I have built up my first disc brake bike.
Sooner or later on a long tour, I reckon a rotor might get bent.

I carry a fair number of tools, but have no need for an adjustable wrench, so am thinking about buying a truing tool.

Park Tools DT2.2 weighs 170g

Any UL tools or DIY tools, hacks, or anything else you guys use instead?

🍻

Only one of my bikes has a disc brake and that is only the rear brake, so quite frankly I have no idea how people get bent discs. I just do not have much disc experience.

There of course is the airline baggage handler problem, they can bend or break anything. But if you take your disc off the wheel before you pack a front wheel, how do discs get bent?

Unless others on this forum start reporting lots of bent discs, I would be inclined to wait for it to happen before I bought an adjustable wrench to try to fix it.

Well, there’s a specific tool to fix bent discs, so it must happen. That said, it would be great to hear first hand accounts.

The Park tool will allow you to get the rotor near perfect. Before using the Park tool I was able to move gradual rotor warp with my hands, however that method left a far from perfect result. I have used a small adjustable wrench with less than terrific results, however it is possible to get a warp out enough to reduce, but not eliminate that rotor zing as it passes through the pads.
If shipping the bike, remove the rotors and flat pack between something stiff.

Ultralight truing tool

It happens and it's a PIA!!
I bought a truing stand that also has a disc gauge. even in my shop it's a difficult job, on the road would be twice as hard

Crescent Wrench.
Perfectly fits every single rotor on planet earth.
PS It's also a chainring tool!!!!

Note the Park tool has a long slot. This slot is the one most used to get a rotor near perfect. The short slots I have rarely used and find that they are not enough to get the job done. I suppose the aluminum tool suggested above may be OK for an emergency, but is limited in what it can do.

Thanks, I was wondering about that. A long slot does make more sense.

I think I’ll get the Park Tool. Good to have at home too as I’m also friend’s and neighbour’s mechanic

Check out the Knipex Cobra XS. It's one of those tools that looks pretty lame at first glance but in reality is a powerhouse of a tool that does multiple tasks well.
Firstly, it's probably one of the best set of pliers you'll every buy (pliers are always handy on tour and at home)
Secondly, even though it's short, the way you hold it allows for a lot of torque and holding power so it can crank almost any bicycle spec'd hex head bolt to torque and open them as well. It can also open some hex socket bolts if they're not too tight.
Thirdly, you can use it to true brake rotors.
Fourth, a pot holder.
or whatever you can imagine a good set of small pliers doing.

Weight is 62 grams and it really is quite small

Wow! That looks awesome. Thanks elcruxio. Should work as a pedal wrench too, neh?
My wirecutters at home are Knipex. Fantastic quality

Thanks for the suggestions, but I think I will just wait for mine to get bent before I buy a tool. I have been riding my disc brake bike for eight years now without a problem. If I need a tool on a bike tour, I will buy a 6 inch adjustable wrench at a hardware store.

Part of the reason I’m looking into more tools at the moment is that I just got back from France.
For no explicable reason except for bumpy canal towpaths I broke 7 spokes! First four on the front wheel, then two more after I’d replaced them… and one on non-drive side back wheel.

Handbuilt new (1000 km on them) DT Swiss TK540, Sapim Race front, and Mavic A719 Sapim Strong rear, by the very experienced guy who has built all my wheels for the last 30 years… I have never broken a spoke before, ever!

It really did make me think again about what could leave me stranded with a long walk/hitch to civilisation, compared to a bit of extra weight for a couple more tools (and more spare spokes than I usually carry).

hi Imi, re the spoke thing--I generally have always tried to remember to get a good wheel person to check my spoke tensions and trueness before a big trip. Your busted-spoke-athon happened because the tensions weren't good anymore, must have been on both wheels as you had issues with both wheels--unless of course you had other factors in play, way more weight on bike, or you really smacked off a curb or something.
You have so much experience you will know if this is the case.

re a bent disc. In my experience over the last 9 years riding and touring with my Surly Troll, a bent disc in regular riding just isnt an issue.
Yes, mountain bike riders smash into trees and crap, but for all the non mtb riding touring I have done, a disc has only ever been slightly out of true due to me mucking about with my mechanical brakes early on, and setting the one movable pad incorrectly, reather, setting the immovable pad too far from the rotor so the moving pad pushed the rotor too far and slightly slightly bent it.

I have had totally adequate success straightening my rotors using a clean adjustable wrench, used alcohol to make sure no grease or oils on it.
Yes, a proper tool would be nice to have, but I haave just never bothered to get one, given how both my bike and by wifes disc bikes really havent had the problem more than a slight little adjustment.
We have flown a bunch of times with these bikes too, and proper packing has meant rotors have been fine.

what brakes do you have on this bike?
mechanical, hyrauliic?
I have old school, simple , mechanical Avid BB7 mtb versions. Work fine for me.
Just had to learn a whole bunch of self doing mechanical skills with them. Frustrating at first, but finally got it figured out.
cheers

A 6" adjustable wrench is already in the on-board tool kit, used to remove cassette lock rings........as long as it opens enough to accept the removal tool and you don't needlessly crank down the lock ring.

Note: it does work to get minor dings out of brake discs with a thin rag or slip of paper to avoid scratches.

For BB5 and BB7 type mechanical brakes, if you have a business card and 5mm allen wrench, you can adjust your brakes on the road in about a minute. Try that before you think you need to bend the rotors.

