Plane shifter
[quote=Rusty Piton]
I’ve broken crankarms, bottom brackets, pedals and chainrings. Guess I should carry spares of those on every ride?[/quote]
This argument is really stupid.
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When touring in a remote area, you will likely not be riding as hard as when you are shredding local trails and pushing the bike to its limit.
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Replacement parts can be chosen based on the likelihood of failure AND the practicality of carrying a spare. I carry 6-7 links of chain, quicklinks, spare rack bolts, a spare tubeless valve, two spare tubes, some Stan’s, a few spokes, a fiberfix spoke, a spare brake cable, a spare chainring bolt, some dick brake rotor bolts and caliper bolts, and two sets of brake pads. Total weight is like 5-7 ounces and I can address a huge number of less-than-uncommon failures. On the Iceland trip, I brought the lightest, thinnest MTB tire that fit both my bike and Kelley’s bike, but I usually don’t carry that.
Wheels are probably more likely to fail than any other component on a steel SS rigid bike. But, I’m NOT going to carry a spare wheel because it’s too heavy. I’m not carrying spares because I’m trying to be 100% accident-proof, guys. It’s about reducing your chance of having to bail out from like, 5% to 2% probability. All for the cost of a few ounces.
I broke a seatpost collar while JRA once.
In fact, I have broken more seatpost collars than brake cables.
Any known hydrofailures on Tarck?
I’ve had several bike rides where I didn’t flat, guess everyone should leave their tubes at home while we construct ridiculous straw man arguments.[/quote]
I’ve broken crankarms, bottom brackets, pedals and chainrings. Guess I should carry spares of those on every ride?[/quote]
That would be stupid when you can just keep a brompton in your panniers
Max I understand the need to have some spares but is all that hardware really necessary if you are checking your bolts every day or 2?
I guess I’m more perplexed about the spare tubeless valve. I suppose a tubeless valve could fail but I’m having a hard time imagining using one in a roadside repair when you’ve got the tubes.
And I think you are missing a tubeless tire patch kit in there lol
and to think, when this whole thing got started, we didn’t need brakes.
[quote=ShartAttack]Max I understand the need to have some spares but is all that hardware really necessary if you are checking your bolts every day or 2?
I guess I’m more perplexed about the spare tubeless valve. I suppose a tubeless valve could fail but I’m having a hard time imagining using one in a roadside repair when you’ve got the tubes.
And I think you are missing a tubeless tire patch kit in there lol[/quote]
Oh yeah, like two patch kits and various tire boots / tire plugs / self-adhesive stuff and whatever. Tubeless valve so that I can get a tire running tubeless again if my valve fails. I put it in there because Logan @ bikepacking.com told me to but now that you mention it, probably not necessary.
Tarck is a pretty small sample size, but I can tell you that, not even counting the various recalled hydro brakes, I’ve seen more than my fair share in the bike shop. Mostly Avid and other generic brands, but the whole last generation of Shimano XT M785 calipers (used with RS685 and on mountain bikes) have a mysterious failure that Shimano never revealed or recalled. Two years ago, we were seeing literally dozens of bikes with fluid leaking out at the caliper, but I haven’t seen it in a while, so it seems fixed now.
I also know that Foon had his SRAM hydro road lever fail on the Oregon Outback, but since one hydro brake is basically worth two functional mech brakes, he was easily able to finish without one.
Tarck is a pretty small sample size, but I can tell you that, not even counting the various recalled hydro brakes, I’ve seen more than my fair share in the bike shop. Mostly Avid and other generic brands, but the whole last generation of Shimano XT M785 calipers (used with RS685 and on mountain bikes) have a mysterious failure that Shimano never revealed or recalled. Two years ago, we were seeing literally dozens of bikes with fluid leaking out at the caliper, but I haven’t seen it in a while, so it seems fixed now.
I also know that Foon had his SRAM hydro road lever fail on the Oregon Outback, but since one hydro brake is basically worth two functional mech brakes, he was easily able to finish without one.[/quote]
My beef with hydraulics is not failures as such, but when they are only used randomly, as in every 6 months, they are often jammed up, or bind. I have 12 bikes but only three with hydraulics, they all did it. They seem very reactive to changes in the seasons, humidty, cold, and its pretty temperate here. It could well be that all my brakes are just shitter models, so it when I picked up some new Shimano SLX I was expecting a lot more than the “levers-into-the-bars” thing that I get on one side, vigorous pumping seems to fix it. The other brakes which all caused me similar grief (with serious binding) were Avid Ultimates, Avid Elixr 5s and Forumula Ouros.
[quote=mdilthey][quote=Rusty Piton]
I’ve broken crankarms, bottom brackets, pedals and chainrings. Guess I should carry spares of those on every ride?[/quote]
This argument is really stupid.
-
When touring in a remote area, you will likely not be riding as hard as when you are shredding local trails and pushing the bike to its limit.
-
Replacement parts can be chosen based on the likelihood of failure AND the practicality of carrying a spare. I carry 6-7 links of chain, quicklinks, spare rack bolts, a spare tubeless valve, two spare tubes, some Stan’s, a few spokes, a fiberfix spoke, a spare brake cable, a spare chainring bolt, some dick brake rotor bolts and caliper bolts, and two sets of brake pads. Total weight is like 5-7 ounces and I can address a huge number of less-than-uncommon failures. On the Iceland trip, I brought the lightest, thinnest MTB tire that fit both my bike and Kelley’s bike, but I usually don’t carry that.
Wheels are probably more likely to fail than any other component on a steel SS rigid bike. But, I’m NOT going to carry a spare wheel because it’s too heavy. I’m not carrying spares because I’m trying to be 100% accident-proof, guys. It’s about reducing your chance of having to bail out from like, 5% to 2% probability. All for the cost of a few ounces.[/quote]
This is what we call a diamond in the rough. Shit out enough posts and you’ll stumble upon some glimpse of good argument and possible wisdom.
But for real, I’m with you Max. Field repairs ARE necessary and while you can’t plan or pack for everything you can much more easily plan and pack (and execute) a mechanical replacement than a hydro one.
I’d rather enjoy the 999 other rides with better brakes.
If it was singlespeed, this would be extra max appropriate
For the longest time I never carried anything but a lock. Now that I’m trying to actually be mindful of what I need, I end up taking too much shit with me. Tube, inflator, two c02 carts, multitool, patch kit, tire lever, shift lever, quick link, phone, wallet, keys, water, snacks, etc. I kinda hate it. If I needed to carry even more I’d be too mad to ride.
My commute takes an hour so I err on the side of catastrophic-failure-paranoia and go with multiple tubes, patches, glue. Multiple power-links and ALWAYS a chain breaker, and a boot made from a cut up tire. And a multi tool of course. Those little self-stick patches don’t really work for me. I think there is too much moisture in the atmosphere or something.
If my commute had not been through PDX I would definitely have carried more stuff. As it goes, the only catastrophic failure I encountered was directly across the street from an open bike shop, and it was fixed less than 20 minutes and $20 later.