Adaptations
In prepping for this trip, I assessed what changes to my rig and gear might make sense.
Lessons have been learned from 20+ days last year on the new Marin steed with panniers (instead of the BOB trailer). New route has some new challenges.
Water - in reviewing the Wild Wests Route, lots of desert and notable sections with scores of miles, sometimes many scores of miles, between reliable water. Add this to the heat of desert environs, and I wanted to up my carrying capacity. I hate carrying backpacks while touring, so after much research I added two fork cages to the bike. Think of them as mini front panniers if you will. I choose the Blackburn Outpost Cargo Cage ( https://www.blackburndesign.com/en/p/outpost-cargo-cage)
While I could easily carry an extra water bottle, or jug, as is, I coupled these with Salsa's Anything Bags (https://salsacycles.com/components/category/accessories/anything_bag) for more flexibility of carrying things ( say a tent, or sleeping pad).
I have trained with 64 oz and 42 oz bottles in them - I can easily ( err perhaps "readily" is more apropos) carry another gallon of water in addition to the 2.5 liters I have on the handle bars. This is another 8.5 lbs of weight however..... I will only carry water here when necessary
Here is a shot of it on my rig.
Tool/Repair
Last fall, I experienced two broken spokes at the same time, not far out of cedar City UT. While I had spare spokes, the broken spokes were on the cassette side of my rear tire, of course. I did not have the 3 tools needed to remove the cassette to replace the spokes, so I was forced limp on into town. Fortunately there were a number of bike shops there. So off to more research.
First I found this clever little device from Stein Tools, Jims very compact Mini Cassette Lockring Driver (https://www.steintool.com/portfolio-items/mini-cassette-lockring-driver/) that works on shimano cassettes. About the size of a silver dollar, and just a few ounces, a no brainer for remote bikepacking.
Second, research led me to emergency spoke system that gets good reviews.
FiberFix Emergency Spoke replacement. Also a clever design using Kevlar cable and cinching system. These Kevlar "spokes" can certainly get you out of the back country, and I read a number of report of people using them for hundreds of miles. They are reusable too, assuming your bike shop putting in a permanent replacement doesn't cut the kevlar cable.
these 2 small light weight additions would have allowed me to self repair
I couple other items I consider good bang for the size/weight are park tool boot patches. (https://www.parktool.com/product/emergency-tire-boot-tb-2)
These can help your tire hold an inner tube in even with a fair sized hole or cut. Yea, there are many videos showing how to McGyver an ad hoc tire boot out of power bar wrappers, dollar bills, duct tape. But the park tool versions weight almost nothing and cost a buck or so a piece. Why not just pick up a couple and store them with your spare tube. You'll forget about them, that is until you or a friend needs it.
But gosh, what if you are riding tubeless? I expect that you will have a tube with you for emergencies, and one just may need a tire boot to ride out, instead of walking.
Well gosh, I am actually riding tubeless. I am riding into the desert. I have put in a healthy dose of Stans to prevent flats. I have pliers and tweezers to remove spines. But I expect some flats will be beyond Stans capabilities to plug. A tubeless patch kit may help one forgo needing to use a tube + tire boot. I chose the self contained kit from Genuine Innovations (https://www.genuineinnovations.com/collections/bicycle-tubeless-tools-accessories/products/bicycle-tubeless-tackle-kit)
There are others, but I liked the self contained aspect, as well as it having replacement valves, and a valve remover. I added an extra set of plugs for the big trip. Add a small squirt bottle of stans and you can keep on rolling without the time consuming inner tube insertion effort
.
On final note - Instruction on how to use these emergency repair items. As you are hoping that you never use them, and their number is growing ( while my memory is not ;-), one might not be particularly familiar on how to deploy correctly when the need arises ( the emergency spoke is a fine example). Most came with paper instructions that I have tried to package in a way to stay intact and dry. As a backup, I have downloaded PDF instruction for many of these items onto my phone.
Hopefully I will never have to dig any of this out
Ride On
Dan
Lessons have been learned from 20+ days last year on the new Marin steed with panniers (instead of the BOB trailer). New route has some new challenges.
Water - in reviewing the Wild Wests Route, lots of desert and notable sections with scores of miles, sometimes many scores of miles, between reliable water. Add this to the heat of desert environs, and I wanted to up my carrying capacity. I hate carrying backpacks while touring, so after much research I added two fork cages to the bike. Think of them as mini front panniers if you will. I choose the Blackburn Outpost Cargo Cage ( https://www.blackburndesign.com/en/p/outpost-cargo-cage)
I have trained with 64 oz and 42 oz bottles in them - I can easily ( err perhaps "readily" is more apropos) carry another gallon of water in addition to the 2.5 liters I have on the handle bars. This is another 8.5 lbs of weight however..... I will only carry water here when necessary
Here is a shot of it on my rig.
Tool/Repair
Last fall, I experienced two broken spokes at the same time, not far out of cedar City UT. While I had spare spokes, the broken spokes were on the cassette side of my rear tire, of course. I did not have the 3 tools needed to remove the cassette to replace the spokes, so I was forced limp on into town. Fortunately there were a number of bike shops there. So off to more research.
First I found this clever little device from Stein Tools, Jims very compact Mini Cassette Lockring Driver (https://www.steintool.com/portfolio-items/mini-cassette-lockring-driver/) that works on shimano cassettes. About the size of a silver dollar, and just a few ounces, a no brainer for remote bikepacking.
Second, research led me to emergency spoke system that gets good reviews.
FiberFix Emergency Spoke replacement. Also a clever design using Kevlar cable and cinching system. These Kevlar "spokes" can certainly get you out of the back country, and I read a number of report of people using them for hundreds of miles. They are reusable too, assuming your bike shop putting in a permanent replacement doesn't cut the kevlar cable.
these 2 small light weight additions would have allowed me to self repair
I couple other items I consider good bang for the size/weight are park tool boot patches. (https://www.parktool.com/product/emergency-tire-boot-tb-2)
These can help your tire hold an inner tube in even with a fair sized hole or cut. Yea, there are many videos showing how to McGyver an ad hoc tire boot out of power bar wrappers, dollar bills, duct tape. But the park tool versions weight almost nothing and cost a buck or so a piece. Why not just pick up a couple and store them with your spare tube. You'll forget about them, that is until you or a friend needs it.
But gosh, what if you are riding tubeless? I expect that you will have a tube with you for emergencies, and one just may need a tire boot to ride out, instead of walking.
Well gosh, I am actually riding tubeless. I am riding into the desert. I have put in a healthy dose of Stans to prevent flats. I have pliers and tweezers to remove spines. But I expect some flats will be beyond Stans capabilities to plug. A tubeless patch kit may help one forgo needing to use a tube + tire boot. I chose the self contained kit from Genuine Innovations (https://www.genuineinnovations.com/collections/bicycle-tubeless-tools-accessories/products/bicycle-tubeless-tackle-kit)
There are others, but I liked the self contained aspect, as well as it having replacement valves, and a valve remover. I added an extra set of plugs for the big trip. Add a small squirt bottle of stans and you can keep on rolling without the time consuming inner tube insertion effort
.
On final note - Instruction on how to use these emergency repair items. As you are hoping that you never use them, and their number is growing ( while my memory is not ;-), one might not be particularly familiar on how to deploy correctly when the need arises ( the emergency spoke is a fine example). Most came with paper instructions that I have tried to package in a way to stay intact and dry. As a backup, I have downloaded PDF instruction for many of these items onto my phone.
Hopefully I will never have to dig any of this out
Ride On
Dan
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