Minimum kit list for a short(ish) Sunday social ride with mates

[simon.r]

My standard kit. Pump, tube, tyre levers, patches, multi-tool, chain link, cable ties:

And £20 in a phone case.

 

[Tim Hall]

So, @GrumpyGregry , how did your ride go? Nice enough day for it.

 

[Banjo]

Probably not, but if you have a tube with a long valve stem*** and it isn't folded so the stem is surrounded by layers of tube, I could see a potential 'kidney punctured by valve stem' outcome ... I have heard of cyclists being injured by various objects carried in jersey pockets.

When I say things like that, people normally suggest that it would be almost impossible for that to happen. Impossible, like riding over a nail and have it go sideways through a tyre and the inner tube, without the tyre going flat? whistle:

*** like the one in the photo kindly provided by Simon in the next post! Having that valve stem shoved into your lower back would not be much fun ...

Quite true that Colin. I was thinking of a new one still wrapped up in its packaging with the stem inside. A loose one could as you say be lethal.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

So, @GrumpyGregry , how did your ride go? Nice enough day for it.

52km with only 8 gears, from 20, working. Need a new cassette. It focussed the mind and the legs. Lovely ride, home, Staplefield, Warninglid, Wineham, Partridge Green, quick coffee at Stan's, Littleworth, Maplehurst, Copsale, Sedgewick, and home.

 

[jarlrmai]

man always carry a spare cassette, I just stick mine in the jersey pocket.

 

[huggy]

I always have, 2 tubes 3 tyre leavers (probably overkill but can't seem to change a tyre without 3) quick link, multi tool inc chain tool, a fiver ( coffee and cake is cheap round here) and 2 CO2. All in a small saddle bag. Ever used any of it? No apart from the money. Recently on a 70 miler I returned to the car to find said saddle bag sitting in the boot of the car.

 

[HLaB]

Three hours duration tops.

What's the least you would take, excluding items of clothing, what would you generally take it in? Want to reduce my former everything and the kitchen sink tendencies.

I'm thinking

Spare tubes x 2 to fit my tyres
Co2
Pump (on bike)
Tyre levers
Multitool
£20 note
debit card
mobile phone
All of above in small saddle pack
Etrex (on stem)

What essentials are missing?

I usually carry a quick link in addition to that list and the multi tool has a chain tool. I don't think Ive used it my self but I've had to rescue a few pals.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

I always have, 2 tubes 3 tyre leavers (probably overkill but can't seem to change a tyre without 3) quick link, multi tool inc chain tool, a fiver ( coffee and cake is cheap round here) and 2 CO2. All in a small saddle bag. Ever used any of it? No apart from the money. Recently on a 70 miler I returned to the car to find said saddle bag sitting in the boot of the car.

I can't recall ever using my kit when riding solo, but several times when riding with mates we've ended up on a verge with me, arms akimbo, looking down and thinking "Whaddaya mean you've not got a "tube/pump/tyre lever/patch/missing link/zip tie/tyre boot/multi-tool/phone/fiver/zip tie/et cetera ffs?"

 

[GrumpyGregry]

I usually carry a quick link in addition to that list and the multi tool has a chain tool. I don't think Ive used it my self but I've had to rescue a few pals.

^This. Precisely this.

 

[srw]

^This. Precisely this.

You forgot to take the spare bolt and nut for when the seatpost clamp fails...

And you also seem to have forgotten to note the bastardness of the local traffic in your report. It's almost as if enjoying the ride more means that you notice the cars a bit less.

 

[Tim Hall]

52km with only 8 gears, from 20, working. Need a new cassette. It focussed the mind and the legs. Lovely ride, home, Staplefield, Warninglid, Wineham, Partridge Green, quick coffee at Stan's, Littleworth, Maplehurst, Copsale, Sedgewick, and home.

That does sound like an excellent trip. Not been to Stan's myself yet. I shall have to make amends.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

You forgot to take the spare bolt and nut for when the seatpost clamp fails....

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a married man in possession of a good tandem, wife, and failed a clamp, must be in want of a bolt. And a mate.

And you also seem to have forgotten to note the bastardness of the local traffic in your report. It's almost as if enjoying the ride more means that you notice the cars a bit less.

There was a grey BMW that tailed, and passed, us close several times. We concluded the driver was lost and not actually out to scare cyclists. But I reckon you have a point.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

That does sound like an excellent trip. Not been to Stan's myself yet. I shall have to make amends.

Well worth a small detour. Shame Partridge Green doesn't have a weekend only LBS.