Onboard Bicycle Maintenance Pack

Gary said:

I am going to be doing roughly 3 - 4 hours of cycling daily as of next week and I am wondering what
kind of "Maintenance Equipment" I should carry? For example Foot or Hand pump? Puncture Repair kit?
Spare Tube? I am a novice, and have no idea what to take with me. Someone also said Allan Keys may
be handy. Also, should I get a kit that packs on the bike? I don't mind wearing a small rucksack.

Hello Gary.

As a novice about to embark on 4 hours of cycling a day I suggest the most important piece of
"maintenance equipment" you should carry is a spare [censored]. You'll need it.

I admire your enthusiasm but you may wish to work gradually up to that sort of time in the saddle
mate. If you want to spend a good while on the bike each day then getting some proper padded
cycling shorts should be a priority for you, even if you wear them underneath something else. The
seams and fabric of regular trousers, jeans etc are likely to be very painful if you intend riding
for hours daily.

Anyway, to answer your question, different people carry different amounts of maintenance stuff.
Myself I keep things pretty simple, I take a spare innertube, some puncture repair patches, a tyre
boot, a small allen key minitool and a minipump. A bit of cash for emergencies is handy if you're
planning to travel a fair way from home.

The allen keys are useful because the components on most modern bikes (of reasonable quality) use
allen bolts instead of nuts. This means that with just a few allen keys you can adjust or repair
almost anything on your bike. Very handy if you have mechanical trouble while out and about.

These few bits all go into a very small seat pack which clips under the saddle out of the way, my
pump attaches to the bike frame via it's own bracket thingy.

If you want to carry more, like a waterproof or some lunch for example, you can get larger sized
seat packs or a rack which will fix over your rear wheel and allow you to fit pannier bags. I find
wearing a rucksack quite uncomfortable on the bike (sweaty back!) but others seem quite happy
carrying loads that way. You'll have to see if it suits you.

Have a browse around here:

edinburgh-bicycle.co.ukcatalogueOpen ↗

Look in the "accessories and components" section and you'l find headings for bags, seat packs,
minitools, minipumps, puncture repair stuff.... all kinds of goodies. It should give you an idea of
what's available and what you may want to carry yourself.

Bob
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"Gary" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

Hi,

I am going to be doing roughly 3 - 4 hours of cycling daily as of next

week

Quoted message said:

and I am wondering what kind of "Maintenance Equipment" I should carry? For example Foot or Hand
pump? Puncture Repair kit? Spare Tube? I am a novice, and have no idea what to take with me.
Someone also said Allan Keys may be handy. Also, should I get a kit that packs on the bike? I
don't mind wearing a small rucksack.

You're going from nothing to 3 - 4 hours per day ??? Good luck

I do a couple of hours daily, mainly on-road, and nowhere too far from civilisation, and have so far
survived with nothing more than one spare tube and a small pump strapped to the frame. You may wish
to take two tubes, tyre levers if your thumbs are not strong enough and a small multi-tool. A credit
card should cover all other emergencies.

All the above can be easily stowed in the pockets of a cycling jersey.

Regards Simon

Quoted message said:

Hello Gary.

As a novice about to embark on 4 hours of cycling a day I suggest the most important piece of
"maintenance equipment" you should carry is a spare [censored]. You'll need it.

Haha, made me laugh. 🙂 I remember an old racer I had - the seat was as solid as a rock. Not
comfortable at all. The bike has some "gell filled" number, but im guessing after a few hours it
will make no difference.

Quoted message said:

I admire your enthusiasm but you may wish to work gradually up to that sort of time in the saddle
mate. If you want to spend a good while on the bike each day then getting some proper padded
cycling shorts should be a priority for you, even if you wear them underneath something else. The
seams and fabric of regular trousers, jeans etc are likely to be very painful if you intend riding
for hours daily.

You are probably right - I am a little over enthusiastic, cant wait to get out on the road again. 4
hours seemed a reasonable timescale, but when I think about it carefully, it is a hell of a lot of
cycling. Maybe an hour or two to start with.

