mechanicalron

Use this tool to instal your front end and cork the bottom of your fork and the top like I did in the photo. I stash extra spokes and my pre-riged fishing hooks in here.

Crud buster you can make out of a chunk of old tube to keep road salt and sand out. Your old tubes also make the best cargo straps, lock/chain covers and u-lock covers.

mechanicalron

O-yea, the crud buster photo.

vja4Him

I'll have to give that a try ....

kipibenkipod

Thanks for this advice.
It sounds like a good field solution.

Kfir

onnestabe

Plastic Zip ties are great for things you want to permanently attach to your bike, but these velcro cable ties accomplish the same thing and are re-usable.

The link is for the name-brand stuff, but I bought a roll of 25 non-name-brand ties this weekend for about $3 from Michael's (a craft store if you haven't heard of it). You can also get them at computer stores, and in the computer section at big-box stores.

https://cableorganizer.com/wire-wrap/

Also, because they are fabric instead of plastic, you can permanently attach them to fabric with a needle and thread. I had an old fanny pack that holds 2 water bottles as well as the main compartment, and I sewed one of these velcro ties on the bottom, and attached two at the top to turn it into an under-seat bag.

onnestabe

If you camp with a fire instead of a stove, use a backpacker's dutch oven for baking. My favorite is muffins, but there are recipes for making cobblers, biscuits, dinner rolls, etc.

You need 2-3 aluminum pie tins, some small binder clips (3 or 4), and a pack of muffin mix (try to find the ones that are just add water so you don't end up trying to keep milk or eggs cold and unbroken). Prepare the muffin mix in one of the pie tins, then put another tin upside down on top of the first and binder clip them together.

To cook, dig a shallow hole about the size of the pie tin next to your fire and fill with hot coals from the fire (you will need a stick/small shovel/trowel/tongs to handle the coals safely). Then, fill the third pie tin with coals and place it on top of the oven. The heat coming from above and below will bake the muffins. Let it go for 15-20 minutes, then check on it to see how much longer it needs to cook. The aluminum foil will cool quickly once you get it off the coals.

It's a fairly involved process, so you probably won't want to do it every night or morning on an extended tour, but it would be a nice change of pace from freeze dried or just add hot water meals. If you want more information, just google "dutch oven recipes". Just realize that most of them won't be for the backpacker's dutch oven, so you may have to modify it a little to make it work.

burtonridr

If you enjoy living dont do this! Wheel you are one lucky SOB, I hope you weren't trying to deter a bear and were just trying to fend off raccoons or something. I dont care how much you piss on and around your food, it wont mask the smell from bears. That bear could still smell it literally miles away. Bears have a sense of smell we cannot even imagine. The whole testosterone thing you think will keep them away, it will work until you get a real hungry bear or one that isnt scared of humans.

Dont keep things such as granola bar wrappers, gum wrappers, anything that had food stored in it, toothpaste, your tooth brush, mouth wash, etc. Nothing in or around your tent in bear country. I read a story awhile ago about this guy that tied his food in a tree, but forgot he had an empty granola bar wrapper in his pocket. He was mauled in the middle of the night by a bear trying to get food. Gives me the chills thinking about that stuff.

Another tip if you get a flat and dont have a spare or patch kit. Stuff the tire full of leaves, grass, TP, whatever and ride it lightly to wherever.

With a poncho, stakes, and rope you can use your bike to help support a lean to. I actually did this with a motorcycle once, but a bike could work too.

Saved lint from your dryer in a film canister makes a good fire starter.

With a poncho and your cooking pot you can dig a hole just about anywhere on the planet and extract water from the ground by placing your cooking pot in the 8" deep (or more) hole in the ground, then cover it with a poncho, use rocks or dirt around the edges to hold the poncho tight with a slight droop in the middle of the hole. Just by evaporation and condensation on the tarp you can collect water that will be distilled and will drip into the cup. You can also use this method to just distill water.. more here

If you are somewhere with lots of trees you can wrap up a portion of the tree and its leaves in a poncho along with a rock (to create a low point for water to collect). Again same concept with evaporation and condensation.

Need a tie off point in the center of your poncho? wrap a rock in the pocho where you need the tie off point, then tie a knot around the base of the wrapped up rock. I'm not sure how else to explain it, but I found this.


In an emergency situation when you are cold, wrap up in a poncho, then assuming you have a candle, light it and place it under the poncho with you to get warm.

If your tools are not in something solid and are just loose in a soft pannier or something they will eventually wear a hole(s) in it. Wrap up the tools in a clean shop rag then secure it with velcro straps.

