Cycling Gear

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Salty seadog

Space Cadet...(3rd Class...)
Am I unusual in that in all my many years of cycling and lots of miles I have never needed nor used a multi-tool? These things are heavy and bulky and I long since gave up carrying one. CO2 pump on the other hand...

Topeak 18+, 180g, heavy? Are you serious? There are also lighter out there. I've used mine, not much I'll grant you but if you need it and haven't got it.....well. 180g for an insurance policy is nowt imo. I suppose you could cycle 60 miles with one or 60.03 for the same effort. (stats on mileage completely made up, but you get the idea)
 

mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
Topeak 18+, 180g, heavy? Are you serious? There are also lighter out there.
There are also far far heavier. The Topeak Alien II is about double that (once you include the case, that Topeak usually omit from their published weight), although it does include a pedal spanner. Also, the 18+ includes a spoke wrench,a torx wrench, a Phillips screwdriver, 6 Allen wrenches and a bottle opener which are all dead weight to me, but omits a Pozidrive screwdriver and 8, 10, 13, 14 and 15mm sockets that I use.

If you want to minimise weight, either go with a small tool roll or driver+bits+chain-tool (+stubby wrench and maybe some sockets if you can't avoid having some nuts), or the 25g Ritchey CPR-9 or 42g Leatherman Mako Ti. No flick tool will come close.
 

Salty seadog

Space Cadet...(3rd Class...)
There are also far far heavier. The Topeak Alien II is about double that (once you include the case, that Topeak usually omit from their published weight), although it does include a pedal spanner. Also, the 18+ includes a spoke wrench,a torx wrench, a Phillips screwdriver, 6 Allen wrenches and a bottle opener which are all dead weight to me, but omits a Pozidrive screwdriver and 8, 10, 13, 14 and 15mm sockets that I use.

If you want to minimise weight, either go with a small tool roll or driver+bits+chain-tool (+stubby wrench and maybe some sockets if you can't avoid having some nuts), or the 25g Ritchey CPR-9 or 42g Leatherman Mako Ti. No flick tool will come close.

Then carry the tools that will serve your purpose I carry that one as it has the capability to cater for most of the needs of my four bikes. I'd rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it.:okay:
 

JD42

Hills are nature's way of culling the weak
Location
Brizzle
I carry my tools in this.... bit heavy but stops the rear wheel spinning on 15% climbs
 

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broady

Veteran
Location
Leicester
I'm not so worried about the weight of my multi tool after I found out I was 3kg heavier than I thought.
Aim for this year to drop to around 75kg and then I can start thinking about my multi tool weight lol
 
Location
Pontefract
Me I carry everything including the kitchen sink, well not quite tubes multi-tool (cheap from pound stretchers) patch repair kit, fairly good one at the local post office at £2, Chain tool , plus lights spare batteries ect, change of clothes or at least options of changing base layers as the British climate no matter the time of year tends to go from cold to warm to cold ect. so as you can gather I dont travel lightweight
 
Location
Kent Coast
There is a Ray Mears saying that "knowledge weighs nothing".

Granted, tools are needed to carry out repairs, but tools on their own solve nothing (unless another rider comes along and can fix a problem for you!). Understanding how the bits of a bike work, and how to bodge a solution if, say, a gear cable breaks or your gears start slipping badly, are important things to have an idea about.

Also, is it only me that carries a few cable ties, and a bit of duct tape wrapped round my bike pump, in case I need to bodge a fix or do some first aid to me or the bike?
 

mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
Also, is it only me that carries a few cable ties, and a bit of duct tape wrapped round my bike pump, in case I need to bodge a fix or do some first aid to me or the bike?
I carry cable ties, but a good clear tape rather than duct tape because it's more useful in non-bike situations and can usually be looped over itself enough to hold fast in the few times I use tape on a bike.

On the tool weight thing: they come with me on almost every ride longer than a mile but don't stay on the bike when parked, so I do prefer to minimise the weight because I find it oddly dispiriting to carry what feels like an unnecessary small brick to/from the bike each ride... but I'm sure that doesn't bother some people as much because.
 

froze

Über Member
First and foremost concern should be the ability to fix flats on the road, so you need to buy flat tools like Soma Steel Core tire levers, patch kit that includes glue, sandpaper, and patches, alcohol pads, a pump and a spare tube. If you don't know how to fix a flat just go to YouTube and type in "how to fix a bicycle flat tire" and watch several of them then practice over and over on your bike, you don't want to learn on the road! Of course in order to carry that stuff you'll need a saddle bag, I like the Topeak Aero Wedge bag, they have several sizes and they expand. Pump wise I like the Lezyne Road Drive, they have 3 sizes, small, medium, and large, get only the large one it will pump tires easier; I don't like cheap pumps for one they will never get close to recommended road tire pressures, and two they break fast.

Next line of importance would be a multi tool BUT only if you have mechanical abilities to fix a bike, if you are mechanically backwards there is no sense in buying a multi tool if you're never going to use it. I happen to like the Park MTB 3.2 multi tool because it has everything you could ever need, but there are quite a few multi tools on the market.

Then you need to get water bottle cages along with water bottles for longer rides.

By the time you start riding longer distance requiring hydration you'll need padded cycling shorts, don't go cheap on those and read the reviews before you buy. You also should get a jersey, but you don't need expensive jerseys, any $15 or less jersey will work just as good as $150 ones; this is also true with socks, get cheap 100% polyester socks as cheap as you can find.

Next would be a rear tail light, one that is very bright. These can be used in daylight too.

Headlight maybe if you ride at night or live in an area where is rains and or has fog.

Pedal wise you can wait quite a while without ever needing them, but there are a lot of good pedals on the market, I like Speedplay and Shimano, but there are a ton more that are also good pedals. Of course when you decide to get pedals you'll need to buy shoes and shoes aren't cheap, cheap shoes could flex to much and hurt your feet on long rides. You should have a pro fit done and let the bike shop determine what pedals and shoes to get, be careful of pro fits can be a ripoff, so ask around to find out who has the best one in your city.
 

mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
Agree on most of the kit (what are the alcohol pads for?) and lights, but wouldn't worry about cages, padding, pedals and shoes until/unless you feel the need... but what I'm really replying from is to ask about this:

Of course in order to carry that stuff you'll need a saddle bag, I like the Topeak Aero Wedge bag, they have several sizes and they expand. Pump wise I like the Lezyne Road Drive, they have 3 sizes, small, medium, and large, get only the large one it will pump tires easier;
That pump won't fit in that bag, will it?

And isn't the Lezyne Road Drive rather slow? road.cc say it takes 200 strokes to reach 200psi and gets rather hot, while several reviews say the Topeak Road Morph G does it in half that.
 

froze

Über Member
If you think all you need is a small one than go with the next size up so you can add something in the event a particular ride you're on requires a few extra things. I like the Topeak Aero Wedge bags, I have the large one and most of the time I don't use the space, but on long rides I want the space for a couple of bars, maybe a spare tire, a ziplock bag with a mix powder in it, cell phone (put into a ziplock bag in case of water) this sort of stuff will fill it up.

By the way, I have two of those Topeak Aero Wedge bags, one is about 20 years old and is still going strong, these are very well made bags, I will never buy anything else.
 
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