Thanks for the advice on equipment - you mentioned a "Tyre Boot" - what is this item? What is
it used for?

Thanks for all the help,

Gary.

In "]news:[email hidden],

Quoted message said:

most important piece of "maintenance equipment" you should carry is a spare [censored].

why should Gary have to give those pro-speeding cagers a lift on his pannier rack when they have
been banned from driving? doesn't seem fair to me. I thought we were supposed to be *encouraging*
the newbies 😉

Alex

Gary said:

I remember an old racer I had - the seat was as solid as a rock. Not comfortable at all. The bike
has some "gell filled" number, but im guessing after a few hours it will make no difference.

Yep, I think it's more important to allow your backside time to adapt to cycling again than worry
about gel this or super padded that. It's likely to be a bit uncomfortable to start with but after a
few days (perhaps a week or two) you'll find things have toughened up and be quite happy sitting on
what you might initially have thought a really hard saddle.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I admire your enthusiasm but you may wish to work gradually up to that sort of time in the
saddle mate.

Quoted message said:

You are probably right - I am a little over enthusiastic, cant wait to get out on the road again. 4
hours seemed a reasonable timescale, but when I think about it carefully, it is a hell of a lot of
cycling. Maybe an hour or two to start with.

My advice would be to take it steady at first. There's nothing to stop you going out for hours on
end if you feel up to it and are enjoying the ride, but, hours everyday might be a bit ambitious to
start. Remember, you don't actually have to work hard all the time you are out on the bike, take it
easy on the hills, and go a bit faster when you find stretches that are fun.

What you may find is that going out every day doesn't give your body the time it needs to recover
from what will be a long forgotten exercise.

Quoted message said:

Thanks for the advice on equipment - you mentioned a "Tyre Boot" - what is this item? What is it
used for?

It's really just a puncture repair patch for the tyre, as opposed to the innertube. A tyre boot is
useful if you are unfortunate enough to get a slash or rip in your tyre. If this happens the air
pressure in the innertube will push it through the hole in the tyre and it will be unrideable. A
boot can be stuck inside the tyre to temporarily patch the rip and allow you to ride home. They're
cheap, small and lightweight so no bother to stash a couple in with your other repair stuff.

Bob
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"AndyMorris" <[email hidden]> asked in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

David Green said:

What I carry:

-spare inner tube (1 or 2, tightly rolled, wrapped in clingfilm)

Why the clingfilm?

I find it protects the tube from damage, and it helps keep it in a nice neat (and small) bundle.

David Green

Tim Hall <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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On 6 Jan 2003 08:00:44 -0800, [email hidden] (David Green) wrote:

Quoted message said:

I also carry a crank puller.

Why carry the crank puller?

David Green

OK, I have done this, which is why I started carrying a cable. It really soesn't add much weight.

--

Martin Bulmer "Mixless Foot Persuasion"

"Pete Biggs" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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"Martin Bulmer" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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This is probably not advisable, but one thing I definitely wouldn't be without, having needed

it

Quoted message said:

in the middle of nowhere a couple of times, is a spare gear cable.

More compact alternative: Extra long rear mech limit screw*. Won't be able to change gears at the
back but at least you can get the chain to stay on a low/middle sprocket to make riding home
reasonably comfortable.

* These use common metric threads so might find something suitable from junk lying around the
house, etc.

~PB

"David Green" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Tim Hall <[email hidden]> wrote in message

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Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

On 6 Jan 2003 08:00:44 -0800, [email hidden] (David Green) wrote:

Quoted message said:

I also carry a crank puller.

Why carry the crank puller?

Presumably to pull cranks 🙂

Gordon BP <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Bert Smith scribed after much navel searching:

Quoted message said:

I have the same small wedgie for mtbing, commuting, audax and short road rides. It contains the
following:

snip

Good grief! why not have a sag wagon follow you with a spare bike? :-)

Hey, not fair! My OBBMP is small - only 20cm long and 750g, as mentioned in previous post. That is
not much for peace of mind on a 150 mile bike ride. I have used, at some point, every single tool in
the bag. A sag waggon would weigh at least 1000x as much (though it's a nice idea...)

