my hubby taught me how to change the tube if i get a flat, but i've never had one so i don't have any real experience to speak of.

this is a good thread, i'm gonna go raid my husband's tools

I didn't "make" anyone do anything. (comprehension fail) We, the group, are all friends who look out for each other, take care of each other, and at times, get in trouble with each other. Anyone of us would have done it another without a thought.

As for the 3 dollar tool, you get what you pay for, and I doubt you will fix much with one that you couldn't live with, especially if you take the time to look at your bike "before" you leave the parking lot.

comprehension fail... good one, specially when you mix up the word ounce with dollar. i still rather inconvenience myself by carry a small tool that can fix a lot of what can go wrong, inconvenience anyone else regardless of how good of a friend they are. and regardless of how well you look at your bike, stuff happens and i doubt you're psychic.

Whatever you want to believe, I suppose.

A good mechanic doesn't have to fix something on the road, he found it and fixed it before he left. Simple as that. Yes, unexpected bad things happen, but planning for failure ensures you fail. I leave the parking lot knowing that nothing common will happen, other than a flat tire. To date, just like PCad, nothing has happened, and I am confident it never will.

I'm impressed with your capacity for rewriting history. Aren't you the one who posted a "I break everything on my bikes" thread about 6 months ago? Aren't you the guy with the broken crank (and proud of it)? Aren't you the guy who called the LBS mobile unit on a ride when you got a flat tire and then (allegedly) tipped the kid $20 for his trouble?

Help me out here.

I am impressed with that mileage total. I don't have quite that many under my belt.

It doesn't have to be true it just has to be interesting.

Man, those TDF mechanics must suck. I see them doing on road repairs/adjustments quite frequently. You'd think they'd learn not to overlook things

Things go out of adjustment. sometimes it happens in the middle of a ride. It's nice to be able to fix those things especially if you ride solo and/or travel far from home. It doesn't take much of a tool to fix most common road bike issues.

one day i hope to be perfect also. until that day i'll carry my tiny multi-tool.

No. A good mechanic knows that stuff happens and is prepared to deal with it. You have your ideas backwards. Planning on failure doesn't ensure that you fail, "failure to plan is a plan for failure". There are places out here in the Wild West where failure...or the lack of planning for it...can get you seriously dead. Maybe not on road rides but there are places out here where a cell phone is just a fancy rock

I don't carry this kit



on local road rides but I do carry a subset of it for every ride. If I'm venturing into the backwoods on a mountain bike, I carry all of this and emergency shelter, first aid and fire. If I'm going to be a thousand miles from home and out for a month, I carry all that plus clothes, shelter and food. Most importantly I carry the knowledge that I can deal with just about anything that might happen and still get down the road. I don't fail to plan so I don't plan on failing.

Fakers!!!!!

I would say that the minimum mechanical knowlege a cyclist should have depends on how far you plan to ride, whether you can get cell phone reception and whether you are in a rural or urban environment.

If you are only going to ride 5 miles out from your home, then you probably don't need much mechanical skill. If you get a flat, you should be able to walk the bike home in under 1.5 hours, or use the cell phone if you have reception, to summons help.

If you are going on a ride that will take you more than 20 miles away from home (or your starting location) then you should at least be able to fix a flat as it will take more than a few hours to walk home. Again, unless you have a cell phone and reception.

If you are going touring, then you should really be able to a least fix flats, true wheels, adjust derailleurs and brakes. In other words when touring you need to be more self-reliant.

All of the above is also dependent on where you ride. If you are driving your car to a location way out in the country to start your ride, you are already a long way from civilisation, and you should have the mechanical skills to get you back to your starting point. If you ride mostly in a place where there are plenty of bike shops, like in the city, then you only need some cash or a credit card. If you ride where bike shops are few and far between, then you need more mechanical skills.

Just wanted to point one more thing out. The flaw in your logic is that for the problem to exist at all, it must have happened during the previous ride (the exception being a new bike build).

Well...let me point something out though....

....the rides I am on don't stop.

Shazaam!

woohoo. Pay attention here. Seriously dead is very definitive!

wholly shyte dude might as well put a truing mech on your backpack and ride with that too, have you thought of a way to transport a bike stand aswell??

Obviously not all are.

I'm in the neighborhood of 130,000 miles in the last 20 or so years. I've broken a lot of stuff, but less in the last few years as I've lost weight and got old. 4 frames, 3 pedals snapped, countless spokes and wheels, saddles, seatposts, a stem, cables, chains, etc.
I've also been a car mechanic for 35+ years and I can tell you no matter how you prepare, stuff will happen. Be ready to deal with it and you will be fine most of the time. I've rarely sagged and I don't own a cell phone. A lot of my routes have no cell service, anyway.

imho, derailleur adjustment is the easiest task to accomplish. but yes, bare min would be flat repair. i've got up to truing the wheel covered. beyond that and i'm stuck.

#7 here. If I don't have the tool to do it, it won't be long before I do. I've already had one complete build up, and that one was easier than the one I'm doing now. I've got to file some cotters down and get a cotter press (This worries me).
-Gene-

Well... you can deal with mostly dead but seriously dead is forever.

Two multitools? Pressure gauge? And what's the big nail for?

I am a good mechanic.

If you leave thinking that nothing will happen, it generally does.

At minimum folks should be carrying a multi tool and the stuff they need to make tyre repairs... since I ride a lot of vintage steel I carry extra things like my adjustable wrench as many fittings are nutted.

To blave, He was probably just trying to avoid a gambling debt.

Every item in the pack has been used at one time or another. The truing stand is the bike and the repair stand is an upside down bike...or the bike hung by the seat post from something handy. When you are 1200 miles from home, it's a little difficult to call for the cavalry.