What do you carry in your toolkit?

TBerk

In my small Messanger Bag I carry a small cresent wrench, a set of
Metric Hex wrenches, and a patch kit. The patch kit has glue, some
patches and that scratchy thing whose exact name I don't know but we
all know what it is, right?

When I'm on a more mission critical ride I make sure the blackburn
mini pump is in there also.

I most likely have a bungee cord or two, & although they aren't
thought of as 'toolkit', they come in very handy along with the rear
rack I always install on a bike of mine.

Lastly the bag hold the rear LED and front headlight most times as
well.

What doesn't leave home most times is the big ol honk'n wrench that
fits the front forks/ neck and the thin spanners that fit the axle
innards.


TBerk

Ecnerwal

I wrote:

> > One thing I have never been able to understand is the "perceived need"
> > many folks have for tire levers - a stock item in many toolkits. They

[snippage]

Andre Jute <fiultra1@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Oley Maloney, I wouldn't even try getting beaded tyres on and off with
> my hands. A writer is a manual labourer who earns his living with his
> hands on his keyboard. I can't afford as much as a fingernail torn
> into the quick. Anyway, those belted Marathon Plus and Satellite Elite
> Hardcase are a killer to get on even with tyre levers working at waist
> height on a table, never mind scrabbling around on your knees in the
> scrub beside a road.

Huh. I'd never even consider a fingernail to be in the least danger (no
clawing at the tire required), so it may be a technique thing, or I just
have (and have always had, through various sizes of bike and tires) easy
tires/wheels. Most recent tire I put on was a wire bead Michelin
transworld city thing - supposedly also belted/puncture resistant, but I
don't know if it's "especially easy to put on (or take off)" as compared
to your examples. It's a 559. Took that off at least once in the
process, also took off the old tire, whatever it was. I suspect it's
technique, but I don't know if a text description will do the job of
demonstrating. Definitely not like Sheldon's method per his website.

To remove - if not already flat, let all the air out, or remove the
valve core if you have Schraders and a valve core tool handy. Presta
users might need to unscrew the valve stem and push it down into tire, I
don't use those so I'm not sure - it's sometimes needed with the base of
the Schrader. Squeeze tire all around to release bead from rim. Squeeze
bead together in vicinity of valve stem, push down into middle of rim.
Set that part on the ground. Grab opposite side of tire and push over
the rim - both beads at once, pushing with the heels of your palms and
balls of your thumbs, using fingers to grip tire and twist it towards
the side you are pushing it to. The rim is more-or-less vertical in the
process, so you have the ground to push against. Both beads are down in
the center of the rim as far around as possible to give the most slack.

Installation is darn near the reverse of removal. Just make sure that
the tube (barely inflated) is down inside the casing, not sticking up
between the beads. Drop the valve stem in the hole, squeeze the bead in
that area into the middle of the rim, and work the tire over the other
side both beads at once. Check both sides carefully for tube in wrong
place before inflating.

Once mounted, inflating to 5 psi or so, bouncing the tire on all sides
and then deflating before reinflating supposedly helps with tube kinks,
and seems worth doing. On the second inflation I worry about seating the
bead well when there's a little bit of pressure, then take it up. One
bead blowout bang is more than enough for a lifetime.

If the above offends since it's not the canonical method, go right on
doing what you do now - but it works for me, and it's a lot less fuss,
IME, than that whole one-bead-at-a-time method and tire levers.

--
Cats, coffee, chocolate...vices to live by

carlfogel@comcast.net

On Fri, 30 May 2008 17:43:56 -0700 (PDT), Chuck <n0azne@gmail.com>
wrote:

>consider a v small hemostat/tweezers to get that tiny sliver of glass
>out of the tire. Chuck

Dear Chuck,

Sharp-pointed tweezers might be helpful for small stuff.

I carry two small paper clips on the zippers of my bags for digging
out goathead thorns broken off flush in the tire:

http://i20.tinypic.com/2rei5v9.jpg

http://i23.tinypic.com/nq5oyf.jpg

The second paper clip comes in handy when the first one vanishes by
the side of the road.

A desperate rider can usually gouge tiny debris out of bicycle tires
with the metal tongue of a wristwatch strap, but the tongue may take a
bit of sharpening against the pavement.

