What to take in your emergency kit

[Mo1959]

Just use the Topeak wedge saddle bags on my bikes. Usually have 2 spare tubes, levers, mini pump and have put a mini chain tool and spare link in as well.

Half the time I forget my phone and have no money and occasionally nothing to drink or eat either.

 

[Jody]

If its a local ish ride then phone, drink and a tenner. Further away or somewhere obscure it's usually camelbak, 1x tube, some patches, multi tool which includes a chain splitter, quick link and a bit of snap. Could do with getting a spare mech hanger aswell.

I can't think why no one has mentioned suntan lotion yet...................

If its hot and you are staying out for a while then it has to be something like P20 as you don't need to reapply for 10 hours and it doesn't wash away with sweat.

http://www.p20.co.uk/

 

[mjr]

In all my years cycling I've never had a catastrophic failure and in the thousands of miles ridden every year in our club these are rare. ... I can recall one crank which sheared, a derailleur which went in to the bike wheel following a fall and a bottom bracket failure.

If that's all in years of reasonable-length 15-rider weekly group rides, you're getting lucky, they must lick their bikes clean or something In the last year, I remember two bent derailleurs, two rear rack bolts missing, a sheared pedal and my own frequent minor tweaks (because when I notice a fault, I'd rather fix it at a lunch stop before it becomes catastrophic).

For tyre levers get one of these. It will take the tyre off AND put it back on in seconds

Crank Brothers telescopic tyre lever

Sadly I think that's been replaced by this knuckle-duster type https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/tools/crank-brothers-speedier-tyre-lever/

https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/tools/koolstop-tyre-mate/ is better at putting tyres on, but no help getting them off. Browsing the levers category at SJS also shows a similar cheaper BBB tool. In general, SJS doesn't sell much junk - I see only the Topeak Shuttle in their lineup that I remember much criticism of. Just go careful on alloy rims if you get steel levers.

If i carried all the clobber some here seem to carry, by the time i got it all ready and checked, i'd not bother going out.

The main reason I carry too much stuff is that it's one kit to cover all the bikes - only the inner tubes change. I don't assemble it every time.

Recently, I've split it into two, with a lighter minimal kit excluding the lights, chargers, rarely-used sockets/bits and the sunscreen/bug-repellent I only carry on longer or dark rides.

If its hot and you are staying out for a while then it has to be something like P20 as you don't need to reapply for 10 hours and it doesn't wash away with sweat.

but you do have to stand around half-naked letting it dry before getting dressed else it'll turn any white clothes yellow.

 

[Jody]

but you do have to stand around half-naked letting it dry before getting dressed else it'll turn any white clothes yellow.

15 minutes and yes it staines white clothes if not dry. Aside to that it's great stuff though for all day protection.

 

[mjr]

15 minutes and yes it staines white clothes if not dry. Aside to that it's great stuff though for all day protection.

But the sly nobbers only say "Allow to dry for 15 minutes before exposure to sun" not before contact with clothes. Much further down the leaflet under "important advice" as the sixth bullet point of seven, it warns "The UV filters in P20 may stain fabrics and leather". It says "may" but really it's "will" and their recommended stain remover (which might be sold by a related company for all I know) does fark all on cycling jerseys and walking tops. It's a very expensive product!

 

[nickyboy]

I wonder if the propensity to carry loads of stuff is an age thing? I'm sure years ago you just had to be self sufficient. No mobile phones, no tech, probably not much cash to bail out with

I take almost nothing on my rides...save food & water, a pump, innertube & tyre lever, a multitool with chain splitter, mobile phone, cr card and £10

In the 0.01% of rides when something bad happens that isn't tyre/chain related, I'll just phone for help or get a taxi to a train station or home

 

[Will Spin]

I too take very little with me, 2 spare tubes, 3 CO2 bulbs, 2 tyre levers, phone, money and that's it, even on an all day ride. Once in 50 years of cycling I had to call a taxi to get me home, that was because I had two punctures and was only carrying one spare tube, so now I carry 2 (err.. and once I had to call an ambulance, but no emergency kit would have solved that problem!). I have just joined up with a local cycling club and we do 60-70 mile day rides and I'm amazed by the number of huge bar bags, panniers, saddle bags etc that people lug along with them, what have they got in there, a complete spare bicycle?

