Bikepawl – you mean you missed the whole point of the question I was answering and the answer I gave.

tjagain – Member
Bikepawl – you mean you missed the whole point of the question I was answering and the answer I gave.

No I didn’t miss anything, as I said I was just pointing out the discrepancy in your answer.

This one’s got legs. Definitely honour at stake here. Pistols?

NOpe – just you missed the point pawl. No discrepancy – just your lack of understanding. Bye.

Did 50 road miles solo, in the dales tonight, took keys, a gel, a tenner, phone and a taxi number. Running tubeless

jekkyl – Member 
I like to take a couple of pies and 4 stellas, you never know when you might need them.

jekkyl has it, though the execution could be improved 😉 .

Stella? Surely something ‘craft’ made by elven virgins under a full moon

Stevious nailed it.

Nothing too fizzy, it’ll only end up with wastage.

Stevious nailed it.

I prefer to just use the straps.

[Gets coat & backpack & tools & spares].

Hope for the best, plan for the worst. Depends where/what you’re riding.

Chris Ball – Enduro, Access and Ethics

Some points in here well made.
Mountain biking varies from one person to the next, on my local rides we are within 5 mins walk of a road and always in phone signal and close to town.

Previously mountain biking meant riding in actual mountains, coming from a climbing and mountaineering side I have a lot of respect for the conditions and they way things can change very quickly.
Early on in my MTB life we got caught out at Kirroctree with a underestimate of the time/singletrack and distance. We were out of food and water and not doing well. They don’t give out a badge for riding with no water, hungry and making bad decisions for the last 10km.

In the proper mountains weather can change in an instant too, you’re just walk out could be a done ankle and the nice day turning 10c colder and wet. Even hitting the road in places like the lakes doesn’t mean a signal or passing motorist for help it can be another 1hr walk while somebody is going hypothermic – even on a nice day.

Some of the people I have seen out with a little printed map and nothing else are a statistic waiting to happen. It will mostly be fine in the southern motorway trials but anywhere serious you are a liability.

rOcKeTdOg – Member
People carry a spare tyre!

Actually, I’ve seen a couple of elderly gents on proper road bikes spinning on the TPT with a spare folding tyre cabletied to the back of their seat, so it does happen!

More seriously though, the earlier point about ‘depends how far from train station or nearest means of escape’ is on the money. As a road cyclist, you are on the road network and have far less need to be self sufficient – and don’t really even need a map and compass.

Personally on MTB, I always have water, first aid kit, something to eat, a jacket, relevant map and compass plus at least one tube, multitool with splitter, lever, pump, tyre patching stuff, quicklink and brake pads. I add to this as appropriate for the ride, taking into account how far out I will be and how well traveled the route is. Not just tools, but odd items like a BruKit and means of ignition, for instance.

Surprised no one has mentioned group shelters yet. I have a 2 man one and an 8 man one. If with a full MBLA group (leader plus 7) the latter is required to be taken, along with most of the things mentioned by others.

Actually, I’ve seen a couple of elderly gents on proper road bikes spinning on the TPT with a spare folding tyre cabletied to the back of their seat, so it does happen!

Was probably a tub wasn’t it?

I take more on a road bike than an MTB.

MTB – phone and keys
Road (track) bike – phone, keys, tube, CO2, tyre lever, wheel nut spanner

Definitely a flat-folded tyre of some description, sidewall visible. Not sure if a tub or not, wouldn’t recognise one TBPH.

MTB – Phone (for Strava), water, pump, bank card. That’s your lot.

worst case scenario, i break down, walk to nearest pub, get post code, phone the wife “Come get me….” Although it’s never happend yet. Tubeless tyres and riding in Berkshire means you’re never really far from safety.

What I’ve learnt from you lot is that for a couple of hours local to home where the rides are never more than about 4 miles from any village or town then I should be fine with not too much. Big days in the hills are a different kettle of fish. Makes sense.

I’m finding it very interesting to see what odd bits people take with them on rides and how different the selection is but also how similar in many way they are.

I take the following when I’m away from the world –
Spot Tracker
First aid kit
Space Blanket
2x tubes (even though tubeless)
Tyre boot
Tubeless repair kit
Multitool
Pump / inflator (it’s a dual use thing)
Chain spares
Mech hanger bolt
Water
Food
Jacket if it looks like it might rain
Hat

All fits in a small bag, I don’t notice it so it actually comes most places.

I expect a lot of the differences come from experience. If you’ve had something fail then you take that spare with you. If you haven’t then you ask why on earth someone is carrying that spare.

For me I take a reasonable spares kit. Not so I can get home safely but so I can enjoy the ride. Something fails, I fix it then carry on. I do love a good trail bodge too.