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

Ryan Cousineau

In article
<5c86a47f-53d5-420c-a2f0-6764b6b528be@c65g2000hsa.googlegroups.com>,
Andre Jute <fiultra1@yahoo.com> wrote:

> I carry a small Park combination headset/ pedal spanner bolted up
> behind my water bottle. It also fits the axle cap nuts of Shimano's
> Nexus hub gearboxes, so the rear wheel can be taken off to change the
> tube.
>
> All the rest of my tools fit in a hardshell spectacles case and
> consist of round multisize spoke wrench (never touched the spokes on
> my current Bontrager Satellite Elite wheels in over a year, unlike
> some accursed Rigida wheels I had once that had to be tightened
> weekly); an 8x10mm open spanner for adjusting the brakes; Topeak's
> Tool Bar

> I don't imagine the toolkit weighs as a much as pound. It includes
> only what I need, even the superfluous bits for the Topeak Tool Bar
> are left at home. I have several other multitools and all of them have
> more superfluous tools than useful ones, so I leave their weight at
> home.
>
> The one thing I cannot fix on the road is a loose crank bolt on my
> favourite bike [...]

> Best bike tool I ever bought, that Topeak Tool Bar

Unless I'm very much mistaken, you can't fix all possible broken chains,
as a single pin failure still leaves you with the other pin to extract,
even if you have a spare link.

> (The best but bigger and heavier alternative to the Topeak Tool Bar,
> if you have a modern city or mountain bike, is the SKS CTWORX if you
> need a chainsplitter or SKS T-WORX if you use quick-release links on
> your chain. These two SKS multitools have the correct open spanners
> together with the correct hex keys and screwdrivers, and thereby
> leaves the Aliens and other expensive multi-multitools for dead.)
>
> What do you carry, and why?

My core multitool is a Crank Brothers Multi-17:

http://www.crankbrothers.com/multi17.php

Chain tool, four-size spoke wrench, mediocre 8/10 mm open-end wrenches,
and the necessary hex, torx, and screwdriver bits. It's surpassingly
effective.

No tire levers, so I carry those, plus a tube, patches, sandpaper, glue,
a presta extension tube, and a spare link. I usually carry a
presta-schrader adapter. I also have a compact, cheesy pump which should
be able to get a road tire up to 60-70 pounds. The loose bits aside from
the tire levers go in a tiny patch-kit box.

I added a fairly short 15 mm wrench to the kit once I got a bike with a
bolt-on rear axle (Alfine hub).

I don't really do unsupported rides into unpopulated areas (with rare
exceptions). This kit is all about getting back on the road and not
being too much trouble. I carry it as a bag for the tube, a similar-size
bag for the rest of the stuff, and the pump, but I could make the whole
bundle except the pump fit into a small tailbag. Instead, they usually
go into a back pocket or a saddlebag.

The Crank Brothers 17 is a pretty fabulous tool. I haven't seen anything
that includes a more optimal collection of tools in such a compact
arrangement. Even the other Crank Brothers tools (larger and smaller)
seem inferior.

As for tire levers, in my experience they're a wear item.

--
Ryan Cousineau rcousine@gmail.com http://www.wiredcola.com/
"In other newsgroups, they killfile trolls."
"In rec.bicycles.racing, we coach them."

