Does anyone carry a rear mech

[andrew_s]

No. Shorten the chain and run single-speed to a bike shop.

Running a shortened chain as single speed doesn't work very well at all.
The chains and sprockets are designed to allow the chain to change sprockets easily, and it does so with great regularity if there's no rear mech to keep it in place.

OK for 5 miles, but would get very wearing for much longer.

 

[Dirtyhanz2]

Well I have decided that I am going to get a spare mech I might be the only person in the country to have one in the saddle bag might get a spare set of pedals while I am at it 🤣
Glad I have got Nelson long flap

 

[Ajax Bay]

Bottom bracket's more likely to go than an RD. So if your risk threshold requires the carriage of a spare RD then maybe a spare BB too. And so's a spoke on the right side, so have a cassette lockring tool with you and practise bodges to avoid carrying a chainwhip.

 

[Ian H]

A friend, who was in the habit of breaking various parts of his bike, used to carry a lot of spares. But he did find, once he'd gone through and chucked out some of the accumulation, that he was no longer breaking rear hub axles.

 

[RobinS]

Actually I would carry a spare length of tent pole and a hacksaw blade. Weighs next to nothing and easy to pack.
I once abandoned a fairly local camping trip because I had no simple means of repairing a broken pole.
Not even a splint.

I had a repair sleeve, but subsequently a further 5 pole sections broke, and tore the tent flysheet - you can't carry spares for that. We did manage though with tape and some pole sections bought from Decathlon - this was three weeks into a three month tour - we bodged the tent for the whole trip before sending it back for a full refund!

 

[raleighnut]

Well I have decided that I am going to get a spare mech I might be the only person in the country to have one in the saddle bag might get a spare set of pedals while I am at it 🤣
Glad I have got Nelson long flap

The Camper 'Longflap' is bigger,

 

[faster]

Running a shortened chain as single speed doesn't work very well at all.
The chains and sprockets are designed to allow the chain to change sprockets easily, and it does so with great regularity if there's no rear mech to keep it in place.

OK for 5 miles, but would get very wearing for much longer.

I've never had to do this myself, but I have witnessed it being done and it worked perfectly.

Having said that, I think a lot of luck is involved. It relies on there being a combination of gears that is usable, has a good chainline and in which the chain tension just happens to be perfect. I wouldn't be at all surprised if nine times out of ten it didn't work on a bike with vertical drop outs.

It can work, but I wouldn't want to rely on it.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Don’t forget you can fit a new derailleur without splitting the chain as well.

 

[RobinS]

Don’t forget you can fit a new derailleur without splitting the chain as well.

But surely if you were to be carrying a spare rear mech, you would have a chainsplitter and a spare chain as well anyway- after all chains fail more frequently than derailleurs

 

[davidphilips]

Apart from tyre,cable and spoke failures (most can have a temporary repair done) in all my years of cycling i have seen very few mechanical failures on a well maintained bike, all i feel the need to carry is a few spare tubes,tyre levers and a pump. All my cycles are between about 40 and 100 miles just hope i am never proved wrong?

 

[Globalti]

Agreed. If you maintain your bike properly you will head off breakdowns by replacing parts before they give up on you.

 

[Dirtyhanz2]

Agreed. If you maintain your bike properly you will head off breakdowns by replacing parts before they give up on you.

Ok could you please tell me when to replace a rear mech the one that broke is over 10 years old and the one on my bike is older still
When we started are ride both where working perfectly there was no indication that one was going to break
So do you think I should replace my mech because its older but is working great

 

[RobinS]

Apart from tyre,cable and spoke failures (most can have a temporary repair done) in all my years of cycling i have seen very few mechanical failures on a well maintained bike, all i feel the need to carry is a few spare tubes,tyre levers and a pump. All my cycles are between about 40 and 100 miles just hope i am never proved wrong?

We carry a basic toolkit, one spare tube each, self adhesive patches, pump, chainlube, insulating tape, a couple of zip ties and with bikes that are well maintained we consider that adequate for our normal ride of 4500-5000km, so for your rides you should be fine!

 

[Dirtyhanz2]

I think where a lot of break downs happen could be attributed to riding style
I prefer to spin in the lower gears especially when climbing my wife generally prefers to ride out the saddle in a higher gear I think this probably stresses certain parts of the drive train more
I seem go through a lot less cassets and chains

 

[Hacienda71]

I remember @potsy mangling his rear mech on a ride (yes he did cycle once ) We bodged it into a SS and it got him the 20 or so miles home.