How much stuff should I know how to fix before going on a cross-country tour? Right now I only know how to fix a flat and do my brakes.

thanx

GQ

Where are you going? If you'll be in a country where you know people cycle and there is a predominance of shops, then that should do. If you're going someplace remote, you may need to know how to do a few extra things.

Koffee

I think it might be important to know how to do more even if you are riding near a major population center in the US.

Over the weekend I did a ride along the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers near St. Louis MO. About 10 miles out from the last bikeshop I caught a stick in my rear wheel. Fortunately all it did was crumple the fender, but if the fender struts hadn't been there to stop the stick, it probably would have ripped out a few spokes.

If that had happened, I would have been able to deal with it because I had the tools to remove the cassette and spare spokes to rebuild with. If I hadn't had those, I would have needed to hitch hike back to the last town and hope the shop was still open (it was saturday afternoon.) If it had happened on a Sunday I would really be out of luck.

I'd say you need to know how to reconnect a broken chain, boot a slashed tire (or have a spare tire with you like I did, along with material to boot a tire), replace spokes especially on the drive side of the rear wheel, and have some duct tape, wire, etc for lashing other things back together. I forgot the wire, but I lucked out and nothing busted.

Get a book on bike repairs. Maybe something oriented towards tourists. I have Zinn's "Art of Road Bike Repair", but it doesn't cover cantilever or U-Brakes and doesn't talk about racks, etc. Maybe www.adventurecycling.org has something.

To add to what has already been said,

1. Take tools to tighten every size bolt and nut that might work loose;

2. Have a spoke wrench to tighten spokes and bring a wheel back to "true". Even if you don't take the cassette tool, you'll likely need to adjust spokes neighboring a broken one to compensate for its loss.

3. If you're camping, be sure you can dismantle and clean your stove and patch your inflatable mattress.

Get your LBS to demonstrate the use of a chain tool. Most multi-tools have one. You need one for repair of a broken link. You can remove chains for cleaning etc using a hand-operated master-link.
Spoke Key: practice using on on an old wheel. It is the cheapest tool, and can easily do the most damage. You can centre a wheel well enough, using the brake pads as guides, you dont need a wheel-building rig.
You should also know how to replace/tune wheel, headset and pedal bearing. Bottom brackets tend to be repalcements (ie underviceable) , and are pretty reliable.
Look in a garage sale or ask your LBS for a junk wheel for practice.

I knew the same amount as you then when I started a 12 day tour in Thailand. Even though the bike had been serviced maybe 400 miles prior I managed to mess up the front brake during the transporting of the bike, I lost a spoke and the back wheel went out of true, and my soft ride soft stem lost one of its brushings and failed.

The front brake sort of worked it had slowing power if not stopping power, so I wasn't to worried about that. The broken spoke and the wheel out of true sort of was a problem as I did not know how to fix it and I ended up doing completely without back brakes, which wasn't too bad as Thailand is pretty flat, and I did have slowing power with the front brake. The soft stem was kind of a problem as it could not be fixed over there, so I had that switched out when the chance arose.

Next time I will plan better and try to know how to do simple things especially with the spokes and tires, and bring more than two of the same size allen wrench.

my story is at www.thailand.crazyguyonabike.com

You absolutely have to be familiar with all kinds of bottom bracket designs from 1930s and be able to rebuild all of them without any tools.

You have to be able to fix broken spokes and inflate the tires without a pump.
And mainly be able to dissasemble and assemble back the whole bike two times in 10 minutes with bare hands, in -15 temperatures, after the day of pedaling without food. Oh yeah, and under tha rain.

Only then one could risk going on a tour.



With respect...

pretty mush what everyone else said You willlearn as you go if and when somehting breaks or gets out of adjustment you fix it. Things most likley tohappen to me when I tour:
flat tires
out of true wheels
out of adjustment brakes and shiftrer cables
loosening up of head set
dirty chain
broken chain

I cary an extra brake and shifter cable a few spokes 2 tubes misc little screws and bolts a hand full of tools and some other stuff. Most every night i woudl look over the bike and stay ahead of potential problems but there is always something that will catch you off gaurd be as prepared as possible and learn the rest as needed.

If I took a day off in a town i would try to make a deal with a bike shop of auto gas station touse their cleaning tank and some space to work. I woudl disasemble tghe bike anc tank clean the entrie drive train and get it all lubed up and re adjusted a dn a good going over sometimes it would coast a few bucks to rent space and a stand and other times i could work a little to pay for the use and other times they just wanted to hear stories from the road in exchange,

So to answer your question if just knowing ghow to change a flat is good enough id say no but it is a start. i taught a bike maintenance class this wek to 10 people and only one had changed a flat before
catfish

For another perspective, read the book, "A Bike Ride", by Anne Mustoe. This woman set off on a bike at the age of 50 and rode around the world. She claims she does not even repair a flat, preferring to pay someone else to do it. Her philosophy is that she doesn't repair her car so why should she repair her bike.

While I don't subscribe to her philosophy myself, she is proof that you don't need to be an expert bike mechanic to tour.