Bert Smith scribed after much navel searching:

Quoted message said:

Gordon BP <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

Bert Smith scribed after much navel searching:

Quoted message said:

I have the same small wedgie for mtbing, commuting, audax and short road rides. It contains the
following:

snip

Good grief! why not have a sag wagon follow you with a spare bike? :-)

Hey, not fair! My OBBMP is small - only 20cm long and 750g, as mentioned in previous post. That is
not much for peace of mind on a 150 mile bike ride. I have used, at some point, every single tool
in the bag. A sag waggon would weigh at least 1000x as much (though it's a nice idea...)

Well on a 70 mile training ride I would take 2 tyre levers (3 are unneccesary),2 spare tubes, chain
link tool,spare chain link, small pliers, small adjustable spanner, a combination screwdriver, a
spare rear gear cable, a spare rear brake cable and a folding tyre. This would all wrap up in the
racing cape and be carried under the saddle with a spare toestrap!

Call me Bob scribed after much navel searching:

Quoted message said:

Gordon BP said:

Well on a 70 mile training ride I would take 2 tyre levers (3 are unneccesary),2 spare tubes,
chain link tool,spare chain link, small pliers, small adjustable spanner, a combination
screwdriver, a spare rear gear cable, a spare rear brake cable and a folding tyre. This would all
wrap up in the racing cape and be carried under the saddle with a spare toestrap!

What happens if you want to use your racing cape?

Bob
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the actual tools and spares used to be in a carrier bag, then wrapped in the racing cape, so when
the cape was in use, the carrier bag was strapped under the saddle.

On Mon, 06 Jan 2003 21:03:13 +0000, Richard Bates

Quoted message said:

<[email hidden]> wrote:

elyob' email hidden in said:

Everyone is missing the most important tool. A bottle opener - great for stopping yourself by a
nice river on the way home with a cool beer.

[..] Hmmm - perhaps there should be a cool tool addon for opening bottles?

I carry a parks tool, the one with all the useful hex wrench sizes on the bike, and a SOG paratool
sysadmin knife on me. Of course, given the intended owner, the latter already has a bottle opener
designed in.

--
Andrew Chadwick <Secure beneath the watchful eyes

I have the same small wedgie for mtbing, commuting, audax and short road rides. It contains the
following:

1) Puncture repair kit (smallest I can find, 7cm long). This is a small plastic box and contains
the small items list below.
2) Spare spokes for rear wheel x 4
3) Spare spoke nipples x 4
4) Spoke key of correct size (smallest I could find, Topeak 14g (.127in) spoke key from SJSC)
5) Complete set of Shimano V-brake buts and bolts, plus 4 blocks.
6) Park chain splitter
7) Tyre boot cut from knackered tyre
8) Bolts of various sizes
9) Pathetically inadequate pedal spanner - only 6cm long (but my pedals do come off quite
regularly, so it does work, but you wouldn't want to use it often)
10) Topeak allen key set - contains all the allen keys I need for my bike, plus flat and cross head
screw drivers for durailler adjustment
11) Cassette cracker (need to find a friend who has the correct spanner size for this, but I reckon
that finding a friendly garagae is easier than fniding a friendly garage with a cassette
cracker, or a bike shop)
12) Crank puller (similar logic)
13) tyre levers x 3
14) small pliers for pulling out the split pins in V-brake blocks
15) lightweight inner tube (need to change this depending on whether I am road or MTBing) wrapped in
16) j cloth for cleaning hands or bike bits
17) Square nut the right size so that the crank puller works with hollow bottom brackets
18) Small cross head screw driver to adjust those half moon thingies in Shimano v-brake levers

Whole lot fits in 20cm wedgie, and weighs 750g.

Future adjustments:
19) Get happy with my v-brakes so I can ditch #18.
20) Get self extracting crank bolts so I can ditch #12.
21) Get hyper cracker to replace #11 so that I can crack the cassette without any other tools.

