Gianni really took it in the shorts after trying to sneak his way along with a stealth EPMS. Like an alcoholic falling off the wagon, the poor fellow can’t quite come to grips with the comfort of his old friend, the saddle bag. The solution lies in finding a light toolkit to carry along with him on his rides, one that fits in one pocket in totality.
There is an elegance in minimalism; a small multi tool with just the right combination of appliances is a beautiful thing. Latex inner tubes are a nice way to keep the spare tube package small and light. As are some compact tire levers. Certainly luck favors the prepared, but if you follow that to its logical conclusion, you will need something more than a saddle bag to carry your workstand, grease gun, and headset press. The Velominatus maintains their bike, and takes every reasonable precaution to replace those parts that might fail during a ride. It is what we do; the bicycle is our lifeblood – care for it, and it will care for you.
An equipment failure is, however, always surprising – in particular to the rider. Take, for example, my pedal which unwound itself from the spindle this week. Normally, when you push, the pedal follows a nice arch and the bicycle goes forward. Not so, should the body no longer be affixed to the axel.Should this occur, the pedal will move outwardly rudly and inflect an unpredictable union of top tube and groin. It is remarkable how little forward momentum is associated with pushing on a pedal which is no longer attached to the bicycle. It is also, I surmise, not a particularly elegant thing to watch.
Speaking of inelegance and no momentum, I also once broke a chain link climbing a steep grade in the rain, while carrying with a heavy back pack. Should you encounter such an incident yourself, you will take note of the remarkably short amount of time it takes to stop moving forward and fall in a confused and cursing heap at the roadside.
The point is, accidents happen, and no matter how much care you take of your equipment. They will happen while out on the road, possibly while far from home. We learn from them, and we take the necessary measures to reduce the likelihood of it happening again. Take my pedal failure; I don’t plan to carry a pedal wrench in reaction to this incident; I instead have now added the pedal to my list of items to periodically check over. As for the chain, it had incurred some corrosion because I was experimenting with a lighter oil. I now take care to check for (and take seriously) signs of rust on a chain.
Be sensible, be careful. Take care of your machine. Kneel and flash the sign of the Merckx in your V-Kit before submitting to the road, and get a nice light toolkit with the right tools for the incidents that are most likely to happen. Maybe you’ll have a ride ruined through an unlucky event, but learn from it and improve your maintenance program rather than endeavoring to carry every tool known to the Velominatus.*
Vive La Vie Velominatus.
[dmalbum path=”/velominati.com/content/Photo Galleries/frank@velominati.com/Failures/”/]
*This does not apply to cases where an incident can be life threatening such as in remote mountain regions or New York City.
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@frank whats the trick with latex tubes? I had a string of bad luck with the few a bought a while back. I was pumping to 100 PSI and then kept busting. then I went down to 90 and the last pair I have(on the bike) are fine and dont even deform as much as normal tubes would at the pressure.
@infinity87
I use
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/lezyne-v-5-multi-tool/
or the carbon version if you are that concerned with weight
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/lezyne-carbon-evo-5-multi-tool/
on sale atm too.
Other suppliers are available, I have no association with wiggle.
@meursault
That's the one I use.
@RedRanger
Well, a few things, but these ideas apply to any tube, not latex. First, you want a good quality one - some of the latex tubes are basically like condoms and have nothing to them.
Second, the valve hole sometimes cuts into the tube, so I stick a piece of electrical tape over it before inserting the tube. I pop the valve stem right through the tape.
Third, always douse your tubes in talcum powder (baby powder) so it can move around inside the tire.
Finally, make sure you don't have it pinched. Inflate the tube enough so it has some structure and mount it like that. If you need to, you can keep letting out little bits of air to get the tire over the rim, but then pump it up just a bit again before the final seating and check that the tube didn't get stuck between the tire and rim.
I like the Vittoria tubes - I used Michellin and Vredestein ones as well, but those tend to be too thin, although they have the best ride quality that way.
@meursault
That's the one I use, too. Only thing missing is a Torx, but I only have a few of those on the bike and check them regularly. I've also swapped many of them out for regular hex replacements where possible.
@Weldertron
Higher quality wheels at 36H would be another solution. Also, you should be able to uncam the brakes and still get home with a broken spoke.
@Spider
I wasn't far from home, I just rode home with it loose. If I'd taken even 10 seconds to look at it, I'd have seen that you can just hand-screw it back on and had gotten home more easily, but it doesn't matter. The point is, shit happens and you'll never be ready for everything. Sometimes you'll just have a ride ruined. Embrace the possibility.
@Gianni
Locally sourced rock, brilliant. How, exactly, did you expect a rock to thread the little devil back on?
@frank
I have heard whispers of "semi-custom" with colors and speedplay mounting, is that what you did?
@frank
I'm not that dumb, ffs. The speedplay body slides on the through axle and is held on with a retainer clip and torx bolt. I was convinced the body was not fully seated on the axle even though the other pedal was 20cm away for comparison. That's how dumb I am.
On the topic of pedals. I have Look Keo Blades. About 2 months ago I noticed during cleaning that on the left pedal ( the one I unclip the most) the carbon blade had almost split through the middle. It's a leaf spring design and appears to be laminates of carbon. It wasn't split right through. Just about half way. Enough that one might start a ride and have it fail completely a good way from home. I called my buddy who also has the same pedals, sure enough there was a crack in his left pedal carbon spring. We both got them replaced under warranty through our local LBS which was great but not very timely. Since then the owner of the shop has informed us that at least two other people have been in with the same problem. I did a little research and it seems like it's a pretty common problem. I see the design for 2014 is quite different so one can only hope that this solves the issue but just a heads up, if you have Keo Blades you need to check them often, especially the one you clip in and out of most. Mine failed in less than a year.