You’re miles from nowhere. It’s hot. You’re low on water, and there’s no cell service. It happens with a loud bang, a clattering, dead silence, or it feels like you hit a patch of ice. You lose speed, and roll to a stop. An empty feeling settles in your gut — nobody’s going to rescue you. Do you have the means to deal with break-downs on the blacktop?
Common Bike Repairs
Contemporary bikes are one of the most reliable machines out there. But they have an Achilles heel in the form of tires, chains and cables — the three most common issues. Other parts, such as the seatpost, derailleur, stem or handlebars fail less often. If you’re prepared for any of these maladies, then you will be able to get rolling again in no time, no matter how far from home.
Blowout Repair
The blowout is the most common bike breadown, and most cyclists don’t carry spare tires. Tubes are one thing, and most everyone has a couple of them in their under seat pack. A tube alone isn’t going to patch a gaping hole, but there are a couple options to get rolling again.
The Million Dollar Solution
Remove the wheel from the bike. Fold a dollar bill into thirds and tuck it between a new tube and the gaping hole in the tire. Pump the tire up to about 20-30 lbs. It sounds hillbilly, but it’s saved more cyclists from walking than you can possibly imagine.
Boot It
Before you leave home on your next ride, cut a few pieces of thin leather into oval-shaped discs about 2-inches wide, and 3-inches long. Slip one between the new tube and gaping hole. Leather boots hold up even better than dollars.
Breaker Breaker
Chains are hundreds of small pins, connected by pieces of thin metal, under tremendous stress. It’s a miracle they don’t break more often. But when they do, you’re dead on the blacktop. Never leave home without tools to fix your chain. The chain breaker tool and master-link, are two items you should never leave home without.
Chain Breaker
The chain breaker is a small hand-operated miracle. Without it, your chain is worthless if it’s broke. A chain breaker allows you to remove or add links to your chain. It might seem difficult to use at first. Practice removing and replacing pins at home on a spare chain, until you’ve mastered the device. You’ll thank yourself later when you’re crouched alongside a hot highway.
Missing Link
Use a master link in conjunction with a chain breaker to repair broken chains. Every bike shop carries them. Sometimes referred to as a Missing link or Power link, pick up a couple that match the size of your chain in millimeters. Grab some different sizes if you like, and you can repair almost any chain, for anyone, and you’ll be a hero on the next group ride.
How to Use Master Links
Shift the bike into it’s lowest gear, and thread the broken chain through the derailleur. Use the chain breaker to remove the remaining broken links so that you have opposing holes on both sides of the chain. Unwrap the Master, Power, or Missing link from it’s packaging. Insert the missing link through the open holes, and snap it together. Get on the bike, and push on the pedals to engage the link, and get riding again.
Broken Cables
Broken cables are common, but they rarely leave you stranded. If you’re an experienced mechanic, you can replace it with a new one, but that takes time and most cyclists aren’t mechanics. The best solution is to just ride the bike — but there are options.
Front Derailleur Cable
If you break your front cable, your bike will automatically shift into the little ring on the front. Leave it there and just ride — you still have your back gears. You’ll be experiencing a situation known as cross-chaining. It might clatter, but won’t cause any permanent damage if you only ride it home.
Rear Derailleur Cable
If you break your rear derailleur cable, the bike shifts into the highest gear and stays there. If you can’t, or don’t want to ride in high gear all the way home, it’s possible to put the bike in a different gear — but it will stay in that gear for the duration of your ride. Pull the broken cable out of the shifter. Pull the cable tight with your hand, and allow the bike to shift into a gear of your choice. Tie a knot in the cable, and use zip-ties and tape to secure the cable to the bikes frame anywhere it’s convenient.
Option Two
Remove the cable from the derailleur. Twist the high-limiter screw on the derailleur clockwise to tighten it, shifting the bike into a higher gear. Typically one or two gears is all you get.
Derailleur Repair
Derailleurs are mostly reliable. If you bend one, bend it back with your fingers. The part that typically fails is the jockey wheel — the little ceramic gear on the bottom. Keep a couple spare hex wrenches handy, if the gear comes loose, it’s usually the axle of the jockey wheel. Insert a hex wrench through the center to serve as the axle. If you don’t have a hex wrench, a stiff piece of wire works too.
Handlebars and Stem Repair
If your handelbars or stem loosen, it’s typically because you’ve lost a bolt somewhere along the ride. Keep some spare 4 or 5-mm bolts in your underseat pack. If you don’t have spares, borrow one from somewhere else on the bike. Water bottle cage bolts are good candidates for borrowing.
Seatpost and Seat Repair
Getting shot out of the saddle sucks. But seatposts break all the time. If you break a seatpost, remove the broken off piece from the frame, and reinsert the shortened seat post and seat. It might be short, but will get you home. If the broken ends are frayed, twisted or bent, use the asphalt surface of the road or a rock to sand the end smooth again, so it will fit into the seatpost clamp.
Seatpost Clamp Repair
The seatpost clamp is another item that fails regularly. The feeling of breaking a seatpost clamp is like none-other. It feels like your bike is on ice, and you’re going down. It’s impossible to fix it without replacement. Keep some zip-ties in your underseat pack. Use them to secure the seat and clamp together just long enough to ride back home.