RS

In article <5c86a47f-53d5-420c-a2f0-
6764b6b528be@c65g2000hsa.googlegroups.com>, fiultra1@yahoo.com
says...
>
>
>My number one tool is a mobile phone, the only one I own,
permanently
>carried on my bike, switched off so that no one can reach me; it's
>sole purpose is to call the ambulance if I fall over from a heart
>attack, or a taxi if I get a flat tyre.
>
>I haven't had a flat wheel for several thousand klicks now, since I
>switched to hardcase tyres (Schwalbe Marathon Plus and Botnbrager
>Satellite Elite Hardcase) but I still carry a tube to offer to those
>less fortunate who cycle with me or that I meet on the road.
>
>I carry a small Park combination headset/ pedal spanner bolted up
>behind my water bottle. It also fits the axle cap nuts of Shimano's
>Nexus hub gearboxes, so the rear wheel can be taken off to change the
>tube.
>
>All the rest of my tools fit in a hardshell spectacles case and
>consist of round multisize spoke wrench (never touched the spokes on
>my current Bontrager Satellite Elite wheels in over a year, unlike
>some accursed Rigida wheels I had once that had to be tightened
>weekly); an 8x10mm open spanner for adjusting the brakes; Topeak's
>Tool Bar (a tiny multitool with two slide-out aluminium tyre levers as
>its sides, and a holder for the 3-4-5-6mm hex keys and Philips driver
>bit inside plus a bigger Philips bit in the socket); a stampsized box
>of Park's glueless patches; a presta to auto valve adaptor for blowing
>up tyres at garages; spare batteries for my rear flasher light, my
>Shimano Flight Deck and my Sigma HRM; a couple of sheets of paper
>towel, one soaked in Vaseline petroleum jelly for relubing threads
>before refitting; a couple of pairs of surgicaal gloves to keep my
>hands clean (usually on refitting some lady's chain...). There is also
>a minipump on each of my bikes, all of them OEM-sourced from SKS
and
>all of them pretty useless for the 37mm high pressure tyres I like
>(the only pumps I have that works are an ancient Zefal frame pump and
>a six-buck Beta pump I bought at a supermarket because it also takes
>compressed air cartidges -- I shall replace the lot of them with an
>HPX frame pump as soon as I work out how to fix it to my bikes).
>
>I don't imagine the toolkit weighs as a much as pound. It includes
>only what I need, even the superfluous bits for the Topeak Tool Bar
>are left at home. I have several other multitools and all of them have
>more superfluous tools than useful ones, so I leave their weight at
>home.
>
>The one thing I cannot fix on the road is a loose crank bolt on my
>favourite bike, the Trek with the Cyber Nexus groupset. These are
>flathead bolts in a recess, so none of my on-bike tools can get at
>them and even a titanium socket and lever I bought are just too
>stupidly heavy to carry; I plan to replace the flathead bolts with hex
>socket bolts and carrying a long 8mm hex key as soon as I find one in
>titanium. (I have an 8mm hex bit that will fit the Tool Bar but I
>imagine applying 45Nm to it will rip the little thing apart, though in
>fact it doesn't complain about working on the front axle where I
>replaced a quick-release with a hex-socket skewer from BBB.)
>
>Best bike tool I ever bought, that Topeak Tool Bar -- and I blew the
>money fully reconciled to the suspicion that when it arrived it would
>be a toy, but it wasn't, it is really very useful on your modern city
>or mountain bike (one of the supplied bits I leave at home is the T25
>torx key for MB disc brakes). The only thing that could make it
>better, indeed perfect, is a slide-out open spanner 8x10mm on the
>blank side (one side opens the compartment for the bits, two sides
>have tyre levers, one side is still blank), to use with roller brakes.
>(The best but bigger and heavier alternative to the Topeak Tool Bar,
>if you have a modern city or mountain bike, is the SKS CTWORX if you
>need a chainsplitter or SKS T-WORX if you use quick-release links on
>your chain. These two SKS multitools have the correct open spanners
>together with the correct hex keys and screwdrivers, and thereby
>leaves the Aliens and other expensive multi-multitools for dead.)
>
>What do you carry, and why?
>
>Andre Jute
>http://members.lycos.co.uk/fiultra/...%20CYCLING.html
tire levers, two tubes, Park quick patches, Rema kit, topeak tool w/
various hex & screwdrivers, 3-way park spoke nipple wrench, copy of
Drivers License & Medical insurance card, money. All fits into a medium
small under saddle bag. SKS mini-pump on bike that actually works and
will get me home.

cmcanulty

I carry a tube, pump, patch kit, a few spare bolts, and my old
cooltool a great multi bike tool that includes an adjustable wrench,
on tours I add a general multi tool with knife

Andre Jute

On May 31, 1:51*am, TBerk <bayareab...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> In my small Messanger Bag I carry a small cresent wrench, a set of
> Metric Hex wrenches, and a patch kit. The patch kit has glue, some
> patches and that scratchy thing whose exact name I don't know but we
> all know *what it is, right?
>
> When I'm on a more mission critical ride I make sure the blackburn
> mini pump is in there also.
>
> I most likely have a bungee cord or two, & although they aren't
> thought of as 'toolkit', *they come in very handy along with the rear
> rack I always install on a bike of mine.

All my bikes have racks. And I too carry a bungee cord, that I didn't
list because like you I don't in the first instance consider it part
of the toolkit. My Dutch city bikes come with elastic straps already
attached to the eyelets on the forkends at the back of the bike,
running over the racks, so they don't need the bungee cord.

> Lastly the bag hold the rear LED and front headlight most times as
> well.
>
> What doesn't leave home most times is the big ol honk'n wrench that
> fits the front forks/ neck and the thin spanners that fit the axle
> innards.

