I'd just replace it before you left. No reason a chain should go bad in four weeks.

As to a spare, if you have a chain tool, you can repair the old one to get you to a replacement.

And another one, for the bike. Triflow. The small squeeze bottle. Put it in a ziplock bag. The stuff flows incredibly well! For chains, derailleurs, brakes and everything else that moves. Yes, there are better lubricants for each purpose, but Triflow does to all, quite well. (And while your drivetrain will go to filthy black - hence the hence the Bronners - Triflow is not a gunk magnet.) Just remember to shake well before application otherwise you are just using a very light oil that evaporates off. I re-shake mid-way for chain lubes.

Ben

Not entirely; that's only one of the reasons you're wrong.

Care to enlighten me?

And don't forget to take a nice suit; don't want to look like a weirdo in church.

Shirt and shoes.

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com...94a84bfbe1.jpg

Yeppo, though I learnt the hard way to make sure it has a sealed liner, think standing in Narita airport saying "ooooo, something stinks" then realsing it's your cooler.

[MENTION=345426]thepetester[/MENTION] Dude, if your chains jam up like that something is wrong for sure. Either your derailleurs are misadjusted, or your chain needs cleaning and lubing. Probably both. Serious and comprehensive chain cleaning and care will enhance your enjoyment of the ride. I consider it a daily chore before I ride.

As far as the absolute necessary gear to take, I am still learning myself, so I can't truly comment on that. Aside from the basic necessities (tent/sleeping bag/water/etc), I'll be carrying my iPhone and a Garmin inReach Explorer on my Tour Divide trip next June.

Yeah im in a very dry dusty place so both of my last bikes were as such,I mean I DO lube my rides accordingly but it must be a combo of the type of dust and the type of lube being just exactly wrong,I just bought a used mtb for town cruising which was lubed enough but the deraillure snapped off so the chain must have stuck somewhere,this stuff here is like red powdery dust that turns solid when compressed,thanks though.

Did we ever determine what type of touring this was?

Otherwise seems a pretty ridiculous list to try to compile. I mean, why consider a tent a necessity when you are credit card touring? Why a cook stove when you are eating in cafes? Why knobby tires if you are touring on pavement? Or does the OP just want a list of every conceivable piece of kit a cyclist could possibly imagine and call it all necessity?

Towel and copy of HHGTTG (newly revised edition of course).

The mountaineering approach is the Ten Essentials. Many of which are not needed if you are still sort of participating in civilization.

New Ten Essentials - A System Approach

If you are going for bike journey you definitely need to have your bike, then money, first aid kit your proper riding gear then cloths, sunglasses. My brother was planning to go for a bike journey with his friends that time my father asked him to view online for the stuffs he should carry. He checked it out and found that sunglasses are an important part because while riding eyes get contact with dust and sunlight due to which eyes might get infected. So he did take his sunglass with him.

The will.

all you ever need:

1. P38
2. bowie knife
3. condom

(not necessarily in that order)

We'll never agree. I don't wear sunglasses. I don't even own an Ipad or laptop. I'm not much into photography. I must have bicycle shoes and slip on shoes. Where are you going? What time of year? Camping? Your list on the very same trip will be different than mine.
Short trips, like weekends, are great for figuring out what you want, need, and don't want.
A GPS in a remote area without smart phone service might be wise.
The big question is the difference between what you want and what you need.

Smartphone GPSs work fine without cell service - you just need an app to download/store the maps into the smartphone. Not as battery efficient as regular GPS, but I only turn my GPS/radios on to spot check location anyways.

Even google maps app for phones allows you to download offline maps so no service necessary. Agree however that phones seem to eat battery faster than a regular GPS.

Hey, you forgot the peanut M&Ms. 😁

I've used Bronner's for decades, good stuff. OTOH 3rd week of the no-soap thing & haven't stunk despite recent warm weather & skin feels a bit better. Of course it's good to have something to wash away poison ivy, plain water would probably just spread the urushiol oil around.

GPS isn't an absolute necessity but can be a big help when lost.

Water is the #1 absolute necessity, 2-L plastic water/soda bottles are light & almost free, good for getting thru some remoter stretches.

Baby wipes or body wipes aka the ones in old folks home work well in a pinch. It's worth having a pack on hand for a quick once over.

Logic tells us that if GPS were a necessity no one would have toured before it became available to the general public.

You said, "OTOH 3rd week of the no-soap thing & haven't stunk despite recent warm weather & skin feels a bit better." This is what my barber was telling me to do. He claims that soap is the worst thing your your hair and skin. He's a young feller - late twentyish - and a friend of the family. He's one of the new type of barbers that are seriously into their craft. Anyhow, I've tried the no soap thing and it works. Old habits die hard though.

My favorite flavor of Dr. Bronner's is eucalyptus. Its the perfect addition to a hot soak in the tub. I used to take a very small bottle of it on hikes. Great for washing up out on the trail.

Yep there's a lot to be said for logic I just figured that seeing as how it would be my first foray outside of town that I'd run it by you guy's first,it would really suck if needed one and didn't have one.

All those comedians making up sketches about lost husbands refusing to ask for help weren't basing that on some kind of reality...

If somebody who was from my state pulled up and asked me for directions now I'd treat them with a bit of suspicion, unless they were obviously old and didn't have a handle on technology.

Of course it also depends on where you are touring, try standing at a minor intersection in Japan or China and matching up the symbols on your map to to ones on the signs, yep, you can do it eventually, but hey, why ignore another source of information just because they didn't do that in the old days.

Technology is nice, but it is not an absolute necessity. In most North American tours it isn't even a necessity. I find GPS/smart phone really handy for getting through large cities. Once out in the rural areas things are relatively simple.

:foo:
The population was 2/3 back then. Freeways were 1/10th. A whole lot of highways were 1 lane a side.
Nice try tho.

For me in the past ten years of touring:

1. P38*

/done

*oops --> with more & more pull-tops probably not needed either

final answer: you don't NEED anything!

Then how have I been able to tour as recently as this Easter weekend without GPS?

I rode across the U.S. and then some back in '99 without GPS (or a cell phone). 'Bout 6000 miles. I will admit that I did get "lost" briefly 3 times.