"Gary" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Hi,

I am going to be doing roughly 3 - 4 hours of cycling daily as of next week and I am wondering
what kind of "Maintenance Equipment" I should carry? For example Foot or Hand pump? Puncture
Repair kit? Spare Tube? I am a novice, and have no idea what to take with me. Someone also said
Allan Keys may be handy. Also, should I get a kit that packs on the bike? I don't mind wearing a
small rucksack.

Thanks for any tips!

Gary.

Forgot:

Also:

Blackurn AS1 mini pump. Water bottle(s) for rides longer than 45mins Mobile phone Cash and credit
card in case of disaster Food (bananas, flapjacks etc) for rides longer than 1.5hrs Rain proofs

Quoted message said:

From: [email hidden] (Bert Smith) Newsgroups: uk.rec.cycling Subject: Re: Onboard
Bicycle Maintenance Pack References: <[email hidden]>
NNTP-Posting-Host: 217.37.216.97 Message-ID: <[email hidden]>

I have the same small wedgie for mtbing, commuting, audax and short road rides. It contains the
following:

1) Puncture repair kit (smallest I can find, 7cm long). This is a small plastic box and contains
the small items list below.

<snip>

"Gary" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Hi,

I am going to be doing roughly 3 - 4 hours of cycling daily as of next week and I am wondering
what kind of "Maintenance Equipment" I should carry? For example Foot or Hand pump? Puncture
Repair kit? Spare Tube? I am a novice, and have no idea what to take with me. Someone also said
Allan Keys may be handy. Also, should I get a kit that packs on the bike? I don't mind wearing a
small rucksack.

Thanks for any tips!

Gary.

Gary said:

Hi,

I am going to be doing roughly 3 - 4 hours of cycling daily as of next week and I am wondering
what kind of "Maintenance Equipment" I should carry? For example Foot or Hand pump? Puncture
Repair kit? Spare Tube? I am a novice, and have no idea what to take with me. Someone also said
Allan Keys may be handy. Also, should I get a kit that packs on the bike? I don't mind wearing a
small rucksack.

Thanks for any tips!

Gary.

On a similar note, where can you get patches _small_ enough for narrow inner tubes < 27mm.

I always find the patches are so big that they overlap the edges of the (flattened) inner tube and
are a git to get them to stick.

--
Andy Morris

AndyAtJinkasDotFreeserve.Co.UK

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Bert Smith scribed after much navel searching:

Quoted message said:

I have the same small wedgie for mtbing, commuting, audax and short road rides. It contains the
following:

snip

Good grief! why not have a sag wagon follow you with a spare bike? :-)

AndyMorris said:

On a similar note, where can you get patches _small_ enough for narrow inner tubes < 27mm.

I recommend 15mm round Velox patches from mwdyason.ltd.ukmwdyason.ltd.ukOpen ↗ - which I use succesfully with
19-23 tubes. (They also do larger patches)

Quoted message said:

I always find the patches are so big that they overlap the edges of the (flattened) inner tube and
are a git to get them to stick.

...These patches are quite thin and have feathered edges so will stick well even when overlapping
edges or ridges (if use method below).

Best method: (you probably do this already, but for benefit of anyone interested...)
1. Sand and apply a coating of rubber cement to area on tube larger than patch
2. Allow to completely dry (rubber cement is a dry contact adhesive)
3. Apply patch (without any added cement), press down firmly. This will usually work but if any
edges don't stick, add cement (under and on top of patch edge) - wait until tacky then press
and hold down, repeat as necessary
4. Chalk/talc
5. If convenient, leave to cure for several hours before inflating

~PB

I use Rema Tip Top.

"AndyMorris" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

On a similar note, where can you get patches _small_ enough for narrow inner tubes < 27mm.

I always find the patches are so big that they overlap the edges of the (flattened) inner tube and
are a git to get them to stick.

--
Andy Morris

AndyAtJinkasDotFreeserve.Co.UK

Love this: Put an end to Outlook Express's messy quotes
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