I bought a short travelling combi that also does those two jobs,
though I bought it to be a travelling axle nut wrench rather than for
those two jobs. Made by Park. Much lighter the permenent spanner in my
stay at home comprehensive Velomann toolbox.

On hand of the posts in these threads I'm thinking about reviewing
even my pared down toolkit with a jaundiced eye...

Andre Jute
http://members.lycos.co.uk/fiultra/...E%20HUMOUR.html

Andre Jute

On May 31, 3:12*am, Ecnerwal <LawrenceSM...@SOuthernVERmont.NyET>
wrote:
> I wrote:
> > > One thing I have never been able to understand is the "perceived need"
> > > many folks have for tire levers - a stock item in many toolkits. They
>
> [snippage]
>
> Andre Jute <fiult...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> > Oley Maloney, I wouldn't even try getting beaded tyres on and off with
> > my hands. A writer is a manual labourer who earns his living with his
> > hands on his keyboard. I can't afford as much as a fingernail torn
> > into the quick. Anyway, those belted Marathon Plus and Satellite Elite
> > Hardcase are a killer to get on even with tyre levers working at waist
> > height on a table, never mind scrabbling around on your knees in the
> > scrub beside a road.
>
> Huh. I'd never even consider a fingernail to be in the least danger (no
> clawing at the tire required), so it may be a technique thing, or I just
> have (and have always had, through various sizes of bike and tires) easy
> tires/wheels. Most recent tire I put on was a wire bead Michelin
> transworld city thing - supposedly also belted/puncture resistant, but I
> don't know if it's "especially easy to put on (or take off)" as compared
> to your examples. It's a 559. Took that off at least once in the
> process, also took off the old tire, whatever it was. I suspect it's
> technique, but I don't know if a text description will do the job of
> demonstrating. Definitely not like Sheldon's method per his website.
>
> To remove - if not already flat, let all the air out, or remove the
> valve core if you have Schraders and a valve core tool handy. Presta
> users might need to unscrew the valve stem and push it down into tire, I
> don't use those so I'm not sure - it's sometimes needed with the base of
> the Schrader. Squeeze tire all around to release bead from rim. Squeeze
> bead together in vicinity of valve stem, push down into middle of rim.
> Set that part on the ground. Grab opposite side of tire and push over
> the rim - both beads at once, pushing with the heels of your palms and
> balls of your thumbs, using fingers to grip tire and twist it towards
> the side you are pushing it to. The rim is more-or-less vertical in the
> process, so you have the ground to push against. Both beads are down in
> the center of the rim as far around as possible to give the most slack.
>
> Installation is darn near the reverse of removal. Just make sure that
> the tube (barely inflated) is down inside the casing, not sticking up
> between the beads. Drop the valve stem in the hole, squeeze the bead in
> that area into the middle of the rim, and work the tire over the other
> side both beads at once. Check both sides carefully for tube in wrong
> place before inflating.
>
> Once mounted, inflating to 5 psi or so, bouncing the tire on all sides
> and then deflating before reinflating supposedly helps with tube kinks,
> and seems worth doing. On the second inflation I worry about seating the
> bead well when there's a little bit of pressure, then take it up. One
> bead blowout bang is more than enough for a lifetime.
>
> If the above offends since it's not the canonical method, go right on
> doing what you do now - but it works for me, and it's a lot less fuss,
> IME, than that whole one-bead-at-a-time method and tire levers.
>
> --
> Cats, coffee, chocolate...vices to live by

Thanks for the description but I don't think I'll even try it. I
either didn't get the knack quite right, or my hardcase tyres are much
stiffer than the Michelin you mention. Whichever it was, getting the
last six inches or so of bead inside the rim took enough effort to get
me in a sweat. I don't mind if it isn't the canonical method -- I'm
not trying for beatification this week... -- AJ

