Hard to know beforehand, but you're sure glad to have them when you need them.

- Scott

They come in handy to hold thinks together. I've secured lights, fenders & water bottle holders with them.

I don't carry a separate flashlight in the bag, sometimes I have a "tactical" (strike bezel) flashlight in my pocket, and I always have my helmet which has a 1/2 watt light mounted on it. There's also a flashlight in a flashlight holder on the handlebars, but the helmet mounted light works best. When touring I'll also have a headlamp in my gear for around camp and a small tripod lamp (sometimes the magnetic Gorilla-pod one, which I can attach to my steel frame during repairs if I needed to).

I have a canvas and leather barrel-shaped tool bag that I used to hang off the back of the saddle, but my commuter now has a Carradice quick release bag support on it that usually has a Zimbale 18 liter bag (with a Carradice cape roll mounted on top). So the tool bag bounces around between inside the Zimbale and the Ortliebs that I run on the front rack some days.

In the tool bag:

loose:

- spare tube (two when on tour)
- exam gloves (in addition to a thin pair always in my back pocket)
- drop cloth *
- bike multi-tool (currently a Filzer I-Tool Grande from M.E.C. after having lost my Alien II)
- multi-tool (usually a Gerber, but I lost it with the Alien, using a cheap back-up for the moment). This is mostly for the pliers, but occasionally I need the other tools on it at work.
- (extra) handkerchief
- on tour I'll have a spoke tool in there too

inside a military surplus tool roll inside the tool bag:
(keeps things tidy, easy to find, and non-jangly/clangy when I go over Seattle's rough streets)

- handful of zip ties
- permanent marker & a ballpoint pen (mostly for marking where punctures are in tubes)
- two tire levers (one steel core (Soma?), one Park Tool, each have their strong suits**) thinking about adding a third tire lever for when I run the skinny tires.
- 8mm ratcheting box end wrench
- 10mm ratcheting box end wrench
- tire boot (Park Emergency)
- fiberfix emergency spoke kit (holdover from touring season - same tool bag***)
- patch kit with another Presta/Schrader adaptor stashed in it.
- masterlink
- for some reason I'm dragging around a small crescent wrench too, I'm considering leaving it behind since I switched seatposts and shouldn't need it for the pedals (pedal extenders means a normal pedal wrench doesn't cut it).
- something I'm forgetting maybe

Just finally upgraded to a quick-release rear wheel so I'm not carrying around a 15mm wrench anymore as well. Nice to drop that weight.

My pump (a Topeak Road Morph mini to get my MTB's city tires up to 90 & 120 PSI) is loose in either the Zimbale or Ortliebs, being a little too big for the tool bag.


* old surgery drape that is waterproof, I sometimes put this down either to kneel on, sit on, or lay out my gear on it. It's about a little over a foot on each side.

** The Park tire levers' shape makes it easier to get under the edge of the tire, but sometimes I need to exert so much force I'm afraid I'm actually going to break it. This is when the steel cored lever comes to the fore, although with my tires/rims it almost always takes both.

*** in-town I've never not been able to limp home on a broken spoke. Before I picked up the Fiberfix kit I once broke three spokes between Bellingham and Seattle, but still managed to nurse it gently along with a fairly heavy camping load on the rear rack. Different wheels these days, only spoke I've broken was one in front, in-town, most likely due to my overtensioning it. Glad I haven't had to try out the Fiberfix on tour yet.

Topeak Frame pump, spare tube, stick on patches, glue patches, 2 tire levers, presta to schraeder adaptor, leatherman charge multitool, cygolite headlight doubles as flashlight, crkt m60 knife, the nicer bell back country bike multitool. Usually carry spare links...i just got a 10 speed chain bike so i need to get some spare links for it.

You reminded me I need to put a small knife back into my tool kit. Since I lost my last multi-tool and don't carry a pocket knife due to the rules of college and work I'm currently sans an edge amongst my on-board tools.

Baling wire is seriously Old Skool! It feels weird not having duct tape with me, but zip ties fulfill that role for me when it comes to the bike, and (blasphemy!) I think work better for the times I've needed something like that cycling. Besides, zip ties are one of the Five True Duct Tapes (TM).

Concealed is concealed. College should be a place where they teach you to think for yourself and not simply accept what you are told. (Though that tradition seems to be fading.) A knife is a necessary tool, useful in any number of scenarios. Stupid rules are for stupid people. Don't be stupid. Just be discreet.

and some tire levers

You edited my sentence, removing " and work" and adding a period. Most days I have to go to both school and work. Work is the real problem, my issued locker has their padlock on it and I've had problems with Human Resources, including a freak out on their part over a small flimsy bladed box cutter that I used on the job to open and break-down boxes, so I'm not willing to risk my livelihood and school reimbursement over carrying a pocketknife on me, especially when I have a U-Lock and a six foot chain on me when I'm on the street.

Thanks for calling me stupid and a rule following robot though. You also seem to assume since I am in school I am young and need to learn to think for myself. I happen to be returning to school to learn a new trade, and am at least twice the age of almost all the other students. I've been in hot water all my life for thinking for myself and that still hasn't stopped me, thank you very much.

/threadjack over.

I find it truly insulting that whatever company you work for invades YOUR privacy by supplying THEIR locks. Evidently, that are a little on the paranoid side and feel that they cannot trust their own employees.

I recently worked for a company that did the same thing as well. They would wait until the late night shift and, occasionally, come in and "randomly" search the lockers of employees. What this meant was, basically, if YOU happened to be on their "hit-list" you could bet good money that YOURS would be one that was searched. Fortunately, I worked in a separate department and, although I had a locker issued, I did not have to use it.

To be worried about someone carrying a small knife is, frankly, ludicrous. Especially when you could give an obvious explanation for the need and usage of it.

Companies need to stop being so invasive of other peoples' privacy.