Your most inventive bike fix...

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lune ranger
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Your most inventive bike fix...

Post by lune ranger »

Spent sometime today recalling an MTB expedition to the Himalayas I did with a buddy a long time ago.
I got talking about some of the jams we got into, crappy bridges, landslides and the like. Some of the things that I remember best were the ways we fixed my mates bike which had a habit of crapping out.
Once we used a sawn off nail and a hammer to fix his chain (lasted quite a while) and another time we used string to mend a broken spacer in his cassette. The final fix of which we affected with some random gasket we found in a junk pile.
I also remember seeing a picture in an ancient MBUK of someone who had replaced a broken elastomer in the back of a ProFlex with a piece of carved wood!
What are your most random/inventive/weird fixes?
If you are going through hell, keep going.
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Ray Young
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Re: Your most inventive bike fix...

Post by Ray Young »

Back in the days of pannier and rack off road touring loaded with far too much stuff I fixed a the main support strut on an aluminium rack which had snapped using a v shape tent peg as a splint and a length of cut down inner tube to secure it. Got me through the last 100 miles of the 300 mile off road Pennine tour I was doing.
Oli.vert
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Re: Your most inventive bike fix...

Post by Oli.vert »

There was that time when I had a blow out from what I thought was a snake-bite puncture. Fixed the tube, re-inflate, blows again, as what I actually had was a v-brake block badly fitted that had worn through the tyre over an inch or so. This time the tyre was totally shredded, and the only one I had. So.....I fixed the tyre with a bit of card and gaffer tape, and the tube.....I cut straight through the damaged section, and tied knots in each end, proper tight, then wrapped cable ties over the knots, shoved it back in and reinflated. It held air ok, I just had a 6" section to pack with twigs and grass. Rode a bit bumpy but got me 15 miles home.

I saw a guy who'd fixed a broken top-tube by lashing it with sticks and string and shoving a piece of broom handle wedged inside. He'd done a good couple of hundred miles with it and would happily have done more. This was on a fully laden touring bike in India so he didn't have many options.
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Alpinum
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Re: Your most inventive bike fix...

Post by Alpinum »

Cleaning my bike for another day trying to trash it in the Alps, I came across this little injury
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So, big question... how to fix it quickly?
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Easy.

Even got approval from a mate who repairs carbon frame and parts. Off to big mountains again tomorrow. Wish the elefant some luck.
touch
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Re: Your most inventive bike fix...

Post by touch »

Primula squeezy cheese tube as a tyre boot and zip ties to hold everything together fixed a split tyre wall:
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I had expected the zip ties to wear through and break off pretty quick but they lasted from the 'puddle of doom' on the little road after Aviemore right round the outer loop of CairngormsLoop and straight down glen tilt to Blair Atholl with no noticeable damage to them!
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Alpinum
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Re: Your most inventive bike fix...

Post by Alpinum »

touch wrote:Primula squeezy cheese tube as a tyre boot and zip ties to hold everything together fixed a split tyre wall:
Image

I had expected the zip ties to wear through and break off pretty quick but they lasted from the 'puddle of doom' on the little road after Aviemore right round the outer loop of CairngormsLoop and straight down glen tilt to Blair Atholl with no noticeable damage to them!
Amazing :-bd

I should've done the same two years ago in Iceland...
Alpinum wrote:From the mini tool thread a half related fun story:
Alpinum wrote:
padonbike wrote:Mini tool an obvious, but do others also pack compact pliers?
Can't get the locking off the tubeless valve to put a replacement tube in without one. Or get the presta valve core out to add a shot of sealant in case of a less severe tyre mishap. :geek:
Got mine as a giveaway.
I saw them on display in outdoorshops in Scandinavia, but can't remember the name. Something monkey something.



All I need (ed so far)

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Not shown, duct tape, sewing kit (3 needles - make sure they're not rusty) super glue, zip ties, wire.
edit: tube in the blue glove

A little, topic related story from my 2016 Iceland trip:

I treat tyres well on my first crossing. Basically from Reykjavik to Akureyri by hiker & horse riding tracks, also the full Kjalvegur (including the lesser known northern extension).
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On the second crossing of the interior I ride from Myvatn on old jeep tracks to Laugardalur, from there into Askja and from Askja to Landmannalaugar. It was actually meant to be a recce trip and now I some how ended up riding across the country in deep state of piece with myself.
The regular rhythm of the pedalstrokes, the hours of riding in the often void landscape, have put me where I belong.

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Some couple of 100 km later my rear tyre goes flat real slow. In quite a bad spot. I need to move to stay warm - I'm working with mother nature on the verge of stupidity and when she shrugs, I'll be in trouble.
Fixing flats on the move is not something I have mastered yet.
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I found the side wall to have a small tear, likely just from rubbing on the rim (!).
I've never been so calm while fixing a flat. Tubeless is not working any more so I throw in a tube. Little later I'm off and ride hard to get warm again.

