Roadside Repair Thread
 

Post yer roadside repair tips and tricks here.
Here's one of mine to start:

Problem: Forgot to bring the headlight mounting bracket with me for the night portion of commute.
Solution: I put the headlight up against side of the drop section of drop bar and taped it in place. Rode the whole way in the dark and held very tightly - no vibration. It is a miNewt.600, cylindrical/tube shaped headlight. So should work for any tube/flashlight shaped light.

One of my more recent ones was that I drove into town with my wife, bringing my bike and child seat for it that fits on my rack. I also brought a pannier bag to carry my work clothes and my daughters day care supplies. I've never used the pannier before with the bike seat....and realized after my wife left in the car that the seat takes up the space where the pannier hooks on and it would not fit.

To fix this, I used some zipties to zip up the pannier to the back of the bike seat, hanging the bag hooks over the top of the seat.

C'mon y'all. No shoelace to hold together a broken chain?... No wedging in of a stick to keep the derailer in gear after the cable breaks?...Using grass to fill a flatted tire to ride slowly home with?...dollar bill as a tire patch?...anything???
With all the riders on here, there's got to be someone with some cool tricks they have used to get home on the bike.

Cool idea. I have read that every rider should include a few zip ties and a length of duct tape in their repair kit! You never know what you may need it for. I coulda used the zip ties to try to secure my headlight.

My best tip is to carry a decent toolkit... it won't save you from every JRA but in many cases will get you home without having to do the walk of shame.

Besides the obvious multi tool, small adjustable spanner, and tyre repair goods I always have a number of zip ties, a few spare chain links to match the bike, quick link, a few small bolts and nuts, and material to boot a tyre if needed.

Seriously, I've done all that except for the shoelace in the chain, which I don't think would work. But I HAVE used the chain tool I always carry to remove a link and ride home on the small ring.
And that grass-in-the-tire trick will work, but really, really badly and only for about 200 yards at a time.

built my distance touring rig .. belt and braces, 1 spoke and the occasional puncture.

I do overhauls at home , before I leave ..

My main commuting rig is almost completely self supported... still haven't taped any spokes to the chainstay yet.

Another thing I have heard is taking not-so-important bolts off other places of the bike to use them to replace a bolt that may have fallen off or snapped on a more critical component.

For years I've cut up old tires to ahve a patch I can use on the tire itself. I once ran over a piece of wood with a nail in it that went through tire tube and rim. Still was able to boot it, put in a new tube and ride home with minimal issues (did rice abotu 10lbs low on preasure, minimal issue).

Just remembered another. Hit a pothole hard enough the that the handlebars rotated significantly and both wheels were out of true, one seriously. Just lostened the brakes a bit and rode on. I would have walked wown any serious hills if there ahd been any remaining on the route.

Duct taped broken spoke to good spoke. No biggie.