What Should You Carry on a Bike Ride?

A new customer — and newbie triathlete — came into the store a few weeks ago looking for a quick link. Actually, she asked for a "quick link?" as though she wasn't entirely sure what she was asking for. A friend had told her she should carry one in her bike repair kit in case she broke her chain.

I asked if she'd know what to do with it if she had one.

"Nope."

"Me neither," I said. We both laughed.

In more than thirty years of riding, I've never broken a chain. So she decided to skip the quick link. She did, however, add a compact multitool to her kit — something I don't usually carry myself.

And that's really the point: your ride kit doesn't have to contain everything that could possibly save a ride. It needs to contain the things that make sense for you, your skills and the kind of riding you're doing.

How To Decide?

There are a few ways to look at this:

1.  What can reasonably go wrong?

2.  Of the things that can reasonably go wrong, which can you actually fix yourself? 

3.  Of the things that go awry and you can’t fix them, can someone else you are riding with fix them?

4.  What’s at stake? What are your ride conditions?

The answers aren't going to be the same for every ride.

The most common mechanical problem you're likely to encounter is a flat tire. At a minimum, every cyclist and triathlete should know how to deal with a flat during a ride — and carry the tools and supplies needed to do it.

My Typical Ride Kit

In these days of cellphones and Uber availability, you’re only ever a phone call away from salvation if anything catastrophic goes down. But a flat tire is really a simple thing to deal with and it is easily within our ability to at least learn if not master how to do it.

Here’s what I carry in my toolkit:

• Two (2) CO2 cartridges
• CO2 inflator tool.
• Tire levers.
• Spare tube
• Patch kit (a last resort fix if you have multiple punctures)

Notes on My Toolkit

Two CO2 cartridges are handy in case you bungle it at your first attempt (I am guilty of this one) or in case you have more than one flat on your ride. My record for flats in one ride is three. We had to ride through a construction area we hadn’t anticipated and picked up some debris that punctured a tube.

For a CO2 inflator tool, I like the Lezyne Trigger Speed drive but their Twin Speed Drive is a ‘tie’ in the Customer Favourites poll here at Element.

Tire levers: Not everyone needs them but if you don’t have great grip strength, these can make tire removal and mounting quicker and easier. When mosquitoes are really bad, quicker is best!

A patch kit is my last-resort backup if I've already used my spare tube. It's tiny, inexpensive insurance that may be enough to get you home after multiple punctures.

When it comes to spare tubes, you might want to carry two. In the past, I’ve only carried one but, now that polyurethane (”TPU”) tubes have become more affordable and readily available, it is far easier to carry two tubes and still have a compact tool kit. TPU tubes are far more compact and lightweight so they take up way less room in your kit.

What’s Missing?

There are four notable things missing from my toolkit:

1. Cellphone. 

It is with me but I stow it in my jersey pocket. Honestly, the one thing I’ve used my phone for most often is to stop and take a photo or two. When you're out on a quiet road and see something beautiful, it's nice to be able to stop and capture the moment.

2. Multitool:  You do you.

While I don’t carry a multitool, I had one ride about five years ago when it would have helped. Luckily, I was less than a block from home so I wasn’t too far from salvation. Had I been further away from base, the multitool would have saved my ride. I admit I could be more prepared when I’m riding solo but that’s the risk/reward/make-it-home bargain I’ve struck with myself.

If you have room in your kit for small multitool and you think you might ever need it, go ahead and toss it in your kit. It might come in handy for you or for one of your ride partners one day.  Even if you don't know what to do with some of the tools, if someone in your ride group knows how to wrench it, your multitool will have earned it’s place.

3. Quicklink.

Like I said, I’ve never needed to use one nor would I know how to install it. I guess I could use Google to access some kind of instructions. And a quicklink is a tiny thing to store. It could live with your patch kit in a small corner of your kit. Again, even if you don’t know how to fix it, as long as you have the parts, there is the opportunity for Google or another rider to help.

4. Mini-pump.

This is a viable alternative to a CO2 cartridge and inflator tool as a way to pressure up your tire. The disadvantage is the extra time it will take to inflate your tire and the effort it can take to pump a tire to higher pressure. With today’s wider tires and commonly lower running pressure, the effort level is less of a challenge. But, under race day conditions, where time is ticking away, a mini-pump can add precious minutes to your tire change.

Match Your Kit to Your Ride

In the end, the decision about what to carry can come down to determining what’s works best in your current (or future) ride conditions.

Race day vs Training day

On race day, a CO2 cartridge system wins for me as the best set up for the day. If I've spent months training and considerable time and money getting myself and my bike to a start line, I don't want to spend extra race time pumping up a tire when a CO2 cartridge can do the job in seconds.

During training, I might want the security of knowing that the pump will always work, that I won’t mess it up, without much concern over an extra minute or two downtime. Besides, sometimes it’s nice to stop and stretch your muscles out.

On a long or remote ride, however, a reliable mini-pump can provide some extra insurance. Unlike CO₂ cartridges, you can't use it up — and if you're bikepacking, you're probably carrying enough gear that a good mini-pump isn't much additional burden.

Add the correct sized tube and here are a few examples of race day or short ride:

 

Group Ride Vs Solo Ride

When you are riding with a group, you have access to the collective experience of the group. You might be expected to carry all the things you need to support your ride but there is likely someone in the group who can fix things like a broken chain or a loose seatpost, even if you can’t. If you have the tools or the parts, the ride can keep chugging along with you still in the mix.

Close to Home vs. Remote

A 60-minute ride around familiar roads near home base where you can phone someone is a completely different risk calculation from a six-hour ride through an area with poor cell coverage. And that is probably when the person who normally doesn't carry a multitool, second tube, pump or quick link might decide that today is the day to bring them.

So, What Should You Carry?

So often when I'm asked a seemingly simple question, my answer is "It depends."  "What should you carry in your bike toolkit?" is one of those questions. It depends on how you ride, where you ride, who you ride with and your ride goals. The best answer is that you might change the contents of your toolkit to suit today's ride.

You may end up with a few different kits, one for every day, one for race day and one for long or remote rides. 

You do you. 

 

Scenes from a ride