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I was just collecting stuff to take on a trip to the very NW of scotland where I will be a long way from a bike shop and also a long way from a road when I started thinking , what will I really need . Obviously loads of tubes but what has actually stopped people riding on to get home/back to the car?
A seized jockey wheel once stopped me but I was only a few hundred metres from the car and I am sure I could have bodged something if I had had to.I even got home with a pretzeled front wheel although very slowly and in a wobbly manner.
So what do I need to really watch out for?
Mech hanger - suppose I could have bodged the chain to single speed it to get home but couldn't be bothered and rang for a lift
Mech hanger then chain exploded in single-speed mode.
Freehub pawl springs
Did hear of on trail fix, using zip ties to fix cassette to spokes. Didn't have any of those either
Mech and hanger caused by chain suck caused by caked mud.
Stem cracked at the weld. Very fortunate to notice at slow speed.
Crank snapped in half whilst standing up wheelying. Less fortunate that time.
Seat clamp bolt, I was gutted - had got a few hours to ride on a glorious day, managed about half a mile and the bolt broke within 20m of me entering some woods
calliper bolts
I've broken a rear mech (bizzarely the hanger was fine) - but you can bodge a single speed solution.
Only other terminal problem I've had was a sheared crank bolt, but there was some prior warning which I ignored.
Banks
It was a while ago and Hindsight is a wonderful thing
Much more experienced now 🙄
Ti seat rail - stood up until I got home. Has made me think twice about using them for longer trips now. Cr-mo is just bombproof.
HT2 bottom brackets. Rode it to the shops. One bottom bracket to get to the shops, one to get home.
Boom Boom.
Mech hanger for sure. Single speed with a full suspension bike doesn't really work. Extra chain links. Some spokes. Spare teeny tiny pump? Gear cable & make sure wire cutters are on your multi tool.
A punture. Fell off being too ambitious, after picking myself up and running away from the accident scene so that no one could see me, I discovered I had puntured. Couldn't push the pump on to the valve to re-inflate the tyre as my hand did not work as it should, discovered later I'd fractured my wrist. Long walk home that night felling sorry for myself (only about 4 miles but it felt longer) as I did the injured soldier trudge.
Pretty much my first adventurous MTB ride, first ride of any sort that called for an OS map - just at the furthest point from civilisation - peddle ripped out of the crank. Then the heavens opened.
Its the only time I've ever not been able to get the bike ridable again though.
I busted two spokes in one of those wheels Specialized think should have 15g straight gauge spokes. Tits.
When we go up to Torridon which is a 9 hr drive for us, i'm sure its overkill but between the group of us we take just about everything to build another bike, seat clamp, spare seat post (incase/when the crank bros dropper post fails)and saddle, wheels, spokes, cassette, assortd bearings, tyres, mechs, shifters, cables, spare brakes, assorted bolts skewers stem, etc etc. oly things we've missed tends to be fork, rear shock and a frame. Thankfully we've never needed too much apart from the usual pads tyres and tubes. Just make sure you've checked your bikes and there is nothing underlying on the way out, wheel bearings bottom brackets etc.
- Twice I've ripped bent the rear mech and opened out the dropout on my steel frame.
- Have also ripped a third of the flange off on my rear hub - taco'ing the back wheel. Had to abandon the bike in the local tourist office and then medivac it home the following weekend.
- Had the left crank fall off (snapped!) - limped a couple of miles home, but that was it.
- Freehub failed completely. That was a long walk.
Loads of stuff; freewheel disintegrated on the moors; that needed a lift home. Forks broke: lift home. Destroyed a tyre, and a spare; lift home. Ran out of energy/talent/ability after 100 of 120 miles; lift home. Broken derailleur hanger/wheel/frame; lift home. Fell off; lift to hospital with broken ribs and wrist and face, then lift home.
QR seat clamp when dropping saddle at the start of the Burma Road (Aviemore) descent. Surprisingly difficult to ride with the saddle spinning under yer bum.
10 punctures 2 x innertubes in one th ride. my friend had to cycle back to get the car. That was the day that convinced me to go tubeless. Damn hawthorns...
A puncture on a tubeless tyre that wouldn't seal. Had a tube to put in but couldn't budge the valve lockring & had no pliers.
This was at the top of the descent to Annat. (hope to make amends next weekend though!)
At least 2 inner tubes (maybe 1 if tubeless)
Small plastic sheet (for tyre gash - tube is for reinflation if you were tubeless)
Cable ties
Mech hanger
More than 1 tyre lever (they also snap)
Used all the above on rides but only thing stopped me riding was when I broke myself (dislocated shoulder).
