikely your going to be driving it to work!

sakarias

I carry 4, 5 & 6 mm hex wrenches, a 4" "crescent" wrench (though MY bike doesn't, at the moment, have any nuts to use it on), a spoke wrench two tire irons, a patch kit, a good quality chain tool and a couple spare links and spare pins (Shimano chain), a Swiss Army knife (with screw driver), a piece of inner tube (to use to make a boot for a badly cut tire). I also carry some change for a pay phone (I don't own a cell phone, though I have use one a couple times!).

While I think multi-tools look cool, but I only need three Allen wrenches for everything but the bottom bracket and rear derailleur removal (neither of which should need fixing on the road).

Regarding broken chains, though I am prepared to fix one, in many tens of thousands of road miles (commuting and road touring) I have never broken a chain. From friends' stories and from the local bike shop owner, I gather that broken chains are almost entirely due to blown shifts going up hill. So, if you shift with reasonable skill you might not need to carry a chain tool, etc.

I also carry a couple paper towels or hand cleaners of some sort since dealing with the chain on the road almost always leaves your hands pretty grimy.

The only repairs I have had to make while commuting are flats and one broken spoke (factory wheel -- I've never broken a spoke on any wheel I have built), where I used the spoke wrench to take some of the wobble out of the wheel for the rest of the ride home.

cyclezealot

Froze. I am a fan of Armadillos also.. rarely do I stray from them.
One worry about spokes.. I have been riding with other cyclists..Recall some have multiple spokes breaking during one ride. Might that put a wheel out of commission.? Replacing spokes is easy except if you have to take off the rear cluster, right?
Good Idea about the chain, seely...Some future year I look forward to taking a bike maintenance class for casual riders, that a couple bike shops offer. Unfortunately, none local.
And Diesel Dan..My old foreman let it be known he is skeptical about riding to work...I politely, but constantly counter by saying how much safer I feel in a bike lane, away from highway combat and that bike have so few mechanical parts compared to a car- I think cycling makes me far more reliable...Like, glad I had a bike..cars gave us problems today...Thats why this thread is important to me...Want to maintain that argument.

MichaelW

The worst commuting mechanical I had was when my SRAM rear mech (the plastic type) cracked, and my chain wrapped around between the cogs and the spokes. It was a complete lockup, and there was no way to do a roadside repair. I managed to unscrew the freewheel and get the chain out, with damage to a couple of spokes only.
The other bad one I had was a siezed locknut on an inner tube valve. I couldnt remove it, even with one pair of Leatherman pliers. I amnaged to borrow another pair and unscrew the item. Now I grease the threads like any other bolts.
Ive had one chain breakage at the very end of a ride, and I generally carry a chaintool only on longer rides and tours.

531Aussie

You have to pay for air??? WOW

I weigh most of the things put in my kit, and I some tools can get 'chunky', so I only carry the bare necessities: puncture stuff, a few allen keys, two small screw drivers, and a spoke tool. If I'm a bit suspicious of the condition of a tyre, I carry a light (170g), foldable spare.

The only times I've ever busted a chain was when I foolishly tried to re-use a pin, so I never carry a chain breaker -- too heavy, relative to it's necessity.

bluejack

Well, 50 cents may sound like a lot, but you have to remember this is
compressed air. The federal breathing tax is only 1 cent per
breath, or 2 cents if you're doing deep breathing, like yoga or something.
I don't really mind the tax, it is the breath-meter implanted in my neck
that gets a bit tiresome.