ability to give a grid ref for other people. So now tend to shove in a map regardless of how local.

There are good apps for that, worked fine in my tests. There are many cases when a map is a benefit but I wouldn’t carry one on my home turf unless professionally guiding.

If I need a backpack I keep it as small as possible. The larger it is the more it will encourage me to pack inside.

In reverse I find a larger emptier pack more comfy than a smaller fuller one.

Handlebars as storage = genius!

Pump, tubeless repair kit, multitool is all I need in my camelback

If it’s a long ride I’ll chuck some fig rolls in for emergency energy

Weight comes from the water I carry which isn’t a lot this time of year.

Just a tiny ampule of super-strength pheromones.

what are you going to do with a shock pump? If the fork or shock are soggy and leaking air, pump’s not going to help…is it?

Most of my stuff; multi tool, mini pump, tube, few spare links and such goes in a thin pencil case, it fits in pocket or sack.

I carry a pretty standard pack of first aid kit (yellow dry bagged variety with space blanket) two tubes (sometimes one if used one recently), fly patch kit and levers, Allen key tool with screwdriver, pump, phone, keys, couple of zip ties, bit of tape, soreen, whistle and water in bladder. Jacket at times if seems like a plan. Map and compass if doing something odd. Spare gloves if a big ride. Money if planning to be anywhere it’d be useful. Mostly it’s all in the bag all the time and hardly weighs anything. I do vary the amount of water as carrying 3l is usually insane. 1l-1.5 is usually overkill unless it’s a big day or hot. I’ve considered a little bottle of water and washing up liquid before now…

Pump in seatpost, that’s a good idea. I may be able to squeeze a patch kit in there also, as long as it doesn’t drop down into the frame during riding.

Maybe some sort of rubber bung?

Often ride with nothing including no helmet. Managed for my whole childhood doing the same. Amazing!!!

This is me now. but then again most of my riding is local woods so happy to walk back if I have too

ability to give a grid ref for other people. So now tend to shove in a map regardless of how local.

Yeah, last year I was riding very early around local b’ways (Paignton – Newton Abbot), at one point I was crossing a hilly field with marked footpath (I did walk that section!). I found a cow giving birth on the other side of the hill – the head was out already, looking at me! 😯 Didn’t know what to do (I’m not very experienced as a midwife – my wife had Cesarean…) I rang the police…

– OK, can you tell me where is that?
– Of course I can, officer! – here I took out a map from my hummvee’s, quickly read the grid reference in 0,00 accuracy.
– OK, it doesn’t tell me anything… Where is that?
😐

Multitool
Tube
Levers
Tubeless repair kit with a couple of patches
Mini pump
Small handy pack of tissues in case caught short.
£20 note
Phone
Door key
Tiny retractable abus cable lock (for securing bike in beer garden while nipping to the bar of country pub)
The times I have not brought this and stood outside a pub assessing the chances of a scroute stealing my bike while ordering a pint only to air on the side of caution and reluctantly pedal off with beer on my mind.

The times I have not brought this and stood outside a pub assessing the chances of a scroute stealing my bike while ordering a pint only to air on the side of caution and reluctantly pedal off with beer on my mind.

If its within eye-shot at all times through the window whilist ordering either pull out the front axle and leave the wheel just on the edge of falling out. remove the rear QR and do the same and also shift your gears to the top/bottom of each ring.

Remember to slot everything right though before you ride and not to stamp/crunch on your gears..

I do this with the butty shop in the morning. It’d RUIN your forks probably but it’d ruin someone badly too….

I have a spare tube strapped to my frame (for emergencies as tubeless)
Bottle on frame

in pockets

pump, food, gilet or waterproof if needed, phone

in a small plastic bag/ held together with a rubber band
multi tool, tyre lever, spare links, tubeless anchovies, tyre boot, instant patches

I only carry a pack if I’m going out for a long one and know I won’t have access to taps. If I’m riding locally I know where all the taps are anyway

blat around the local woods…
– handful of €2 coins (1 or 2 for tram in case of chain spack or flat, the rest for icecream/refreshment)
– phone, keys

but then it’s all too easy to add a pump, and patches, a tube, multitool, levers, …

Foil blanket always at the bottom of my camelbak. Not needed it in 7 years thankfully.

i’d check the condition of that if you think it’s worth carrying around. mate pulled an old one out for another with a broken collarbone to find it disintegrated as he unfolded it.

Sorry, I just don’t get it.
Once you’ve got a minimum of 2 ltr of water, a day’s food and some extra clothing in your backpack, trying to save a few grams by leaving pads, quicklinks and cables out hardly seems worth it. 😯

What you take depends on your experience of failures along with a more general “how likely is that to happen” wet finger in the air sort of test which in itself seems to depend on how you ride your bike – some people just seem prone to breakages while others don’t.

If you keep on top of maintenance then you are unlikely to need pads or cables but chains do snag or get caught between rock and chainring so might need repairing on the trail. However if you are doing something like the Highland Trail 550 then having sufficient spares with you might save a long, long walk.

