How and what do you carry when you go cycling

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With an inner tubed bike I carry

A spare tube,
Park Self adhesive patches (for the rare occasion of more than 1p'ture)
Tyre Levers (may be integrated to a Multi Tool)
Hand Pump
Multi tool (with chaintool)
Quik link for the chain
Phone, and Debit Card
Energy Drink/Bottle and or Banana/cereal bar or two depending on intensity/length/conditions.

If I'm on a bike with tubeless tyres and in a group I may discard the innertube and just carry a tubeless repair kit.
 

CanucksTraveller

Macho Business Donkey Wrestler
Location
Hertfordshire
I carry a tube on top of a repair kit thanks to a single day from hell in my youth... I've recounted it before so I won't repeat it here but it involved torrential rain, a plastic Zefal pump and an ever dwindling tube of glue while still 20 miles from home, and a resultant, I dunno, 10 repair attempts that never quite held? I'd have given my left foot for a tube that day, and I never want to repeat it.

Don't do it kids... if it's a long ride just carry a tube as well, it's the size of a pack of cigarettes for gods sake! Why would you not?
Is it "too heavy" and you're a weight weenie?
Are you too "old school" and a "patching expert"?

Yay. Good luck!

When that rotten day comes when the heavens open and the glass cuts, I'll be comforted that soon I'll be warm and dry having ridden home on a new tube.
 

Brooks

Senior Member
Location
S.E. London
I just can't help bringing everything I need just in case. It's a bit of a curse being prepared for everything short of the out break of world war 3, but what can I do?
I'll patch a puncture one day and just change the tube on another day it all depends on the conditions. I'm a bit OTT and if I change the tube roadside I'll repair the punctured tube once home and put that back on.😀
I have a carradice saddle bag that holds everything I need including strapping waterproofs to the outside rings, cracking bag.
 
Depends how far I'm going and what I'm doing.Though each bike is fitted with a bar bag and a frame pump that stays on said bike. Bar bags contain the following:

Spare tube
Patch kit and / or self adhesive patches
Multitool
Quick link
Latex gloves
Zip ties
Tissues
Hand gel
Sweets
£20 note
Compass
Small first aid kit

I will also take phone and keys. Panniers and locks if I'm going shopping. Rack bag with extra layers, snacks and a full 750ml bottle if I'm out for longer etc. If I'm out for the day, then panniers come too, along with packed lunch, extra water bottles, waterproofs, locks, maps etc.
 

a.twiddler

Veteran
I just can't help bringing everything I need just in case. It's a bit of a curse being prepared for everything short of the out break of world war 3, but what can I do?
I'll patch a puncture one day and just change the tube on another day it all depends on the conditions. I'm a bit OTT and if I change the tube roadside I'll repair the punctured tube once home and put that back on.😀
I have a carradice saddle bag that holds everything I need including strapping waterproofs to the outside rings, cracking bag.
Me too (though I would just keep the repaired tube as a spare). Though I have to admit, the only bike I've had to fix by the roadside this year is someone else's.
 
On the mtb a pump, spare inner tube, puncture repair kit, multi tool, chain breaker and spare chain link live permanently inside the frame so they are ready for short or long rides. The road bike has about the same in a frame bag. Plus I generally carry my phone, garage opener and pocket knife. Sometimes on longer off road rides I'll carry a small first aid kit in the camelbak.

Last weekend I also carried a shovel, clippers, folding saw and machete on my back pack. It was a trail day and we were clearing a couple miles of new trails. Years back living in Trinidad I almost always carried a machete because the rain forest has a habit of quickly recovering the trails, packs of dogs were a problem and so sometimes were the snakes.
 

Brooks

Senior Member
Location
S.E. London
Me too (though I would just keep the repaired tube as a spare). Though I have to admit, the only bike I've had to fix by the roadside this year is someone else's.
I was showing a lady from our cycle group how to change and repair a tube only last week. She really wasn't interested in the repair aspect but fair play she did it. She said she was happy just to change the tube, she'd bought two from her local bike shop for £15!! I don't get it when people refuse to repair a tube as it's perfectly OK to do so.
 
Never quite understand all this spare tube stuff. Take a patch kit much lighter, more compact, and can fix far more punctures.
I've had two punctures this year on remote solo rides where the hole/small split was where the base of the valve stem joins the tube. They would have been impossible vto fix with a patch so glad I always take a spare inner tube.
 

Dogtrousers

Kilometre nibbler
The other thing to be sure of is that you have the right pump. And that you have practiced using it.

I lent my lovely Roadmorph pump to a guy on Saturday who was stuck with a Schrader pump from the kit for another bike and Presta valves on his bike.