Entirely dependant upon where you are riding.

Long day on the high fells in the lakes demands that I carry everything I need to get me out of trouble or potentially have to overnight.

The fact that all this is left in my camelbak just means that for ordinary local rides, I just pick it up and put it on. CBA emptying it for every ride.

2 things are certain on a thread like this:

1. It will consist of a load of blokes writing lists of what is in their pocket/bag when they ride a bike.
2. I’ll still click on it and read some posts despite knowing point 1

This. It’s dangerously close to those survivalist forums where they talk about what’s in their “Everyday Carry” in case they have to battle the zombie apocalypse on their commute across Minneapolis.

Still, 2 obviously applies to me, so you got me.

I once tried to borrow a pump from a roadie near Holmfirth when for various reasons I’d ended up not having one with me – yep, incompetence – he didn’t have one. Or a spare tube. If he flatted, he simply flagged down passing cars and hitched a lift home. Apparently he’d done it successfully twice. So it worked for him, though I’m too shy to pull that caper.

I carry a few oddities – chainring bolts, used twice by other people, spare cleat bolts, brake pads, zip-ties, spare mech hanger – as well as the obvious multitool, tube, patches,gel wrapper, anchovies, tyre boot. None of that stuff weighs much and saves your butt from various potential ride-ending glitches.

I don’t care to criticise other people for carrying too much or too little. It’s their choice and i’m happy to help out if someone’s short of a part I can spare. I carry less on the road, but then road bikes tend not to get quite the same battering.

2. I’ll still click on it and read some posts despite knowing point 1

It’s like a car crash. A really dull car crash.

Sometimes you watch the car crash. Sometimes you want to be part of the pile-up.

I don’t take enough, as yesterday proved.

Got a tear in in my tubeless tyre that wouldn’t seal. Looked in my bag for the tubeless repair kit but couldn’t find it.

No problems, Took the wheel off, got a tube out ready and bodged a tyre boot from a energy bar wrapper.

However, I simply couldn’t get the tubeless valve off the wheel. The locking nut had cross threaded and wouldn’t budge, even with a leatherman on it. Luckily I was with a friend and pretty local so he went to get the car and I walked down the best descent in the area 🙄

In the end it took a vice and a set of molgrips to get the damn thing off.

Next time I’m taking a junior hacksaw. And buying tyres with stronger sidewalls.

To compound matters, after I’d gone home to get the spare bike and continued the ride, the front shifter fell off that bike. Luckily I was prepared for that so a couple of zipties later I was up and running.

I think my point is that there are a lot of potential issues to go wrong that can turn a good day into a very long day so its better to be more prepared than less.

I don’t ride much MTB these days, and when I do, it is either local to home or trail centres, so I tend to take tube/levers/pump and a few other bits.

For local road rides I take –
1 x tube
tyre levers
pump
2 x C02 cans + inflator
spare bolts (had a cleat bolt fall out last year)
Multitool

for longer/multi-day road stuff I just scale it up..

I’d rather have it and not need it, than need it and not have it.

People carry a multi tool on their road bike.?

Always. Things I’ve used it for:

Truing a wheel after clattering a pot hole
Repairing a broken chain
Tightening up a loose seat clamp bolt

Seems a bit silly to ruin a ride for the sake of a few grammes, which allows you to do a simple repair at the roadside.

Breakages tend to be binary, they either happen or they don’t. It’s the probability of them happening that you need to look at along with the ease or otherwise of repairing them.

In twenty years of mountain biking I’ve bent my mech hanger just once. It’s a rare event. Conversely, if I broke the hanger then since just about every bike has its own variant carrying a spare might be a good idea, even if you were close to a bike shop there’s no guarantee they’d have one that would fit your bike.

I wouldn’t take spare brake pads for a local ride (checking them before heading out should be a given) but for a multi-day ride away from things then they’d be a good idea.

@jimdubleyou’s tool list looks long but it’s fairly similar to mine and packs down small into a downtube bag so can stay on the bike meaning I don’t forget it.

First Aid Kit? Once you get beyond simple cuts and scrapes then you are going to need a substantial kit. You can improvise support bandages from clothing so upper body injuries are walking wounded and can get to the nearest road. Head injuries, broken pelvis, spine, leg, etc. are MRT territory.

stuartlangwilson – Member

I’ve used tyre boots many times. Assorted spare bolts have saved a long walk or a spoiled day when caliper bolts have fallen off, cleat bolts lost, seat clamps have stripped threads etc. Brake pads have been handy when one disintegrated. Gear cables have snapped and been replaced. Tubeless repair kit, tube and patches are sometimes all necessary in one ride. I have used 3 spare spokes on a ride before.

