Re: What do you carry in your toolkit?

On May 30, 8:53 am, Andre Jute <fiult...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
My number one tool is a mobile phone, the only one I own, permanently
carried on my bike, switched off so that no one can reach me; it's
sole purpose is to call the ambulance if I fall over from a heart
attack, or a taxi if I get a flat tyre.

I haven't had a flat wheel for several thousand klicks now, since I
switched to hardcase tyres (Schwalbe Marathon Plus and Botnbrager
Satellite Elite Hardcase) but I still carry a tube to offer to those
less fortunate who cycle with me or that I meet on the road.

I carry a small Park combination headset/ pedal spanner bolted up
behind my water bottle. It also fits the axle cap nuts of Shimano's
Nexus hub gearboxes, so the rear wheel can be taken off to change the
tube.

All the rest of my tools fit in a hardshell spectacles case and
consist of round multisize spoke wrench (never touched the spokes on
my current Bontrager Satellite Elite wheels in over a year, unlike
some accursed Rigida wheels I had once that had to be tightened
weekly); an 8x10mm open spanner for adjusting the brakes; Topeak's
Tool Bar (a tiny multitool with two slide-out aluminium tyre levers as
its sides, and a holder for the 3-4-5-6mm hex keys and Philips driver
bit inside plus a bigger Philips bit in the socket); a stampsized box
of Park's glueless patches; a presta to auto valve adaptor for blowing
up tyres at garages; spare batteries for my rear flasher light, my
Shimano Flight Deck and my Sigma HRM; a couple of sheets of paper
towel, one soaked in Vaseline petroleum jelly for relubing threads
before refitting; a couple of pairs of surgicaal gloves to keep my
hands clean (usually on refitting some lady's chain...). There is also
a minipump on each of my bikes, all of them OEM-sourced from SKS and
all of them pretty useless for the 37mm high pressure tyres I like
(the only pumps I have that works are an ancient Zefal frame pump and
a six-buck Beta pump I bought at a supermarket because it also takes
compressed air cartidges -- I shall replace the lot of them with an
HPX frame pump as soon as I work out how to fix it to my bikes).

I don't imagine the toolkit weighs as a much as pound. It includes
only what I need, even the superfluous bits for the Topeak Tool Bar
are left at home. I have several other multitools and all of them have
more superfluous tools than useful ones, so I leave their weight at
home.

The one thing I cannot fix on the road is a loose crank bolt on my
favourite bike, the Trek with the Cyber Nexus groupset. These are
flathead bolts in a recess, so none of my on-bike tools can get at
them and even a titanium socket and lever I bought are just too
stupidly heavy to carry; I plan to replace the flathead bolts with hex
socket bolts and carrying a long 8mm hex key as soon as I find one in
titanium. (I have an 8mm hex bit that will fit the Tool Bar but I
imagine applying 45Nm to it will rip the little thing apart, though in
fact it doesn't complain about working on the front axle where I
replaced a quick-release with a hex-socket skewer from BBB.)

Best bike tool I ever bought, that Topeak Tool Bar -- and I blew the
money fully reconciled to the suspicion that when it arrived it would
be a toy, but it wasn't, it is really very useful on your modern city
or mountain bike (one of the supplied bits I leave at home is the T25
torx key for MB disc brakes). The only thing that could make it
better, indeed perfect, is a slide-out open spanner 8x10mm on the
blank side (one side opens the compartment for the bits, two sides
have tyre levers, one side is still blank), to use with roller brakes.
(The best but bigger and heavier alternative to the Topeak Tool Bar,
if you have a modern city or mountain bike, is the SKS CTWORX if you
need a chainsplitter or SKS T-WORX if you use quick-release links on
your chain. These two SKS multitools have the correct open spanners
together with the correct hex keys and screwdrivers, and thereby
leaves the Aliens and other expensive multi-multitools for dead.)

What do you carry, and why?

Andre Jutehttp://members.lycos.co.uk/fiultra/BICYCLE%20%26%20CYCLING.html

Two tubes, three air cartriges, and a tiny Ritchey tool that has
several functions and a chain remover. I also carry a cellphone,
wallet and granola bars or gummy fruit slices but not in my tool bag.
On rare occasions I've had more than two flats and I've tied knots on
the tubes where the holes were. I am too lazy to patch tubes in the
middle of the road. I usually take flat tubes home and patch them
there.

An easy way to carry tubes is to fold them into an eight. Put one arm
through one hole, put the tube behind your back and put the other arm
through the other whole. You can easily carry three or four tubes that
way. If you remove a tube once you get a flat, it is faster to carry
it this way, than to fold it neatly into the bag.

Andres
.

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