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Ride over.
Mountain bikers tend to be a pretty prepared bunch, but it’s impossible to plan for every contingency. Unless you’ve got an extra set of handlebars in your Camelbak, a sheared bar is going to require hoofing it back home, or at least to the nearest alternative form of transportation.
Mechanical failures have a way of showing me exactly what oversight I made in my pack. Have stuff to fix a flat? Here’s a broken chain. Carry a quick link? Guess what, you need a multi-tool with a chain breaker. Have a chain breaker? Remember when you upgraded your fatbike to a 1×11, betcha forgot to throw an 11sp link in your frame bag…
FWIW, I now carry a chainbreaker equipped multi-tool and 9 through 12sp quick links so just in case someone else is having a bad day I can have them covered.
Just today someone was walking by my house with a flat. Offered him a spare or ride. Loaded his bike on my rack and took him home. Saved him a few miles of walking.
Double A, M, C, O… Damn it Jeff, now you’ve really done it!
Marching back from a long ride is extremely rare for my bikes since they are properly cared for and spoiled rotten.
I visited Galbraith Mountain when I was a beginner and broke my chain about 5 miles in from the Birch St. parking lot. Luckily I found a nearby descending trail that dumped me only a block from my car. Since then I carry multiple quick links in my pack, along with a multi tool, tube, CO2 cartridges, etc. Been lucky to have better mechanics than me ride up and help if I’m having trouble with a repair.
I’m not sure how one preps for a snapped/broken component. Carry an extra handlebar, seatpost/saddle, pedal, multiple spokes, stem, frame? I guess some people have never crashed hard and had their bike land unluckily. OK, I’ve only ever dented a frame, but snapped everything else I mentioned. Things tend to happen on occasion over a decade or two. You can lube and torque perfectly and stuff still happens. Some components fail even when brand new when they get impacted ‘just right’. Tires, derailleurs, chains? That’s easy stuff.
Mechanical failures have a way of showing me exactly what oversight I made in my pack. Have stuff to fix a flat? Here’s a broken chain. Carry a quick link? Guess what, you need a multi-tool with a chain breaker. Have a chain breaker? Remember when you upgraded your fatbike to a 1×11, betcha forgot to throw an 11sp link in your frame bag…
FWIW, I now carry a chainbreaker equipped multi-tool and 9 through 12sp quick links so just in case someone else is having a bad day I can have them covered.
Just today someone was walking by my house with a flat. Offered him a spare or ride. Loaded his bike on my rack and took him home. Saved him a few miles of walking.
Double A, M, C, O… Damn it Jeff, now you’ve really done it!
Marching back from a long ride is extremely rare for my bikes since they are properly cared for and spoiled rotten.
I visited Galbraith Mountain when I was a beginner and broke my chain about 5 miles in from the Birch St. parking lot. Luckily I found a nearby descending trail that dumped me only a block from my car. Since then I carry multiple quick links in my pack, along with a multi tool, tube, CO2 cartridges, etc. Been lucky to have better mechanics than me ride up and help if I’m having trouble with a repair.
I’m not sure how one preps for a snapped/broken component. Carry an extra handlebar, seatpost/saddle, pedal, multiple spokes, stem, frame? I guess some people have never crashed hard and had their bike land unluckily. OK, I’ve only ever dented a frame, but snapped everything else I mentioned. Things tend to happen on occasion over a decade or two. You can lube and torque perfectly and stuff still happens. Some components fail even when brand new when they get impacted ‘just right’. Tires, derailleurs, chains? That’s easy stuff.