Andre Jute

On May 31, 5:47*am, RS <r_schil...@comcast.net> wrote:
> In article <5c86a47f-53d5-420c-a2f0-
> 6764b6b52...@c65g2000hsa.googlegroups.com>, fiult...@yahoo.com
> says...
>
>
>
> >My number one tool is a mobile phone, the only one I own,
> permanently
> >carried on my bike, switched off so that no one can reach me; it's
> >sole purpose is to call the ambulance if I fall over from a heart
> >attack, or a taxi if I get a flat tyre.
>
> >I haven't had a flat wheel for several thousand klicks now, since I
> >switched to hardcase tyres (Schwalbe Marathon Plus and Botnbrager
> >Satellite Elite Hardcase) but I still carry a tube to offer to those
> >less fortunate who cycle with me or that I meet on the road.
>
> >I carry a small Park combination headset/ pedal spanner bolted up
> >behind my water bottle. It also fits the axle cap nuts of Shimano's
> >Nexus hub gearboxes, so the rear wheel can be taken off to change the
> >tube.
>
> >All the rest of my tools fit in a hardshell spectacles case and
> >consist of round multisize spoke wrench (never touched the spokes on
> >my current Bontrager Satellite Elite wheels in over a year, unlike
> >some accursed Rigida wheels I had once that had to be tightened
> >weekly); an 8x10mm open spanner for adjusting the brakes; Topeak's
> >Tool Bar (a tiny multitool with two slide-out aluminium tyre levers as
> >its sides, and a holder for the 3-4-5-6mm hex keys and Philips driver
> >bit inside plus a bigger Philips bit in the socket); a stampsized box
> >of Park's glueless patches; a presta to auto valve adaptor for blowing
> >up tyres at garages; spare batteries for my rear flasher light, my
> >Shimano Flight Deck and my Sigma HRM; a couple of sheets of paper
> >towel, one soaked in Vaseline petroleum jelly for relubing threads
> >before refitting; a couple of pairs of surgicaal gloves to keep my
> >hands clean (usually on refitting some lady's chain...). There is also
> >a minipump on each of my bikes, all of them OEM-sourced from SKS
> and
> >all of them pretty useless for the 37mm high pressure tyres I like
> >(the only pumps I have that works are an ancient Zefal frame pump and
> >a six-buck Beta pump I bought at a supermarket because it also takes
> >compressed air cartidges -- I shall replace the lot of them with an
> >HPX frame pump as soon as I work out how to fix it to my bikes).
>
> >I don't imagine the toolkit weighs as a much as pound. It includes
> >only what I need, even the superfluous bits for the Topeak Tool Bar
> >are left at home. I have several other multitools and all of them have
> >more superfluous tools than useful ones, so I leave their weight at
> >home.
>
> >The one thing I cannot fix on the road is a loose crank bolt on my
> >favourite bike, the Trek with the Cyber Nexus groupset. These are
> >flathead bolts in a recess, so none of my on-bike tools can get at
> >them and even a titanium socket and lever I bought are just too
> >stupidly heavy to carry; I plan to replace the flathead bolts with hex
> >socket bolts and carrying a long 8mm hex key as soon as I find one in
> >titanium. (I have an 8mm hex bit that will fit the Tool Bar but I
> >imagine applying 45Nm to it will rip the little thing apart, though in
> >fact it doesn't complain about working on the front axle where I
> >replaced a quick-release with a hex-socket skewer from BBB.)
>
> >Best bike tool I ever bought, that Topeak Tool Bar -- and I blew the
> >money fully reconciled to the suspicion that when it arrived it would
> >be a toy, but it wasn't, it is really very useful on your modern city
> >or mountain bike (one of the supplied bits I leave at home is the T25
> >torx key for MB disc brakes). The only thing that could make it
> >better, indeed perfect, is a slide-out open spanner 8x10mm on the
> >blank side (one side opens the compartment for the bits, two sides
> >have tyre levers, one side is still blank), to use with roller brakes.
> >(The best but bigger and heavier alternative to the Topeak Tool Bar,
> >if you have a modern city or mountain bike, is the SKS CTWORX if you
> >need a chainsplitter or SKS T-WORX if you use quick-release links on
> >your chain. These two SKS multitools have the correct open spanners
> >together with the correct hex keys and screwdrivers, and thereby
> >leaves the Aliens and other expensive multi-multitools for dead.)
>
> >What do you carry, and why?
>
> >Andre Jute
> >http://members.lycos.co.uk/fiultra/...%20CYCLING.html
>
> tire levers, two tubes, Park quick patches, Rema kit, topeak tool w/
> various hex & screwdrivers, 3-way park spoke nipple wrench, copy of
> Drivers License & Medical insurance card, money. * All fits into a medium
> small under saddle bag. *SKS mini-pump on bike that actually works and
> will get me home. *

For the sake of clarity, I didn't say the SKS pumps don't work, but
that they don't work up to my expectation, formed in the days of
fullsize frame pumps. All those minipumps need a lot of work to put a
modest amount of air in a tyre, not just SKS. I just mentioned SKS
because they came as OEM equipment on all the bikes I bought this
century. I'm sure that of their type they're probably perfectly all
right (otherwise they wouldn't turn up as OEM equipment on expensive
bikes) or perhaps, judging by other excellent quality SKS items I
have, even several cuts above the average. I just don't get along with
minipumps.