Wheras I like to service my bike before I go for a ride.
Yeah I know, I’ve damned myself now to having my bike fall to pieces on my next ride 😡

I always take some toilet roll in case i have to go alfresco…..again.

Road – minipump, tube, multitool, tyre levers, spare chain link – all in a jersey pocket.

Mountain – Mountain morph pump (with gaffer & pvc tape wrapped round it), shock pump (item other riders most often want to borrow), 2 tubes, tubeless plug kit, multitool, leatherman (knife is always useful, plus small saw for clearing fallen trees), cable ties, spare gear inner cable. Little tin containing an assortment of bolts, spare set of brake pads, mech hanger & bolt, jockey wheel & bolt, cleat & bolts. All this is stuff I’ve been caught out by not having in the past – cables snapped in a crash, jockey wheels split by bouncing rocks, brake pads that wear to the metal in a single decent etc.

That’s the basic kit that goes (along with a variable amount of food & water) in an Osprey Raptor 10. Depending on weather, add in a gilet and light waterproof. Outside summer add in a dry bag containing a spare fleece, skull cap, buff, and quite possibly a spare pair of gloves. (I’m skinny and get cold very quickly if I stop when wet)

Most of my MTB riding is Peaks stuff, so it’s pretty easy to be a moderately decent way from “civilisation”. Also I’ll be buggered if I’m relying on some random passer by to get me out of trouble – self sufficiency is the order of the day. I also only have the 1 pack, so it has the same stuff in whether I’m going out for 2 hrs or 8.

It’s also not an un-regular occurrence to have to dig others out the shit – a couple of years ago on holiday the guy guiding us lost a cleat and didn’t have a spare. I did – that meant we could carry on as planned for the day, rather than abort so he could find a bike shop.

I always take some toilet roll in case i have to go alfresco…..again.

Travel / complimentary hotel wet wipes FTW. In the event of having to do as bears do, it’s usually the case that paper just isn’t going to deal with it adequately.

Other than that: In a saddle bag; tubes, multitool, CO2, patches, chain links and brake pads (plus pins/screws). On the frame; pump. Pump + CO2 is probably overkill, but CO2 alone could go wrong, and some days your in a hurry and CO2 is just convenient.

Same on the MTB and the road bike.

Wheras I like to service my bike before I go for a ride.

Because if you service your bike regularly, nothing will ever fail unexpectedly. Like the Campag crank axle that sheared on me. If only I’d checked over my bike first and changed the cranks, it would never have happened 🙄

Toilet paper? Do you also take a plastic bag to pack it out? Otherwise it’s litter. Sticks, stones or grass.

Brake pads? Ever thought of checking your bike over before you go for a ride?

Because if you service your bike regularly, nothing will ever fail unexpectedly.

Well obviously, shit happens. Just the amount and type of shit that had happened to the previous poster seemed to be a bit OTT.

Toilet paper? Do you also take a plastic bag to pack it out? Otherwise it’s litter. Sticks, stones or grass.

Kick hole in the ground, drop kids off at the pool, wipe, bury the lot.

Brake pads? Ever thought of checking your bike over before you go for a ride?

Ever thought that some people ride in areas where pads often last <1 ride?

Although TBH since moving down south I’ve only had one XC race like that, but it’s a force of habit now.

I take a lot of gear but I would be rather looking at something that I need than looking for it.

In the tradition of this thread, I will now list kit! 😆

Rab bothy shelter – great for lunch stops in the cold and wet. Keeps the midges off too!
Midge spray.
Mini tool including disc truer and disc pad separator.
Spare gear cable.
Mech hanger – single speeding tends to end in a stupidly tight chain for me as the chain moves up the block.
Belay style jacket.
Hat.
Spare gloves.
Waterproof with hood.
Foil survival bag.
First aid kid with proper strength pain killers.
Phone that is waterproof and shockproof.
Various bolts for chainrings, brake mounts, cleats etc.
Gorilla tape.
Spare brake pads and chain links.
Pump and two tubes.

They all easily pack into a 13 litre ride pack with space for food etc.

Cheers

Sanny

Oh and I forgot toilet paper and a fire stick to light it if I need to go for an al fresco jobbie! It’s easy to find a stick to dig a wee hole but I like to make sure there is no paper trace.

Brake pads? Ever thought of checking your bike over before you go for a ride?

If it’s a long ride, why not? They might last, they might not. They might have another a few hundred dry miles in them, or 30 wet gritty miles.

It’s not like filling up with petrol where you’re going to use what’s left anyway. You’re just chucking pads away before you need to.

If you are going to carry toilet paper just in case, you can get biodegradable toilet paper.