Once you’ve got a minimum of 2 ltr of water, a day’s food and some extra clothing in your backpack,

Don’t carry 2 litres of water, a day’s food and extra clothing then 😉

OP – that’s pretty much what I carry too (minus the CO2) as well as a first aid kit.

I got used to carrying the kitchen sink while guiding and it feels odd not taking enough to be able to sort most problems on route now, despite most of my rides being under 30 miles.

Don’t carry 2 litres of water, a day’s food and extra clothing then [/quote]+1

– Pump
– Multi tool
– Chain tool (no link – I just remove the broken link)
– Flapjack
– Spare tube
– Puncture repair
– Credit card + cash
– Phone

I’m certain I could carry all that without a pack, however, my inability to regulate my body temperature means I carry my camelpak everywhere so I can change layers and also for the water.

I’d prefer not to carry a pack everytime, but thems the breaks.

Amazed at how few people carry basic first aid items. Several times I’ve been able to help other riders with bandages etc. Once I came across a kid who had fallen over and cut themselves quite badly – did my bit for mtb/walker relations there with antiseptic swab,pressure pad and bandage!

A few items in a ziplock bag weighs nothing and could really be useful

Really? Even when I cut my finger to the bone when a huge pane of greenhouse glass slid down I sellotaped it up and carried on. Trail abraisons can easily be left for a couple of hours- what would a plaster do? Anything that would need intervention would need immediate emergency services help anyway- degloving , deep wound, fracture etc. If it is a wound a clothing tight wrap (tshirt etc) would help.

A pack of bandages would be great but if you can improvise its not a biggie.

This isnt meant as a dig etc 🙂

Right Hora so you fall off in muddy rocks and get a deepish cut on your leg which is pumping out blood.

You can leave it to soak your kit, collect more mud and possibly get infected or you can clean it, bandage it/plaster whatever and get on with your ride. Why improvise when you don’t have to?

I’m down to:

– Multi tool with chain tool
– Spare missing link
– Couple of CO2 cart & inflator
– Mini first aid kit (wipes, small plasters, bandage, tape & scissors. Small enough to go in a small packet).
– Tubeless repair kit
– Zip ties
– Tube
– Wallet
– Garmin
– Whistle
– (and on night rides) – battery pack for helmet light.

All in a small Osprey Viper 7 bag, which has limited space but I deliberately went for that to stop me carrying so much.

Might have a snack also, and if it’s the bouncy bike and I’ve been fiddling I might take the shock pump in case I want to fiddle during the ride, but I try not to now.

Phone and keys go in pocket.

I’m trying to get the confidence to ditch the tube. I never use it myself, but it’s often donated to someone else who’s not carrying one.

Exception is if it’s a big adventure and I might take my Camelbak Hawg. In which case everything in there, though may be an SLR camera 😀

If it’s an explore and going to be far away from base, I’ll have a printed map (yes, paper! small copy of relevant OS map area), and a compass. Yes I have the phone, but phone batteries die etc.

Water is at the most 1 litre in winter months and even then I barely use half of it. However in the summer I can go through 2 to 3 (3 needs the bigger Camelbak bladder) and half way round I might fill up again and drink a lot more!

Drinking less water in the winter is probably a bad thing. I don’t feel the need to drink loads, but I probably should be drinking more than I do.

Nobody else carry a rear derailleur hanger?

Winston you wash it using your water and use a top and/or Strip it and bind it as a temporary solution. You can further irrigate it at the end. Pumping out blood? Most small biking first aid kits wouldn’t offer a benefit in this situation without the joint use of improvisation.

If a wound IS pissing blood you stabilise and call emergency services ASAP.

Of course on big days in the mountains you pack more for the situations like this. On 2hr rides youd be more inclined to ride smart/light.

If im never gonna be more than 30 mins from the car or within 10 mins driving distance away for the mrs to pick me up, i basically take nothing.

Phone
Keys
Money
Water bottle in cage

Out with a group, i never want to be THAT person, so usually end up with (in addition to above)-

Tube
CO2
Lever

If im somewhere new, big ride, no access to food or water for a long while i will resort to a camelbak, in addition to above –

Multi tool
Snack
Mech hanger
Extra layer

I just never seem to have mechanicals, punctured twice in 3ish years, that’s about it out on the trail. *Touches wood*

tillydog – Member
Nobody else carry a rear derailleur hanger?

Good point. Actually, I need to check. I might have one in the bag. I normally have one in the tool box in the car (along with all kinds of spares in there, mech, cassette, chains, gear cables, tools etc 😀 ).

I’d carry one mainly for something like an Alps ride where there are enough rocks to yank the mech off and going to be a very long away from anywhere, but they are small enough to just chuck in a pack without much impact.

grievoustim, what do you mean by “access to taps”?

Winston you wash it using your water and use a top and/or Strip it and bind it as a temporary solution. You can further irrigate it at the end. Pumping out blood? Most small biking first aid kits wouldn’t offer a benefit in this situation without the joint use of improvisation.

If a wound IS pissing blood you stabilise and call emergency services ASAP.

