[Closed] should you be required to carry safety equipment on mamats? (man made trails)

Never understood why people carry shockpumps.

mind you if you're carrying all that crap all the time, you may as well.

suspect bobbyspangles was taking the almighty pish. Unless his every ride is a vast tour into the unknown wilderness behind the Nationwide in Swindon.Or his job requires all that kit to look after noobs like in the op? What do you do BobbyS?

Always carry what I consider the basics -

Tube
Patches
Pump
Multi tool
Leatherman
Couple of zip ties
Small 1st aid kit

All live permanently in my hydration pack which I wear every ride out of habit (even if I don't put the bladder in it). Had too many long boring walks early on in my time MTBing to not want to be able to fix/bodge anything that goes wrong.

Would help out anyone without spares/tools, but would probably be thinking what a stupid ****er they were while doing so.

Kevevs - Member - Quote
suspect bobbyspangles was taking the almighty pish.

It's not a race, everyone else isn't there to help me.

I run ChaseSkills mtb coaching/guiding company. so the extra is alway sfor others as well as myself.
to be honest it is lovely to go for a local blast without anything at all! just me, my bike and a water bottle!

although the last time i managed this i ended up with 2 punctures.

On trail centre stuff i carry malt whisky in hipflask/bottle cage holder if that counts as safety equipment (medicinal?), i don't carry anything else but if i'm heading into the hills for an all day explore i may carry a teeny seatpack with a couple of co2 canisters, tubeless patch and mini tool.

Some peeps may want to carry the entire contents of their toolbox and spares kit so if it makes them feel equipped then hey-ho - crack on.

I always carry as follows:
2 tubes (even though I am tubeless)
Patches
Bike multitool and a gerber
Gear cable
Chain missing link
Cable ties

And when further a field
1st aid kit/foil blanket
Map/compass
Clothing, food as required.

May be overkill for some people, but my ride time is precious and I don't intend on walking most of it. I also normally have to pick my lad after a ride so timing is very important.
As such I factor extra time in my rides to cover breakdowns/ getting lost. I would rather carry kit than factor in / have to do a 10 mile walk.
Each to their own though.

Yesterday I was stopped at the side of the track fixing a flat, a feller on a Glory came down with no pack or anything, pushing as he had a flat. "Have you got a spare". You know what? I'd been carrying my kit all race while he was getting the benefit of riding light, no way was he getting any help off me. In the event, I only had 1 anyway so I didn't have to make the call. Again, right or wrong?

How dare they, It should be in the[s] golf[/s] club rules to be more responsible.

Oh.. wait! silly me, you were only "eventing" not "racing" weren't you?

Can't work out if you're joking or sommat, but you sound like a right tosser. 😕

I don't carry the kitchen sink, will help others I come across, but I'm not giving them my only tube.

And anyone who uses the term "mamats" really needs to be beaten to death with the contents of their ridiculously overfilled Camelbak.

Bike tools aren't safety equipment. You aren't going to die at a trail centre if your chain snaps or your tyre goes flat.

Quite a few people at my local trail center don't seem to bother with lids, which always strikes me as being a bit selfish.

Thread just reminded me of when Ewan and Charlie first went adventuring on their BMW GS's. They carried a complete toolkit - EACH. And a tent - EACH.

Silly boys. But anyway, what's a UCI? A type of pump?

persona - Member

Wrong! You should have ridden down on your flat tyre and repaired it in the gondola so as to lose far less places.

Nah, if you flat higher up it's prety much time neutral, but you risk damaging the wheel. One thing to ride out the motorway, lower woods etc but another to batter it off all the rocks.

I set off on a club run yesterday and forgot my pump,not a problem,plenty of others had one.
Then I decided to head back early on my own.
If I had got a flat ,it would have been a long annoying walk/faff to get home. You only have to get caught out once to learn that lesson.
I don't really want my cycling spoiled ,just because I forgot/didn't take some kit. 🙂

Why all the replies? The question was answered by the first response.

bobbyspangles - Member
I carry:
2 tubes
1 pump
1 shockpump
3 prs gloves
1 gilet
1 waterproof
2 hats
2 buffs
multi tool
swiss army knife
lube
zip ties
canister of spares
2 spr brake pad sets
1st aid kit
3l water
gps
energy gels
headtorch
pen
camera and headcam

You are Dale Laywood and I claim my £5.

For the hard of understanding/quick to attack 🙄 Yes, I was joking.

I always carry:

10 tubes
3 chains
Foot pump
track pump
mini pump
arm pump
chain tool
chain whip
cassette tool
marmalade sandwiches
pruning shears
toe nail clippers
barn owl
fret saw
bench grinder
cheese knife
pair of compasses
wallpaper steamer
salad spinner
eye gouger
faberge egg
chameleon
false teeth
real teeth
counter sink
kitchen sink
trevor francis track suits from a mush in shepherds bush

forgot me tyre levers yesterday though.

