Mostly my bike works great!
I don’t suffer mechanicals very often on rides. For that I am eternally grateful to the Bike Gods. However, it seems that the vast majority of the times when I do have a problem I have left the necessary tools/spares at home. This would serve me right except for the fact I carry tools/spares almost all the time so the fact the problems happen only on the rare occasions when I don’t have the stuff I need to fix things seems perverse!
Frame mounted repair kit…
Case in point. I typically carry a pump and full set of tools + patch kit and spare tube on my Santa Cruz Nomad. Since I ride my Scandal 29er and Surly Pugsley as well I have a second set of tools, pump and patch kit/tube in my hydration pack. Scott usually carries a full set of tools, pump and patch kit/tube as well. So on a given ride it’s not unusual for us to have 3 complete sets of emergency repair equipment for 2 bikes.
Where are the tools?
Last week Scott had front tire problems that required a spare tube and a patch kit or a second spare tube. We were a bit horrified to realize that I had taken off my bike mounted Porcelain Rocket frame bag when I took the bike in to have the fork serviced and moved my second set of emergency repair items to another hydration pack. No problem we’ll just use Scott’s stuff! Yikes – Scott also managed to come on the ride without his tools/pump.
This repair kit is back on my Nomad…
We were only saved from a walk out by Tom’s pump and patch kit. Luckily we had a guest from Australia on the ride who brought some repair gear all the way to Victoria!
My 2nd backpack repair kit…
In reaction to the recent incident I’ve reattached the Porcelain Rocket frame bag to my Nomad and put together another tool kit so each hydration pack has one. In theory this means we can never be without tools/spares on a MTB ride again – right? Sadly Murphy always finds a way to make it happen! I do think we are probably good for the rest of the summer though. Until I go to service the bike in the fall and pull the frame bag and maybe I need to get a repair done on my hyrdation pack and forget to reload it with tools… 😉
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