All This, and a Mountain Bike

By Morgan Fluhrer, Southern Regional Sales Manager, Endura Cycling Apparel (and former bike mechanic for several Upstate shops)

I love mountain biking – it’s what I grew up with. It keeps me healthy as a diabetic, and it’s what introduced me to my girlfriend – now wife.

It’s also what taught me to be a great mechanic. How? Necessity. Ever been stuck in the woods with a broken derailleur hanger? Ever broken a suspension fork, a seatpost or even taco’ed a wheel? I’ve done all of these, and from my experiences I’ve learned  what to carry with me on a mountain bike ride.

I get this question a lot and, aside from carrying a roll of duct tape – which actually fixes pretty much anything, I’ll tell you some basic things to take with you on a bike ride so that you can have a more enjoyable experience.

First off, bring some food with you – and I’m not talking about shrimp cocktail.

Next, get a hydration pack. Get one with a bladder that holds at least 70 ounces. It’s more than just a big water bottle strapped to your back – it’s a way to carry all of your awesome stuff. Yeah, you could use a seatbag, but that’s for road bikes. Conversely, hydration packs are only for off-road use. Never use a hydration pack on a road bike, it’s against the rules, and it’s also an entirely different article topic. Hydration packs give you all the water you need without having to fuss with a waterbottle, and you can put your food, tools, spare tube, etc, in all the pockets and zipped enclosures.

Buy a good multitool. Don’t be afraid to drop some cash here, since this will be the tool that gets you through the hard times: Broken chains, stripped bolts, bent chainrings and the like. Buy one with a Torx wrench for your (or your friend’s) disc brake rotor bolts, and definitely buy one with a chain tool and all the Allen wrenches you’ll need (3, 4 and 5mm are most common), plus screwdrivers. Two really good tool makers are Park and Lezyne. If possible, buy a mini-crescent wrench. They come with some Park tools. Sure it’s cool, and you can poke fun at your friends with small hands with it, but it works great for bending random things back into shape after an excellent crash.

Always carry a spare inner tube, some tire levers, a patch kit and a Co2 inflator or pump with you. You can even get a Co2 inflator combined with a pump so you’ll never be stranded. Why Co2? It’s fast. That way you can get back to riding awesome singletrack, instead of sitting on the side of the trail watching other riders whiz by as you work up a forearm cramp while using your minipump.

For random small parts and such, grab a ziploc bag and stuff it with these things: Spare chainring bolts that fit your bike, an extra pair of brake pads, and some zip ties, aka ‘high falutin’ duct tape. Also carry some spare chain links with you, or a quick-link (available at your local shop), so that you can fix a chain if you need to. I like to carry a spare derailleur cable. It can also be used in a pinch as a brake cable, provided you’re not using hydraulic disc brakes. Side note: you should all be using hydraulic disc brakes.

It never hurts to take a small, two-ounce bottle of chain lube with you. Not only for you or your friends, but also for that guy who you can hear with the squeaky chain from about two miles away.

That’s about it. Don’t forget to take your camera with you as well!

Oh yeah, and don’t forget the duct tape.