Andre Jute
http://members.lycos.co.uk/fiultra/...%20CYCLING.html

Andre Jute

On May 31, 5:27*am, Ryan Cousineau <rcous...@gmail.com> wrote:
> In article
> <5c86a47f-53d5-420c-a2f0-6764b6b52...@c65g2000hsa.googlegroups.com>,
> *Andre Jute <fiult...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> > I carry a small Park combination headset/ pedal spanner bolted up
> > behind my water bottle. It also fits the axle cap nuts of Shimano's
> > Nexus hub gearboxes, so the rear wheel can be taken off to change the
> > tube.
>
> > All the rest of my tools fit in a hardshell spectacles case and
> > consist of round multisize spoke wrench (never touched the spokes on
> > my current Bontrager Satellite Elite wheels in over a year, unlike
> > some accursed Rigida wheels I had once that had to be tightened
> > weekly); an 8x10mm open spanner for adjusting the brakes; Topeak's
> > Tool Bar
> > I don't imagine the toolkit weighs as a much as pound. It includes
> > only what I need, even the superfluous bits for the Topeak Tool Bar
> > are left at home. I have several other multitools and all of them have
> > more superfluous tools than useful ones, so I leave their weight at
> > home.
>
> > The one thing I cannot fix on the road is a loose crank bolt on my
> > favourite bike [...]
> > Best bike tool I ever bought, that Topeak Tool Bar
>
> Unless I'm very much mistaken, you can't fix all possible broken chains,
> as a single pin failure still leaves you with the other pin to extract,
> even if you have a spare link.

What sharp eyes you have, Goldilocks. But I take the Jobst Brandt view
-- though I didn't see his version of it until he posted the URL in
this thread -- that in choosing tools to carry on the bike one must
consider what has broken before and is therefore likely to break
again. I have full chaincases on all my favourite bikes and know that
the chains, waxed with White Lightning's classic prep, hardly wear, so
I reckon that a chain pin failure is about as likely as a bottom
bracket failure -- and I can't replace a bottom bracket on the road
either.

One of the interesting aspects of thinking about what has happened to
my bike in the past -- a la Joseph's list of woes he couldn't have
fixed even with a two kilo toolkit on the road -- is that, while I've
a couple or three times in a couple of decades taken a taxi home for a
flat wheel that (at least theoretically) I could have fixed on the
road, every single case of catastrophic failure on my bikes in the
same period has happened within fifty yards of my bike mechanic. (And
two of those flats happened within sight of the country home of my
previous bike mechanic -- he wasn't home in either case, but I was
welcome to sit in his kitchen and drunk coffee until he came.)

This thread is interesting both for the specifics of people's tools (I
love that Gerber Cool Tool) and for the modes of thinking about the
choice of tools.

Andre Jute
http://members.lycos.co.uk/fiultra/...%20CYCLING.html

Michael Press

In article
<62968fd6-1879-492b-b2a0-d6a9a6d2123e@x1g2000prh.googlegroups.com>,
Andre Jute <fiultra1@yahoo.com> wrote:

> On May 30, 7:53*pm, Michael Press <rub...@pacbell.net> wrote:
> > In article
> > <5c86a47f-53d5-420c-a2f0-6764b6b52...@c65g2000hsa.googlegroups.com>,
> > *Andre Jute <fiult...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> >
> > > My number one tool is a mobile phone, the only one I own, permanently
> > > carried on my bike, switched off so that no one can reach me; it's
> > > sole purpose is to call the ambulance if I fall over from a heart
> > > attack, or a taxi if I get a flat tyre.
> >
> > You mean there is no person on the planet whose calls you
> > are not gratified to answer and are sad to have missed?
>
> Nah, what makes me sad is that a grown man -- you are a grown man,
> aren't you, Michael? -- is so insecure as to believe that people will
> not call him back if he doesn't answer his phone immediately.
>
> > [...]
> >
> > Two tubes, pump, patch kit, multitool, cellular telephone.
>
> Switched on all the time, right? Why bother cycling then? On the Great
> Escape, MIchael Press would leave his itenerary for the Gestapo!