[i]Had too many long boring walks early on in my time MTBing to not want to be able to fix/bodge anything that goes wrong.[/i]

This.

I generally take sufficient tools and spares to cover my own needs.

couple of tubes, patches and a pump, plus split links and multi-tools, I try to strike a sensible balance between being self sufficient and carrying the kitchen sink.

If I encounter someone who's not planed ahead and is in trouble, I offer a spare tube or a patch and the use of my tools/pump and some friendly help as required... General common decency to help out a fellow human being in distress innit?

I've helped strangers like this a couple of times and there's no point crowing or telling them "what they should have bought along" they've just learned the lesson and you can guarantee they'll always b the one to carry a spare tube/pump/multitool in future...

TBH telling them off for failing to plan and being a grudging dick about sharing a tube and some tools only serves to put beginers off the sport. I'd rather they learned a useful lesson and went away believing that MTBing is a sport/activity full of friendly helpful people so they stay involved... but that's just me...

Edit-

Also I've never heard the term "MAMAT" where does this (****y sounding) term come from? MBR?

out of curiosity, my tyres are now tubeless.

thanks to luck/tubeless, i haven't had a puncture in about a year.

to minimise faff, i only carry 1 tube, and it's a 28er (yes).

back in the good old days i'd hand out tubes to any poor soul who needed them. (i carried 2, so i didn't snooker myself)

but now, even if my 28" tube fitted their bike, i'd be reluctant to hand over my tube - sod's law dictates THAT would be the ride where my tubeless experiment failed.

interesting... a combination of tubeless, and wagon-wheels, has turned me into a git.

FFS, who cares !

If you get a puncture and you have no spares you walk or ride on the rim !
Any one would think that all the posts above were referring to outback riding where there are no means of gaining mobile phone coverage or there's no fresh running water !

"I'm off out on my bike dear I may be some time"
- Have you got your spare cleats, spark plug wrench, blow torch & bear gun ?
"Yes dear I have all those things, my camelback is 2/3rds full and if I drink it before the moon is in its 3rd phase I will surely die ! So I will return before the six 'O' clock news so you don't have to look for the life insurance policy under all the shit I have aquired in case something might happen to me"

Returning solo on a club ride with no pump is hardly a life changing lesson, if it is then you need to stay indoors more,

WTF is a MAMATS ?

And why is every one carrying Zip ties ? Wht are they going to do ?

out of curiosity, my tyres are now tubeless.

thanks to luck/tubeless, i haven't had a puncture in about a year.

to minimise faff, i only carry 1 tube, and it's a 28er (yes).

back in the good old days i'd hand out tubes to any poor soul who needed them. (i carried 2, so i didn't snooker myself)

but now, even if my 28" tube fitted their bike, i'd be reluctant to hand over my tube - sod's law dictates THAT would be the ride where my tubeless experiment failed.

interesting... a combination of tubeless, and wagon-wheels, has turned me into a git.

Also Tubeless here and like you largely without incident for quite some time (touch wood).

I still carry two tubes (26") and some Park glueless patches, my logic being, that if one UST tyre goes, the other is still potentially the subject a separate failure, and tubes are still the best get home option, hence I carry two tubes, I also carry the patches as an extra, extra backup just in case having had to fit both tubes I then pick up a hole in one..

The patches weigh barely anything and are simple enough to use, TBH though I've not had to resort to using them since going tubeless and only had to use one tube to re-inflate a holed tubeless tyre.
But think about it, what's the worst thing that could possibly happen on a ride?

Say you run over something big and pointy enough to hole the front tyre, who's to say it won't catch the rear too? - Ride over without a means of repairing both.
Or you get a front flat 10 miles in fix it with your one tube, only to get an un-fixable rear flat 20 miles into a 30 mile ride, you're ride is knackered all for the want of a couple of hundred grams of Butyl...

It's a bit like playing rock, paper, sciscors I know but how else can you mitigate something as random as flat tyres?

Of course as soon as I hand over a spare tube to a stranger in need I potentially open myself up to a similar fate too, maybe I should carry three or four tubes, just to be on the safe side 😉

And why is every one carrying Zip ties ? Wht are they going to do ?

Hold stuff together?

I smashed a front mech once and use a ziptie to hold it over the middle ring to avoid having to ride the next 10 miles in the granny.

I take the things that weight very little but may need replacing ,,pads , spare links, mech hanger, spare gear cable all weight next to nothing to carry
multitool pump and 2 tubes.
Emergency blanket and cheap plastic bivvy bag and whistle if proper remote/winter- oddly enough i carry more safety stuff walking than riding though I have yet to really injure myself walking but have a few times riding

Would not like to find myself immoble in thin clothes waiting a few hours for rescue but each to their own

Cable ties weigh nothing, so chucking a couple in does no harm

Aye, likewise spare pads, mech hanger, powerlink, all basically irrelevant weightwise and very small so not much reason not to.