Actually I suspected that his pump could have converted to Presta by unscrewing the wotsit then inverting the black cylindrical doodah underneath and screwing the wotsit back on. But I was keeping my distance and I didn't want to seem like a busybody. So I handed my pump at arms length and let him get on with it. Then I gelled my hands after putting the pump back on my bike.

I've been caught out in the past with a puncture and the toolkit for my Brompton (including presta only pump). Fortunately I flagged down a passing cyclist. And once I stopped to help a rider on a particularly puncture plagued audax who had only CO2 and had used it all up. Embarrassingly I'd only just bought the pump in question and couldn't figure out how to use it for a while.

So be prepared. Dib dib dib and all that.
 
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slow scot

Veteran
Location
Aberdeen
Slightly off topic, but have you had to stop and help out "new lockdown cyclists" with recently purchased bikes? I've so far fixed handlebars, saddles, mudguards, and a few other things too.
I shouldn't sound too superior as I've just broken three spokes in five rides on the same wheel!
Back on topic, I always carry two tubes on every ride, plus the basic tools. Repairing tubes in cold weather is not pleasant. Neither is it much better in the midge season.
 

a.twiddler

Veteran
Can we see a picture of this complete set off stuff you take?
526727


526728


526736

What are you, the weight police? Anyway, here goes.

Top picture: saddlebag, closed. In the LH pocket is my chain lock with padlock. In the RH pocket is a bottle of water. The rest of my stuff is in the main compartment.

Middle picture: saddlebag, with flap open and lock pulled out to show. Left to right, bag with tools in, glamorous Aldi wind/waterproof jacket in a fetching shade of orange, 2 spare tubes. Surprisingly, I did not find any extraneous junk in there, unless you count the OS maps at the front of the bag. What you can't see is a film container with a few small bolts and nuts in underneath the orange top.

Bottom picture. All is revealed. The contents of the bag on the left of the top picture. The Swiss army knife normally lives in my trouser pocket. It has a handy pair of pliers as well as various other gadgets. The phone and powerbank are not shown as they live in a pouch on my belt. If I was using trousers or shorts without belt loops there is plenty of room in the saddlebag for the pouch. The gorilla tape is a fairly new roll as I used up the old one on a project. I prefer to carry a half used one as it might save me 0.000001 second on my travels.

The spare disc pads are ones I bought some time ago and would probably never change while I was out but as there is spare room in the bag, I keep them in there as I will always know where to find them. So that probably balances out the 0.000001 second I might have gained by carrying a half used roll of gorilla tape. There is a chain tool on the multi tool. There is a suitable Torx key on the multi tool for adjusting the disc brakes but the handle is too fat to be able to put it through the spokes and turn it. (Currently it is pretty easy to turn the adjusters by hand). Ditto with accessing some of the fasteners elsewhere, hence the loose allen keys.

Two puncture repair kits? Well, one of them is unopened, so there is a good chance that the rubber solution will be useable when I need it if the other one isn't. 4 tyre levers is probably overkill as the Panaracer Paselas are pretty easy to get on and off but who knows how brittle cheap plastic might become over time. They might just unexpectedly snap off like carrots if you look at them fiercely. Though as 3 of them are bright yellow, there will be no problem in finding the bits. The multi tool has something that looks like a tyre lever on it but to me looks like a good device for making more holes in your tube.

The tool bag itself is a spare underseat bag. There is spare room in there with all the tools etc in. There is a similar bag under the seat of my folder, that can hold a similar set of tools and a mini mini mini pump (which amazingly works quite well, having used it in anger) and a 20" tube.
The folder is pretty minimalist compared to my usual bike.

The pump on this bike is a frame pump which fits on the, er, frame. In the garage I use the track pump.

The saddlebag is a Carradice Nelson Longflap I think, but the Carradice label has become frayed and unreadable after 40-odd years. It is a bit like the Tardis, as it is much bigger inside than you might think. Just when you think it is full, you can unfold another length of flap from beneath the original, complete with straps, to accommodate more stuff. Plenty of room for extra layers and food without unfolding the extra flap. The saddlebag is strapped to an old Karrimor frame, which allows me to lift off the saddlebag if necessary and take it with me without a load of fiddly unstrapping. Note the strapping points on top for a cape/ winter jacket/ bedroll/ anything you can think of

So there we are. It works for me. No doubt the weight weenies amongst you will want to take a couple of Paracetamols and lie down for half an hour after this, but it gives me worry free cycling. It is a bit like the umbrella theory. If you carry one you may never need to use it. But if you leave it at home, sooner or later you will get a good drenching.
 

