What's your best 'bodge'?

[ctznsmith]

Although clearly the correct, good quality kit is desirable sometimes things break or you forget something. So what's your best 'bodge' in these situations?

[HaYWiRe]

I actually carry a selection of kit everyday for such situations:

Duct tape
Paracord
Shock cord
1" elastic webbing with triglide

But elastic cord and webbing Is by far the most used, I've used it to hold a drybag on the front when my harness failed, as a belt, to strap my shoes together, hold parts to the frame, hold together the leg of my bib shorts after a fall.....you name it!


Everything I sew for the bike relies upon a webbing ladder (pals, molle, ect) that way Velcro can be replaced or bodged with zipties/cord and can be easily repaired with a basic sewing kit once I have time

I guess I've learnt that no matter how fancy, everything can fail eventually so make sure its simple and easy to repair, well "softgoods" anyway....if I have a major mechanical I wont have a clue


However! If you need your jersey or shorts sewn back together at 3am up on a hill somewhere....I'm your man

[Matt]

If you need your jersey or shorts sewn back together at 3am up on a hill somewhere....I'm your man

Why would you sew your jersey and shorts together? Must make wee stops awkward?

[HaYWiRe]

Why would you sew your jersey and shorts together? Must make wee stops awkward?

DIY Tri suit anyone?

I was speaking about if you rip either item separately, I think we all know what happens to Lycra in a crash....

As if wearing it at all isn't enough to test your modestly, walking around in ripped shorts with half an arse cheek or your bollock hanging out is just too far
If you don't have spare or wear baggies....duct tape and a sewing kit it is

[Wotsits]

Seen some beltin bodges over the years with the group i ride with, in fact they have an award for best bodge of the year. These include a seatpost clamp round a split rear hope hub, tyre leavers as splints for a broken derailleur cage & many more.
There was a cracker the other month, one of the lads freehub was slipping so they stripped it trailside & put small pieces of electric tape under the pawls to push them out slightly. Job was a good'un & the lad finished the ride

[Ian]

I once bled a hope brake with a small piece of camelbak hose and an empty energy bar wrapper.

That's about it. Not much to go wrong on a singlespeed...

....apart from brakes, which is the reason my SS is off duty currently. Pfffft, who needs brakes anyway

[AlasdairMc]

Gorilla tape makes a novel way of converting a pair of chaps back into the baggy shorts they used to be. I know this from experience.

[jam bo]

[Zippy]

I recently eeked some life out of my fubarred freehub by using car gearbox oil.

er,

Doubled up worn out brake pads once i.e. front and rear were running metal on metal, then ran out of piston to push, so took rears out and put in fronts double up...

Someone used vegetable oil in their hydraulic brakes - that scared them when it boiled off on a descent!

I needed to bleed my brakes (avids suck), someone had a bleed kit for them but no brake fluid - so I stole some from my car reservoir :)

Used a million cable ties to re-attach a snapped light clamp.

In the car the other day, I bought some 3m long bits of timber and had the roof bars in the car, I er then discovered having bought the timber that I only had 3 of the 4 bolts required...drove home holding the roof bar with my hand through the sunroof!

Er, brake locked on and smelling pretty bad on the car as I pull up in the car park of screwfix, work out brake is binding, buy a g-clamp and some allen keys, take wheel off and wind piston back (once all cooled down), re-attach wheel etc., drive home carefully using just handbrake!

Nah, been pretty good overall actually - those are all pretty minor IMHO....

[Joshvegas]

Picture the scene...

Arran
August
8pm
No headnet
No smidge.
Tarp

I'm going to get eaten alive.

But no, what is this I see before me with my finely tuned botanists* eye?

Bog myrtle and lo I was saved scrubbed it all over my face and arms, slept like a baby.

*HA!

In the car the other day, I bought some 3m long bits of timber and had the roof bars in the car, I er then discovered having bought the timber that I only had 3 of the 4 bolts required...drove home holding the roof bar with my hand through the sunroof!

I once watched a hippy type young lady buy some 2.4m timber carry it outside and strap it to top tube and stem sensible way to carry I thought... then she swung her leg over and cycled straight (obviously) into a wall.

[Scattamah]

My favourite bodge was during the 2014 Tour Divide, I had the sidewall rubber separate from the canvas across a section of around 4 inches on my rear tyre. This was 10 miles into the Bannack Road section - not a place you want to be walking out of. No amount of sealant would fix that disaster.

A quarter tube of rubber cement and quite a bit of tenacious tape later, I had a working tyre again that held up under some not-so-nice conditions and got me through to Lima approx 60 miles away.

Greetz

S.

[mat_swan]

https://flic.kr/p/vm2PcQ
https://flic.kr/p/vmaNUa

Snapped seatstay on a club ride, repaired with cable ties and tyre levers. Made it the mile and a bit back to where his wife had been called to pick him up in the belief we couldn't get it 'fixed'! I think it could have got home....

Also using ties, the stays on my roadie front mud guard have been held on by three of them for some months now- quite surprised they haven't worn through

[Tanglefist]

Are those the tyre levers you get with the Evans puncture kit? Turns out they're good for something, then.

[mat_swan]

Turns out they're good for something, then.

Interesting, I like them as tyre levers- I think because they're a but flexy they force you to work properly. Given some of the more brute options I tend to fail to exercise restraint and end up scratching rims and things