Ok now I can fess up to carrying foil blanket, orange bivvi and a whistle,

Aye, likewise spare pads, mech hanger, powerlink, all basically irrelevant weightwise and very small so not much reason not to.

Nope, was it inadvertantly funny? The mud on my camelbak probably weighs more than that stuff inside it.

Say you run over something big and pointy enough to hole the front tyre, who's to say it won't catch the rear too?

as seen before possibly too many times but i think other photos or vids of big pointy things at trail centres would be good

How many of the people who carry nothing with them have borrowed spares from a friend or stranger when they've had a mechanical?

Now you are joking, aren't you?

If you want to go riding armed only with your wits then please dont let me stop you

Re zip ties I zip tied a rear jockey wheel in place when the bolt was lost

I also zipped tied a wooden wedge when my rear shock bolt snapped

tha time i did the next big drop to see if it worked ..WTF Was I thinking off 🙄

i take my camelbak whenever on MTB, either wilderness or trail centre of somewhere in between. Standard contents are :

2 tubes, multitool, leathernman, pair of brake pads, couple of zip ties, black tape, spare mech hanger. Also mini pump and fork pump, tick tiwsters and some wetwipes.

If I have the kids with me I drop in a small first aid kit. For big days in the hills a warmer top and some food.

I'd add that it's up to individuals what they carry, but on our club rides we'll help out others who don't bring stuff....the first time....thereafter they will be subjected to ridicule and embarrassment 🙂

I've had a few occasions of someone begging a tube off me

I now keep a puncture repair kit (I blagged a few off somewhere ages ago) in my bag for such 'giveways'

The last few rides at dalby I've found, tyre levers, multi-tools, 2 pumps a co2 pump head.

There are even inner tubes growing on trees there too 🙁

Rule #84// Follow the Code.
Consistently with The Code Of The Domestique, the announcement of a flat tyre in a training ride entitles – but does not oblige – all riders then present in the bunch to cease riding without fear of being labelled Pussies. All stopped riders are thereupon entitled – but not obliged – to lend assistance, instruction and/or stringent criticism of the tyre mender’s technique. The duration of a Rule #84 stop is entirely discretionary, but is generally inversely proportional to the duration of the remaining time available for post-ride espresso.17

Also you can fix a flat tyre by stuffing it with grass and putting it back on takes ages and is soft but it does mean you can ride out.

Why are people carrying zip ties:

[url= http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7347/8724320710_a8d1f4d855_c.jp g" target="_blank">http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7347/8724320710_a8d1f4d855_c.jp g"/> [/img][/url]
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/21556621@N06/8724320710/ ]SSUK Gathering 2013[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/21556621@N06/ ]pictonroad[/url], on Flickr

Saved me a ten mile walk, and more importantly, got me to the pub & hog roast, THAT's why people are carrying zip ties...

In my camelback at all times:
3 litre bladder
First aid kit
Two tubes (even though all bikes tubeless)
Tyre boots
Patches and levers
At least 2 pairs of brake pads - 1 sintered, 1 organic/kevlar (same brakes on all bikes)
3 different mech hangers c/w bolts (one for each bike)
Gear cable
Chainring bolt
Rotor bolt
Multitool with chainsplitter
2 missing links
a short length of chain, maybe 3 links.
Mini pliers/tool
Cable ties
Pump
Gaffer tape (wrapped around pump)
Cheap packable waterproof
Liners for gloves
Emergency Haribos or Marsbar

Optional as appropriate:
Spare gloves
Rear mech
Spare buff
Lunch
Map
Compass
mid layer
waterproof jacket

and previously a spare cleat and bolts (no longer as now on flats)

Zip ties are great when your freehub packs up miles from anywhere, can ride home almost normally.

I usually carry a fair bit in the Camelbak, but it's for long rides. If I'm only out for an hour or two I grab a tube a pump and some tyre levers .. maybe some leech stick on things if I remember. Can't see why I'd want to walk 10 miles home for carrying something that is zero hassle to have in a pocket, trail center or no.

Genuine question: why brake pads?

FWIW to original question: no!

For me: water, two tubes, tool and pump (and keep meaning to chuck a couple of ties in)

To add to zip tie versatility. Smashed the U part of the brake lever clamp near the top of The Fort WC course but the pin on the brake side were still there. Two small ties round the pins and bars and all is good, well sufficient functionality to complete the route.

'mamats' is just a silly abbreviation.

we all know what we refer to when the term 'man made trails' is used.

bobbyspangles - Member
'mamats' is just a silly abbreviation.

.

we all know what we refer to when the term 'man made trails' is used.

All trails (well, footpaths, bridleways, byeways, and trail centers) are man made.