Travel Tools and Supply/Repairs- Show us your Road Kit

[bamabikeguy]

I posted this in a Tips topics yesterday, would like to see other MB's "Traveling bags" of tools, what you carry and how you attach them to the bike.

Using the bag, which at one time carried a collapsible umbrella (a Goodwill score), I bring along:

10/11 mm boxwrench (color coded for easy grabbing)
adjustable wrench for the 15mm bolts
needlenose
Allen assortment (high dollar bike item/very useful)
(2) of the GEBE 4-1 tools for flat tires repair/gear switching
6-1 screwdriver
Duct tape on a pencil.
White Lithium grease for the GEBE driveshaft



On the back of the basket, in the larger carrypack on the left I have a slime tube, extra belt, extra drive shaft, extra gear/nuts/bolts/zipties in a baggy.

In the smaller carrypack on the right I have the bottle of 2 cycle oil (which I measure out by the capful on the road "mixing") and a 12cc syringe, which could either measure the oil exactly OR to apply a little 2 cycle oil on a squeeky part, subbing for sewing machine oil/WD 40 in a crunch.



The Toolkit fits under the main frame brace, then the saddlebags (with pocketknife/scissors etc) drape over it, and the tent sits atop with the tent poles down near the pedals, but the tools can be grabbed without unloading the whole load.

Most of the traveling "weight" is on my bikes frame, not in my basket or in my backpack.



My tirepump temporarilly is in the basket, but I need to mount it somewhere handier and out of the way, probably ziptied under my basket since I have had zero luck finding a decent air mattress for traveling, and don't have flats with my super duper tire/tube modifications.

PLEASE put your Road Kit downthread, by the end of the Topic we may have THE MOTHER OF ALL SECURITY BLANKETS for safe traveling.

Note to GEBE'rs- I've never traveled using the newest engines/with the new mount, so a final tool I'll carry is a Sear's Craftsman 3/8" drive and 4mm Allen on a socket, in case I have to remove the engine.

$5 is what is cost me, never used it, took 5 tries to find it, & only Sears had it.

[Herrmanator8]

i feel that i should bolt my engine together the best so that i can rely on it and know that it can hold itself together, i dont feel like having to stop every 10 miles to tighten the bolts. some loctite on the bolts solidifies then the engine heat hardens it into a form a plastic. built it to its best, not some cheap half **** job where it gets to the point where it runs and holds itself together for a while.

but for long distance trips, its a good idea to pack the essentials.

jon

Originally Posted by bama'

I ... would like to see other MB's "Traveling bags" of tools, what you carry and how you attach them to the bike

i don't have a toolkit mounting on the bike (that will change with the advent of S-2.1's new "wasted" frame-space), but i have 3 different sizes of backpack. if i want my kit, it goes in whichever size i need at the time. i always have the handful of small to medium sockets the whole bike needs, pliers, diagonals, multi-tool, ratcheting screwdriver, 6" crescent, 10, 14, 15mm wrenches. small brass hammer. extra slime tube. air pump. electrical tape, zip-ties. more stuff i forget :/

i carried all of this on my long trip. i don't carry it all the time. i don't use loctite and have never lost one bolt or nut, but i carry my kit any time i'm gonna be further away from home than i care to be caught without it, like most any smart gearhead. it never bothers me to wrench-test the rig, it's part of the relationship of man & machine. i hardly ever find anything loose, but it doesn't make me feel incompetent for having checked 8)

[Herrmanator8]

wow, no loctite? yours must be good. my brother was riding it and about a half mile down the road all the mounting bolts fell out along with the engine falling off...

this was befor i replaced all the bolts and everything.

jon

no, my friend...i'm good 8)

bama...i think we're learning something here...not what we expected, but something nonetheless :?

[bamabikeguy]

Originally Posted by augidog

no, my friend...i'm good 8)

bama...i think we're learning something here...not what we expected, but something nonetheless :?

I learned something 2 or 3 weeks ago, when that machinist chimed in and said "fingernail polish".

I only use the nylon nuts anyway, but Rocinante, with those thousands of miles had a loose chainguard and rattling front fender that I never bothered fixing.

When I swapped out another engine for breaking in the other day, while I had her on the rack, I put a little fingernail polish on those three, and she is tight and quiet now.

The MAIN thing I am going to do before the next long trip is buy one of those Armadillo tires for the rear that folks have been advising us about.

I learn something new nearly everyday on this forum.

[Large Filipino]

Here's my road kit. I got it at Wal Mart. I also keep a 1/2 inch and a 9/16 socket 1/4 inch drive for things like adjusting my tensioner,although it's pretty set right now. The other sockets there are the smaller sizes for brakes and cables and such. Look close and there's also a spoke wrench and a tire iron and of course all them allen wrenches and a phillips and regular head screwdriver to boot. And it all comes in a little pouch that your belt holds it well.
I got slime in my tires. The ten dollar tubes at Wal Mart so I'm not worried too much about them tires so I don't carry a pump and even a patch kit.
I figure in the event that I do get a flat,I'll just stuff my tire full of leaves and dirt found everywhere then limp on home.

wow! i can't believe i never heard of that (or thunk it up) before...i guess i must not be reading enough. hope i never have to try that, but if i'm in the situation i'll surely give it a shot. again, wow!

[az cra-z]

The leaf trick does work, but it takes a LOT of leaves (or whatever) to fill a (typically) fat MB tire. Probably aren't enough trees in this whole part of the state (S AZ) to do it. I've been using Performance brand tires with kevlar belt http://www.performancebike.com/shop/...tegory_ID=5430 (WOW, it's on sale for 12 bucks!!) for over 20,000 miles (not the same tire, silly) with nary a flat (except when I forgot to put in a rim strip, DOH)

[Large Filipino]

Well,it happened. Someone in this forum mentioned that slime in them inner tubes explode. Yep. 10 miles away from home yep. So I did some weeding around that bike path,stuffed it full of weeds. Rode it for about a mile clump clump clump on my behind till all the chloroform oozed out of my rim and made a big 'ol mess. So I stuffed it some more,used my tire lever from that kit and a strong key cause it seems you need TWO levers for when your on the road. Another two miles and more stuffing. By the last stuffing it was half way decent but it handled terrible and I couldn't go faster than 8 or 10 mph without fishtailing. So when I made it home,I called five different Wal Marts for that NoMoreFlats tube and had to go to two different Wal Marts to get two. Then My back rim was practically ruined and the spokes were getting loose a whole lot anyway so I went to the thrift store and bought this ugly Huffy girls purple and pink bike for 10 bucks. Yanked that rear rim,stuffed that tube front and back and that's that.
Funny it feels it's still a little squiggly. Naw. That's me from riding that bike squiggly all those miles.
In the morning I'll triple check everything.
I'm glad I don't ever need to deal with flats anymore.