My last tip, buy a poncho, they are good for lots of things.

zoltani

Water bottle getting a little funky? Squeeze a little bit of toothpaste in your bottle with water, shake, and rinse. It will help keep your bottle clean and fresh. Do it every couple of days to avoid your bottle getting too funky in the first place.

mr geeker

a good use for old innertubes: if you cut a strip aproximately 3/4 inch wide you can use it as a spacer for one of those rear lights that attach to the seat post.

tgbikes

I started riding 20 yrs. ago at the age of 43, there are 2 things that keep circling around in my head. I think that going to be fitted for a tuxcedo, and finding where your dementions fit into the respected bell curves would be very benificial to bike fit. If you are in the top of the curve in all ways a bike shop can probably fit you according to the curent SM_MD_LG sizing systum. If you are at the fringe of the curve in some way you need to figure out how that will effect your fit. If your legs make up a proportionaly small amount of your hight the more importand stand over hight is. touso lingth effects top tube and stem lingth, arme lingth often effects what hight the handle bars are comfortable at. #2Several years ago I asked a phisical theripist which hand position would be more comfortable, and demonstrated the mtn bike ,straight bar, position and then the hands on the hoods of drop bar. Her response to the straight bar was, that is'nt a natural position, it's in your range of motion but your armes will never relax in that shape. She told me that with every thing equal nothing short of 100.000years of evolution is going to make mtn. bike bars as comfortable as drop bars.

olan

haha! thanks for the tip! i'll try it if i given a lot of time. i used to get some ready to drink at my freezer because i don't have so much time. but many thanks!

asromzek

I couldn't find any double sided velcro in the area, so we bought some sewable velcro strips and sewed them together with nylon thread. Very cool

Cyclebum

Zip ties are great for attaching extra btl cages to the bike. I add two to the stem riser and one to the bottom of the down tube when touring in remote areas, for a total of 5 cages. Could add two more to the fork to cross the Sahara.

Bluelightning

What brand of tire pump is that?

Bikopelli

Dude, the spoke idea is brilliant, just brilliant. At one point I used my chain hugged around my cassette and rim while trying to unscrew the cassette. I ended up throwing it down the road and hitching a ride, thats one way that worked but man your way looks a lot better. Rock on

lucille

Wow! Great thread, everybody! Thanks a lot! I'm still slowly getting through it.

My food idea is cous cous. You can get it already with herbs and flavours added, and it doesn't need to cook. All you need is a pot/cup/bowl with cover and some hot water. Pour, stir, cover, you have a hot nutritious meal in 10 minutes.
I do not recommend making it hours earlier, it becomes gross and mushy.


edit: Not for ones with wheat allergies.

mr geeker

another thing i've learned: zip-ties are AWESOME! the velcro strap that held the bottom of my pannier to my rack broke recently and so I went out to dollar tree and baught some cheap zip-ties. they also came in handy when i recently recieved my odometer/spedometer/super amazing bike computer thingy.

MTBconverter

1. never eat yellow snow
2. always go for the neck
3. keep your mouth shut when using the toilet brush

mattm

Wow, there actually is useful info on BF, and it's in this thread! Good reading.

the ringer

Here's a review of the gorillapod tripod. I find it an invaluable tool during tours. If you want to take lots of photos of yourself and let's be honest who wants to just see open road and trees in all your photos hop in there and prove you really did it!
https://throughtheringer.com/2009/10/12/flexible-tripod/

freewheel

I bought a small package of Trader Joes absorbent wipes and cut them into 1.5 inch strips. I put a strip in the crease of a triangulated folded kerchief wrap it around my head then put on my helmet. If the strip gets soaked I change it out. Works great!

Not sure this is even worth mentioning, but can fill up water bottles at those self serve soda dispensers with ice cold water, which I'm sure everyone knows, but was a wonderful discovery for me when ridding in 3 digit weather

I tried out a thermorest in my Henesey Hammock just the other day and it seems to work keeping my bottom warm. Let out most of the dair and it conforms to the shape of the hammock pretty good.

the ringer

You might think it's not that essential but a sleeping pad is a must for bike camping. Here's one I really like
My first tour I was skeptical as to whether I needed it or not but if you want to have consecutive good days on the bike it's necessary.

ak08820

Wonder how to create the vacuum to pack up the sleeping bag the next morning?

ak08820

Could you pl. elaborate? I am unable to figure this out.

ak08820

I grew up in India and the males wear a set of garments named Kurta and Pajama (guess!) as their normal attire, to keep cool in the hot weather. Kurta is a loose shirt, no collar, a little longer than the scrub top and the pajama is a loose fitting pants with a string tied at the waist to keep it up. The color is always white.