 

[Roadhump]

On my hybrid I have a decent sized bag and carry:

lock
lock keys
house keys
wallet with ID, donor card, debit card and cash
spare gloves / mitts
multi tool
puncture repair kit
2 spare tubes
pump
spare waterproof top
spare tee shirt
sometimes a bit of shopping on the way home
sometimes my camera if I want to take better photos than m phone can take
2 cereal bars (in my pockets)
lens cloth for my specs (in my pockets)
tissues (in my pockets)
water bottle in cage

On the road bike, I only have one of those small compact pouch type bags that go under the seat which can just about take a tube and my wallet, but by using an extra water bottle, I manage to get the multi tool, pump, one of the 2 tubes and puncture repair kit into that, but I don't have room anywhere for the

spare tee shirt
waterproof top
camera
spare gloves
lock
shopping

On 2 occasions I have been unable to fix a puncture because my pump broke, once I walked the 4 miles home and the other I was able to get someone to pick me up, but it does worry me that if I was out on the road bike and couldn't repair a fault, I don't have a lock so I would be unable to lock my bike, get a taxi and come back.

However, on most of my rides I don't stray more than about 30-45 minutes walking distance from a train station from where I could take a train home (albeit from some places it would be a circuitous train journey), so it might not be the end of the world, but the thought of walking that long on cleats doesn't appeal to me.

 

[Will Spin]

When I called a taxi, I took the wheels off the bike and put it in the boot, so it came home with me.

 

[PaulSB]

@mjr

I'm being completely straight in our club, or at least those members I ride with, we rarely see a catastrophic failure.

It is still possible to buy the telescopic lever though I agree it seems Crank Brothers have stopped making them. I and several friends have purchased this year. I have a knuckle duster type. I don't like it much!

The one thing I didn't mention is the Lexham Cycle Recovery insurance. Essential in my view and will rescue a cyclist pretty much anywhere in the U.K. Friend of mine used it Sunday when his rear tyre blew to shreds - add to list of failures we've suffered!

 

[Alan O]

These varied experiences are very interesting.

As for catastrophic failures, I can only remember two. One (about 20 years ago) was a snapped rear wheel axle - I had a 10-mile walk home. The other was just a couple of months ago when I had a snapped derailleur hanger - only a 5-mile walk home that time. In neither case would it have been remotely likely that I'd ever carry the required spare parts with me.

I also think what we carry can be a function of age/wisdom. My cycling really got started in my student days in Leeds (1977-80), when I'd be out at weekends north of the city. Just about all I carried was a pump (frame fitting), puncture repair kit, tyre levers, and a wheel nut spanner - and a few quid (not many, because I didn't have many).

No mobile phone (they hadn't been invented), no debit card (they hadn't been introduced *), no credit card (I didn't have anywhere near the financial status to be considered for one).

Fortunately I never had any really big problems - plenty of punctures (which I kept patching almost until it was time to patch the patches - new tubes were expensive to a poor student), slightly bent wheels from time to time (but not bad enough to stop me, and I straightened them after I got home).

If I'd had a truly catastrophic failure, I've no idea what I'd have done - I couldn't afford a taxi to take me to a railway station (and there weren't any taxis roaming the Yorkshire Moors - and no phone, of course), and probably wouldn't have had the cash for a train ticket anyway.

And you try telling that to the kids of today...

Alan

(* I did have early punched-hole cash cards. You got a fixed £10 from the machine and the card was retained and returned by post, and your limit was set by how many cards you had - I had three)

 

[ufkacbln]

1 x Inner tube
1 x co2 canister and inflator
2 x tyre levers
Phone
£20 note
Emergency jelly babies
Multitool
Michelin restaurant guide(in case I've eaten my jelly babies and need more food)

If the P*nct*re Fairy reads this you are scuppered.

C = P - 1

The number of cannisters you carry will always be one less than the number of visits from the Fairy

I tend to carry one of the dual purpose pumps as opposed to the cannisters

 

[ufkacbln]

I'd strongly urge anyone who rides alone to have some form of ID, preferably something that can be easily found and read, just using a phone can be a problem if it gets damaged in an accident or the screen lock is on.

I usually wear a set dog tags with ID and next of kin contacts, other use ID bracelet etc.

Recently a chap in the club had a heart attack alone in the middle of nowhere and his ID tag was invaluable in letting his wife know where he was with the minimal amount of delay.

Something like this is cheap and easy to carry on your person
http://www.collarsandtags.co.uk/military-dog-tag.html

THis Company offers a range of options

 

[Markymark]

If the P*nct*re Fairy reads this you are scuppered.

C = P - 1

The number of cannisters you carry will always be one less than the number of visits from the Fairy

I tend to carry one of the dual purpose pumps as opposed to the cannisters

There is no puncture fairy

 

[Dogtrousers]

There is no puncture fairy

Every time you say that someone has a clipless moment.