250 km later...
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I'm in the middle of nowhere on the Sprengisandur (a track that see's some traffic), it's about 19:00 and I was hoping to ride a very long day right into Landmannalaugar. I make the decision to quickly bodge it together, find water and camp and fix it properly when I feel like it. Landmannalaugar it shall not be tonight, but another night in the "desert".

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I ride up a hill from where I see moss - yay! I steadily cruise downhill and meet a bloke who seems to roam the Icelandic highlands in undies. Meet Morgan, a Polish guy who wants to cross Iceland to the south east on foot on a similar route I did some years ago. His tent is close by. I make camp next to his. We chat about route choices, life and stuff and drink whisky and smoke.
Like animals in the wild at the water hole.

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Another night with lights!

Not long into the next day my quick fix fails. It fails here:
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HELLO! IS THERE ANYBODY OUT THERE? It's soo good to be selfsufficient. I have time, fair weather (cold wind) and full of good spirits. Calm as ever.

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I lay out all my tools to see my options. Whilst I'm at it I clip my nails too. This is how laid back I'm still feeling.

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Three needles are found in my sewing kit. All rusty. They have been on seakayaking and packrafting trips and I've never checked them - mistake...
Two are rusty at the eyelet and break as soon as I try to work with them
The only one left is only rusty at the tip - lucky me.

Soon it too breaks but...
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with my mini swiss pocket knife I make it pointy again. With this little knife I cut two entangled sheep free from an old fence prior on this trip. It's a bloody life saver.

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Before I start I check how I need to stitch to make best use of the thread, as it isn't that long. Next time I'll take 2 meters or so. I would have liked to sew it in a tighter Fashion, but am happy with the result.

A super jeep and two old tractors - Massey Fergusons go past. They ask if I need help.
"Nope, I'm just fine thanks."

Next up, protect the seam.
I roughen up the rubber and use vulcaniser. Nope... doesn't seem to work. I try again. Nothing.
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Then I try it with super glue - it works immediately,

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I appreciate my work of art (not less) and am really happy to see what my little tools and self are capable. A good team.

I hammer down the Sprengisandur, loosing more height than gaining it and close in on the tractors. We have a fun chat and they love my art work.

I hammer on. The track can be ridden quite fast, but it's well rough - washboard, big rubble, sand. A short Stretch of tarmac and of towards the colourful Fjallabak.
70 km later and 20 km before Landmannalaugar my fix fails:
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20 km. Another 60 min or so. I'll give it a quick fix and ride on.

500 meter before the inviting hot streams of Landmanna, my tube and tyre go kaputt beyond (reasonable) repair. No bodging. I ride into Landmanna on a flat.

Next time, besides the checking the needles before leaving home, I bring some webbing along, to support the seam.

I never stopped believing that I would ride into Landmanna that same day under own steam. I had visualised it so much, anything else wasn't probabilistic...
Thank feck I had those tools with me.
whonickedmename wrote:Running tubeless here.

I tend to take one spare tube for local rides or when near to a source of backup, two if I'm way out in the sticks.

Perhaps I could pack a little lighter!
About the same here.

Has the lower rolling resistance and more compliant feel when going tubeless already been mentioned? (well, now it has...)

I also highly recommend plugs as in Maxalami etc. They are a great thing to carry.
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sean_iow
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Re: Your most inventive bike fix...

Post by sean_iow »

The bolts on my front calliper vibrated loose on the descent into Fisherfield. I only noticed at Shenavall bothy. I had heard the crack earlier but thought it was just something going though the wheel. It turned out it was the sound of the adaptor getting snapped off as it went into the disc when the lower bolt fell out.

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I used one half of a spare chainring bolt to replace the missing bit of spacer but thught I was done for as I didn't have a long enough bolt to hold the calliper on :cry: As I picked the bike up I spotted the stem bolt :grin:

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It lasted the 200 miles to the finish. It dragged a bit as it was difficult to align but got me to the end of the HT550 :-bd finishing the ride with only a rear brake was not appealing.
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lune ranger
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Re: Your most inventive bike fix...

Post by lune ranger »

:-bd Genius
If you are going through hell, keep going.
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holdsteady
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Re: Your most inventive bike fix...

Post by holdsteady »

hit a tree and badly bent my handlebars, took them off and tried to straighten them in anger and snapped them. Found a stick of roughly the right length and width and whittled it down with my swiss army knife so it fit through my stem, re-attached the brakes, gear levers and grips and tried to ride it but it felt horribly unsafe and vibrated like heck off road but the wooden handlebars made pushing it much easier and when I got back to the road was able to pootle the 3.5 miles home.
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