Of course on big days in the mountains you pack more for the situations like this. On 2hr rides youd be more inclined to ride smart/light.

Is this assumptive, patronising post an ironic joke? I’m genuinely not sure.

I ditched the camelback about 3 years ago, hated the bloody thing anyway. Never felt properly balanced on the bike. Now I have a saddle big with a multitool, spare tube, puncture patches, zip ties and a chain link. Pump on frame if nobody else is carrying, food in back pockets and water bottle. All I have ever required.

Can’t stand riding in jackets so if it rains I get wet.. Simples! Or take the Gilet to keep it off the body. I get the feeling some people just automatically pick up the rucksack or camelback to go biking with no real consideration to if they actually need it or not.

Is this assumptive, patronising post an ironic joke? I’m genuinely not sure.

Dunno, made perfect sense to me. Big day out I’d take a space blanket, bag and 1st aid kit, on a short ride I’d take a space blanket and maybe a creppe bandage/pad. Realisitcly IMO most injurys fall into 3 categories:

1) Yer fecked without some good luck, quick action or a surgical team on standby. See Gracia tearing his femoral artery last year. 1st aid kit isn’t going to help much.

2) Yer rides fecked, but you’ll either walk out without dying or sit ther in a space blanket untill the ambulance arrives, broken bones, head injuries, etc etc. A 1st aid kit that fits in your camelback still won’t help much.

3) You’re not going to die, but a plaster won’t cut it. Deep cuts, etc. 1st aid kit might help, but you’ll not die without it, even deep cut’s stop bleeding eventualy unless you’ve hit an artery (see 1).

4) anything that a 1st aid kit that fits in a ziplock bag will solve but you could probably have ridden on anyway and washed off the dried blood in the shower later.

CO2 (tubeless tyres so 95% of punctures never happen), multitool, space blanket and an idea which way the car is the usual contents of my back pockets on a local ride. Depends how often you ride and how ‘important’ to you finishing that ride is, if you’re out 3x a week for a couple of hours every week then walking back to the car once every few months isn’t the end of the world, if you only get out once a week for a big ride then you’re priorities will be different.

and CO2 on seatpost.
In back pocket Pump
and shaver case with..
multitool – SKS tom 18 job from Decathlon
gear cable
Leatherman Squirt
brake pads
tubeless repair patches and glue.
Park Tyre patch thingy.
Chain quicklinks

I bought a cheapy bumbag/lumbar pack a few months ago to see how I got on with it instead of a backpack. Enjoying the less sweaty back, and haven’t missed the reservoir. Bottles take a bit longer to drink from, but I’m not racing anyway.
So, water bottles, waterproof, maybe a map, GPS/phone, and a snack in the bum-bag. Spare tube, patches, tyre levers, multi-tool and pump in a small frame bag.
Just upgraded to a swish Osprey Talon 6, which should be more comfortable.

I think there is something to be said for a level of protection offered by a backpack. My pack has some pretty good padding, and certainly helped in those OTB moments.

Can’t stand riding in jackets so if it rains I get wet.. Simples! Or take the Gilet to keep it off the body. I get the feeling some people just automatically pick up the rucksack or camelback to go biking with no real consideration to if they actually need it or not.

Nae offence, but you ride in the UK without a jacket, and so, your opinion will be taken with a dose of salts.

+1 to that. Two weeks ago, if I’d been riding without a jacket then I’d have been an MRT statistic.

TINAS, Hora and Dean all spot on, Every first aid training refresher course I’ve been on, the instructors have all advocated the ability to improvise and use what you have instead of carrying a FAK everywhere.

I ride locally with nowt, as I’m never more than 10 miles from the house, and maintain my bikes regularly.

I used to carry all sorts, but got pissed off sorting the usual suspects bike for them.

I get the feeling some people just automatically pick up the rucksack or camelback to go biking with no real consideration to if they actually need it or not.

That’s me! I don’t want to have to check though my stuff and plan what I do or don’t need for that particular ride. I know my bag has what I need for long or medium rides, so I just take it.

Put clothes on, pick up bag, get bike, go ride.

BTW, I’d rather carry a bag than use those silly pockets on the back of jerseys.

Once you’ve got a minimum of 2 ltr of water, a day’s food and some extra clothing in your backpack,

Don’t carry 2 litres of water, a day’s food and extra clothing then

njee20 & scotroutes
If you’re suggesting that it’s a good idea to head into the mountains in Winter for a long day out without sufficient water, food and adequate clothing, then I don’t think we’ll reach agreement.

Yes, a quick local blast is different.

“TINAS, Hora and Dean all spot on, Every first aid training refresher course I’ve been on, the instructors have all advocated the ability to improvise and use what you have if you havn’t got a first aid kit to hand however when engaging in activities where there is a reasonable chance of harm to yourself or others it is sensible to carry simple first aid materials and train yourself on appropriate first aid methods”

FTFY

TBH I really don’t care whether you guys take a kit or not – I do and nothing will change that. I also have one on my motorbike and one in my car. Its just common sense.