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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Someone was bemoaning the inclusion of a chain breaker on a mini tool the other day. I have also broken a chain mid ride. The removal of a complete linkage and reattachment enabled me to continue my ride rather than turning for home (admittedly with a slightly less expansive range of gears), another reason to stick with 10 speed.
take what you need to ride, just try not to look like a camel!
My father (who rides a hybrid, but means well) is a big guy (6'2" 230lbs). Due to Quebecs horrible road maintenance, blowing out spokes tends to happen every couple months. He now rides with spare spokes at all times. The solution to not having spokes jumping out of his jersey was simple. Duct tape, in the seatpost.
Stealth way for those who worry about that sorta thing.
In the 35 or so years that I've been riding road bikes the only time I've ever used a multi-tool our on the road was to use a guy's chain tool as an impromptu spoke wrench to loosen some spokes on his Mavic Ksyriums (with their proprietary nipples) so we could get him home after a spoke broke.
Oh man. Those shoes! *sobs* I cry for you, Frank.
exactly the same thing happened to me with Speedplay pedals; I installed new titanium spindles, but, in the left pedal, the thread of the bolt was not inversed (is a standard right side bolt, standard tightening direction), and i applied no loctite paste for locking the bolt thread...
Oh I'm back baby! I wish I could say it was my tool kit that was bulking out my pockets but all I ever carry is a 5mm wrench which used to be useful when I had campagnolo seat post and seat clamp. And that wrench barely fits anything on my bike now. I've only had one mechanical in the last 15 years and that was my fault. Rebuilt speedplay pedal body became unfucked from it's axle and stayed in the cleat. This confused me badly as I was mid-160km ride and already brain damaged. Only a tiny torx wrench would have helped. Called for back up. But not before trying to hammer the pedal body onto the axle mit locally sourced rock. Christ, I'm dumb.
@Xyverz
Don't cry for him. He has new Bonts on the way. Very exciting.
@Cyclops
As I'm very new to all this pedalling business, my multi tool seems to be in constant use making tweeks here and there trying to make myself as comfortable as possible upon my steed. Maybe I just need to harden up though...
The closest thing to a malfunction on the trail it having a cleat come loose making it really hard to unclip. and let me say that its hard to get the multi tool into the hex screws when they are full of sand/
Last night I didn't have much time for my evening ride, so I was going to quickly pound through my local 30km loop before it got dark.
"I don't need to bring any supplies. I'll be back home before I know it", Is what I thought.
Later, as I walked my bike the final 10km home after getting a flat rear tire, I had plenty of time to rethink my thought process.
Always ride prepared, kids!