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This stopped the ride, unsurprisingly - from what I gather a very rare occurrence. Got one of the first BFe's into the UK as a warranty replacement.
Chain ring bolts can undone! Not sure why but it did put a damper on things.
Mech in the spokes led to walk of woe.
Snapped seat tube probably should have resulted in a walk, but I rode home gingerly instead.
My sidewall of my rear tyre ripped open spewing sealant all over the place, no spare tube on me meant I had to walk the best section of Innerleithen. The lower stretch of the DH section ( make or break) and Caddon Bank. Gutted I was
Several frames breaking have resulted in a long walk home as well as a RF crank arm snapping, a rim exploding, forks steerer tube/crown junction snapping, free hub pawls giving up the ghost and handlebars snapping.
Split a hub which caused the free hub pawns to spin the press fit pawl ring, luckily I could freewheel gingerly back down a hill.
Freehubs. Twice. One XT, one DT Swiss.
One of those crappy U.S.E. Alien seatpost heads snapped on me about four miles from home. It didn't stop the ride but I wished it had - four miles standing isn't as easy as it sounds, but when blisters on your feet or metalic buggery are the only alternatives, it was a no-brainer.
Seat Clamp Bolt, snapped - did ride on but standing up has its limits when you're out on a long day, had a fairly long walk home as a result.
Yet another one for the seatpost QR, arrived in the North of Scotland, reassembled bike and the QR snapped. Took all week before I managed to source one (it was a family holiday so had only planned riding two or three days.
Side wall of rear tyre at the highest point of the wall at afan, not impressed, hole too big to patch with cable ties, and rendered tyre useless! long walk back.
The rider.
If your bike is in good condition and everything relatively new (and good quality) but well maintained and worn in, and you have the tools to tighten all the nuts & bolts, then the only spare you may need would be a mech hanger or rear mech if steel framed (or even with replaceable mech hangers).
If you take all of these stories together you'll end up carrying a spare bike. Just take what you would on a regular ride. Just because you're miles away from anywhere doesn't increase the likelihood of a mechanical. Another failure was an Octalink crank working loose at the furthest point from home. After this I bought a multi-tool that could tighten everything on my bike.
The only thing I've had fail on off-road tours was a pannier rack - I was pushing my luck with a cheapo one but the improvisation (zip tie) and 'pushing your luck' with the bodge all adds to the adventure.
Add to the usual toolkit - gaffa tape, zip ties, wire (and a small set of pliers to twist it with). Maybe a jubilee clip if using a pannier rack. And a good pump.
Had a crank snap itself clean in two when I was midway down Glen Tilt.
That was a long walk out. 😯
Not much you can do about it though (turned out to be a manufacturing fault in the crankset. LBS replaced free of charge as it had been recalled).
If you take all of these stories together you'll end up carrying a spare bike.
That's because this thread has gone all anecdotal. From reading it I would think about taking a few different sized bolts - M4/5/6 in various lengths.
Maybe a jubilee clip...
I now carry one that's about seat tube size; seat clamp failed on an overnight camp/bivi on the Scottish west coast - managed to get a jubilee clip from a fisherman.
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[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/rick2/4207008206/ ]Long walk back...[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/rick2/ ]Rick T.[/url], on Flickr
8 or 9 mile walk back to the car down one of the best descents in the Black Mountains. Gutted! It was the infamous 2009 Cotic Hemlock chainstay fail before they beefed them up.
Mech hangers. Now carry a spare. I have bodged a singlespeed, but it is a crap fix. Maybe next time I'll try tensioning the chain with a ziptie onto the chainstay.
Rear triangle went on old frame at the seatstay to dropout weld. At the furthest point of a ride.
Everything else has been fixable. Ripped tyres (twice) easily fixed with a boot and duct tape. I carry a spare cheapo seat clamp, so that one didn't get me either.
Touch wood, nothing catastrophic yet.
A week last Thursday got lazy through a fire break , went over a downed tree too close to the thicker pine branches .trashed my xtr shadow plus mech .the branch just did not want to let go 🙁 settling fir a spare xt none cammed .mino link popped out on thursday so no ride . Then saturday halfway round Dalby red my cassette came loose .thats three in a week
Freewheel pawls snapped on my Singlespeed. Scooting around the trails after your kids is not my idea of a fun afternoon!
Definitely a mech hanger, but if I was on a long XC ride that took me miles away from anywhere I'd also take a spare foldable tyre. A mate of mine had a tyre sidewall split last year, the gash was way too big for the tyre boots. Not too bad for him, a couple of mile walk back, but you'd be screwed if you were out in the sticks. A rare occurrence, but one of those things you simply can't work around if it were to happen.