Vantage

Carbon fibre... LMAO!!!
I've 3 different bags for differing distances, but mostly it's the Pendle that gets lugged around.
In that I have,
2 spare tubes in plastic bags with talcom powder in them.
Puncture kit which includes a spare link and 1 of each size spare bolts/nuts that the bike requires.
2 tyre levers.
Multi tool.
2 spare AA batteries for the etrex.
Lightweight foil emergency blanket.
Small first aid kit.
4-5 different sized zip ties.
Rain jacket with 2 toe straps keeping it rolled up.
Merino hat.
Small pack of tissues.
Oily rag in a plastic bag.
Bag of jelly babies.
2 twix's.
2 nutrigrain bars.
Sandwiches...sometimes.
Spare glasses.
Bike lock...sometimes.

Pump (on the frame)
1 or 2 bottles of water.
Phone.
Wallet.
Rennie tablets coz I suffer from indigestion frequently.
Insulin...sometimes.


During colder, wetter months there's spare gloves, spare hat, overshoes, buff, spare top.

And yep, it's been used in the past.
 
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ellis

Guru
Location
Salford
Prefer to keep it simple...

Spare inner tube
tyre levers
Tyre Key
Multi tool
Co2 + canisters

all fits in a storage bottle or a saddle bag

Phone (use it for contactless payment) and mini pump in jersey pocket. Along with any bits of food I take.

change puncture at side of the road. Get home and buy a new spare. Simple
 

Ming the Merciless

There is no mercy
Location
Inside my skull
View attachment 526727

View attachment 526728

View attachment 526736
What are you, the weight police? Anyway, here goes.

Top picture: saddlebag, closed. In the LH pocket is my chain lock with padlock. In the RH pocket is a bottle of water. The rest of my stuff is in the main compartment.

Middle picture: saddlebag, with flap open and lock pulled out to show. Left to right, bag with tools in, glamorous Aldi wind/waterproof jacket in a fetching shade of orange, 2 spare tubes. Surprisingly, I did not find any extraneous junk in there, unless you count the OS maps at the front of the bag. What you can't see is a film container with a few small bolts and nuts in underneath the orange top.

Bottom picture. All is revealed. The contents of the bag on the left of the top picture. The Swiss army knife normally lives in my trouser pocket. It has a handy pair of pliers as well as various other gadgets. The phone and powerbank are not shown as they live in a pouch on my belt. If I was using trousers or shorts without belt loops there is plenty of room in the saddlebag for the pouch. The gorilla tape is a fairly new roll as I used up the old one on a project. I prefer to carry a half used one as it might save me 0.000001 second on my travels.

The spare disc pads are ones I bought some time ago and would probably never change while I was out but as there is spare room in the bag, I keep them in there as I will always know where to find them. So that probably balances out the 0.000001 second I might have gained by carrying a half used roll of gorilla tape. There is a chain tool on the multi tool. There is a suitable Torx key on the multi tool for adjusting the disc brakes but the handle is too fat to be able to put it through the spokes and turn it. (Currently it is pretty easy to turn the adjusters by hand). Ditto with accessing some of the fasteners elsewhere, hence the loose allen keys.

Two puncture repair kits? Well, one of them is unopened, so there is a good chance that the rubber solution will be useable when I need it if the other one isn't. 4 tyre levers is probably overkill as the Panaracer Paselas are pretty easy to get on and off but who knows how brittle cheap plastic might become over time. They might just unexpectedly snap off like carrots if you look at them fiercely. Though as 3 of them are bright yellow, there will be no problem in finding the bits. The multi tool has something that looks like a tyre lever on it but to me looks like a good device for making more holes in your tube.

The tool bag itself is a spare underseat bag. There is spare room in there with all the tools etc in. There is a similar bag under the seat of my folder, that can hold a similar set of tools and a mini mini mini pump (which amazingly works quite well, having used it in anger) and a 20" tube.
The folder is pretty minimalist compared to my usual bike.

The pump on this bike is a frame pump which fits on the, er, frame. In the garage I use the track pump.

The saddlebag is a Carradice Nelson Longflap I think, but the Carradice label has become frayed and unreadable after 40-odd years. It is a bit like the Tardis, as it is much bigger inside than you might think. Just when you think it is full, you can unfold another length of flap from beneath the original, complete with straps, to accommodate more stuff. Plenty of room for extra layers and food without unfolding the extra flap. The saddlebag is strapped to an old Karrimor frame, which allows me to lift off the saddlebag if necessary and take it with me without a load of fiddly unstrapping. Note the strapping points on top for a cape/ winter jacket/ bedroll/ anything you can think of

So there we are. It works for me. No doubt the weight weenies amongst you will want to take a couple of Paracetamols and lie down for half an hour after this, but it gives me worry free cycling. It is a bit like the umbrella theory. If you carry one you may never need to use it. But if you leave it at home, sooner or later you will get a good drenching.

nowt to do with weight, its just the faff of carrying stuff you don’t need to.
 
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