What I think happened was either just one spoke was broken by a sideways knock (no idea when), which led to three others breaking, or one of the potholes was just too much.

They were replaced with cheap straight gauge spokes (290’s instead of 292’s) in a shop in the south of France, so it’s not surprising that a couple more broke after that. The rear wheel confounds me a bit more, but there again, that’s where the (fairly normal) load is.

Martin, my mechanic is rebuilding both wheels with all new spokes. He had a hard time believing it was caused by anything other than sideways force.
The whole premise of these wheels is “bombproof”, so maybe I should check with a geiger counter 😆

My brakes on the new bike are mechanical Hayes CX PRO which were original on the Volpe Disc.
That business card trick is awesome (except that I haven’t seen a business card for a decade at least!)

I’ve ordered the Knipex Cobra XS wrench that elcruxio recommended. I think that’s a great solution as I don’t need an adjustable wrench otherwise.

Thanks BF people!

Just to be clear--that video shows the simple technique to align the caliper, it will not straighten a slight bend in a rotor.
As in all things in life, you can watch YouTube videos or be told how to do it, but straightening a rotor takes a certain amount of force, and specifically finesse in the force you use, and duration of force.

No matter of reading will teach you the real world force needed to do it
As always, start with less force and work your way up, observing how the rotor actually responds.

Online stuff is only that, and you have to have the ability to learn as you go and adjust the hands on side of things. Gradual increases and how you force is key.

You'll only really learn by doing it.
This video does not show straightening an out of true rotor.
But rotors are pretty tough, you'll be surprised how hard you have to put pressure--but not all on one shot.

That said, some folks have a lot less skill in doing hands on stuff, or learning/ observing -- that's the kicker.

You only need ONE piece of bid'niss card for calipers with only one moving arm.
Tried to link a video from "Bike Shop Girl", but her page went 404.

I don’t believe that road surface has much to do with broken spokes. If rough roads lead to broken spokes…especially on the front wheel…I would have broken far more spokes than I already have. Broken front spokes were never a problem in decades of mountain biking.

I think your problem arises from the asymmetry of disc wheels. With a rim brake, the front wheel is symmetrical with even tension on both sides of the wheel. A disc wheel moves the left flange over around 15mm (out of 100mm) which makes for a dished wheel on the front. Dishing makes the wheel weaker because of the shallower angle of the spokes as well as the tension differences from left and right. You are on the right track to use Sapim Strongs on the rear but you probably should have used them on the front as well.

Thanks. My cassette lock ring tool for touring now is a Park tool, it uses a 1 inch wrench. To avoid the weight of an adjustable wrench I used a hack saw to make a cone wrench fit the one inch flats on the Park tool.

Before I bought the Park tool, I had a cassette tool that was really big, and it needed a wrench just a hair bigger than my 6 inch adjustable wrench. Instead of carrying a bigger wrench, I filed down two of the flats on the cassette tool to make it fit that 6 inch wrench. And my chain wrench is a short bit of chain with a good strong cord. I no longer carry this bigger wrench or cassette tool in the photo below.




My disc brake is a TRP Spyre. I have no trouble adjusting it, both pads go in and out at the same rate. If I need to adjust one of the pads, if my memory is correct that takes a 3mm allen wrench.



An old photo right after I built it, thus it is cleaner in that photo than it has ever been since.

Since you will have new spokes installed, if you ever want to add a dynohub, now is the time to buy it.

Sorry about the confusion. The spokes broke on my rim-brake bike… which led me to thoughts about more tools - even one for truing rotors on my new disc bike which has still to leave on its maiden voyage.

I confuse them myself!

So, you broke a bunch of spokes on your 36 spoke wheels. Thus replacing the wheels with 32 spoke wheels on the new bike? Ok.

The two bikes really look so similar it took me several seconds to realize that they were different bikes.

Is there a reason that the new bike has both brifters and bar end shifters?

Jumping to conclusions! But well spotted!

The rim-brake wheels with broken spokes are being rebuilt.

The 32 spoke disc wheels are the original Volpe Disc wheels that I have now put 32mm Gator Hardshells on for light tour/randonées I’m having a set of 36 spoke wheels built up for loaded touring. Those will have 37mm Top Contacts. It’s basically a back up of all the spare parts I had and a great deal on the second hand bike.

I’ll be lending it to a friend for a two month tour together of Japan next year. It’ll fit him good. So not just redundancy.

I put the front derailleur bar-end on (an old one I had lying around as the rear one broke) to solve the problem of road brifters with a MTB crankset (wider BB). MTB front derailleur as well, of course. So brifter for braking, bar-end for shifting.
Rear brifter works normally.

Here’s a picture of my commuting Volpe: 😂 I’m a guitarist. Ask any guitarist, they’ll give you a nod and a ’yup’.



n+1



Uh, I’ve got other bikes as well, but these are the Volpes

cool on lending the bike to a friend for a shared trip.
ya, figured the bar end thing was for that reason. Friction front shifting is really nice, I have considered doing it using my Gevenalle shifters if I were ever to go to a bike with 11 speed or something where using a brifter is also nice for the rear.
So--the "any guitarist" comment--not being a musician, I don't get it---is it the colour coding? Does this relate to specific notes or a chord or something? Cute how all your bikes have this interesting pattern of colours, looks good even if one has no idea what it means.

and I chuckled at the other bikes comment too. We are all lovers of bikes here arent we?