Excuse me while I take this. Ayn Rand is calling.

--
Michael Press

Dan O

On May 30, 7:53 am, Andre Jute <fiult...@yahoo.com> wrote:

>
> What do you carry, and why?
>

At present I never ride too far without my (big) Pedros Messenger bag
on my back. Inside that:

- Park PPM1 Mini Tool Kit bundled in a nifty neoprene holder contains
(OTTOMH):
Two (2) plastic tire levers
Small open-ended wrench
Small combo screwdriver/box-end/allen wrench
Three-way spoke wrench
Small but strong-looking chain breaker tool
Park glueless patches (work great!)
Emergency tire boot
- Park folding allen set with many bit sizes
- Topeak Road Morph compact tire pump (awesome!)
- Small patch kit that somebody just gave me on the road one day
- Two tubes (for 28 and 23mm)
- Disposable gloves (medical type) for working on greasy parts
- A couple flat plastic produce bags with paper shop towels inside
(cleanup and carry away grimy stuff)
- Small waterproof lithium cell powered flashlight
- Another pair of plastic tire levers (Pedros), ('cause I already had
them before getting the PPM1)
- some zip-ties and a piece of old innertube (no bailing wire or duct
tape, though :-)

On my person I usually carry wristwatch, ball-point pen (tools, not
jewelry), and Swiss Army knife "Tinker".

There's probably some stuff missing from the bag that ought to be
there, and surely some superfluous, but I imagine I'll rectify that as
things break and I learn the hard way. The thing about my messenger
bag is that it really seems to need *something* in it to make it ride
right, so what the heck - it might as well include tools, eh? :-) (So
there, Murphy.) It's not as if the cumulative mass and bulk of my
bike/person could benefit much from losing that extra pair of tire
levers.

I probably will want to consider other bag and rack arrangements as
summer heats up, though. My back is getting sweaty enough every day
already). The messenger bag is pretty neat, though, what with its
capacity and versatility.

Peter Cole

joseph.santaniello@gmail.com wrote:
> On May 30, 4:53 pm, Andre Jute <fiult...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>> What do you carry, and why?
>
> Park glueless patch kit and a pump. I figure anything that breaks can
> wait til I get home to be fixed, or would be something I wouldn't be
> able to fix anyway. Plus I don't like things rattling around.

Yeah, over the years I have just carried less and less. Now it's a tube,
patch kit & tire iron. All my bikes have frame pumps. I won't use a
tire/rim combo that's hard to mount, as I wouldn't want to deal with it
in the cold/dark/rain.


> Other than those things (which tools would not have helped), I cannot
> remember the last time something broke.

That's my experience. I carry a multi-tool in the woods where chain
mishaps can happen. In many years of cycling, I've never had a use for a
tool other than a chain tool, and that was for someone else's chain.
That's the beauty of bikes -- simple and reliable, who needs tools?

It's Chris

Wow. My list is going to sound rather spartan compared to the original
poster, but here goes.

I carry a spare tube, and since I'm a belt and suspenders sort of guy, a
patch kit too. Inside the patch kit box I also have an iron on denim
patch for a casing boot, and an ingenious little chain tool that is
about half the size of a Bic lighter, a couple of spare Craig SuperLinks
(or whatever thay're called now).

Outside of that, I carry a "Swiss Biker's Knife" which includes a set of
hex keys, a slotted and Phillips screwdriver. and a 6 inch crescent
wrench which in a pinch can double as a spoke wrench.

Clipped onto the frame pegs is a combination tire pump and K-9 deterrent
(full size). And although it's tecnically not a tool, my cranks are
equipped with extractors. I also carry spare spokes inside my seat tube,
although I haven't broken a spoke since I learned how to build my own
wheels. Still, you never know.

With this combintion (and a few MacGyverisms) I can service everything
on the bike except the BB and headset bearings. And yes that includes
replacing freewheel side spokes.

When on an extended tour I also carry a cut down headset and BB wrench.
That and a little grease covers the entire bike.

- -
Compliments of:
"Your Friendly Neighborhood Wheelman"

If you want to E-mail me use:
ChrisZCorner "at" webtv "dot" net

My website:
http://geocities.com/czcorner