Best Practice: Bike Spares to have in stock

ATRacer

Hi All,

I've just bought a nice new bike (Cube Attempt 2011) and wondered, apart from a puncture repair kit (!), what do you guys stock up on and keep at home. Not things for out on a ride, just bits and bobs that are a good idea to 'have in'.

Yes I may just be looking for an excuse to buy more bits and bobs 8)

Would like to hear what each of you keep in stock at home

slowbike

Spare tubes!

A spare tyre is always handy.

andrewjoseph

Tools, brake pads, brake and gear cables, innertubes, tyre. If you trash anything you don't have to wait days to get out again.

I'd also recommend a spare mech hanger to take with you. It can save a long walk or rescue mission by family.

themekon

I always have spare innertubes, a couple of tyres and a spare pair of wheels and a complete set of gear and brake cables,both inner and outers.
A bike workstand is handy. buy the best you can afford.
Also try to build up a nice set of tools.

Htron

I like to keep in my parts box (I probably hold more stock than most):

- Chain (measure the wear frequently)
- Break pads ( a replacement set front and back)
- Cassette
- lots of inner tubes
- chain lube (wet and dry depending on season/bike)
- grease - for wheel hubs / headsets / bottom brackets and general threads
- replacement wheel bearings (a pot of them is cheap, front and rear are different sizes)
- copper slip - anti seize for things like pedal threads and cassette lock rings on a winter bike)
- Gear cables kit - inners and outers

My winter bike takes a pounding in all weather, so you might feel you don't need to hold a cassette, as a cassette should last at least the life of two chains). It's nice to hold a full 'service kit' so after winter is over you can replace consumables.

Also if you know which tyres you like and they are on sale it's not a bad idea to buy some spares when they are cheap.

owenlars

Mostly stuff I have kept off old bikes like cranks, various nuts and bolts, headsets, an old rack, pedals, half used tyres, mudguards etc etc.

I also have tubes, a few brake pads and normally some bar tape knocking around plus the relevant tools and lubes.

Plus my sister runs a cycle training outfit and if I help her out she reimburses me in things like cables and outers which are cheap wholesale but incredibly expensive retail.

I reckon it is best to build up slowly as you accumulate stuff like nuts and bolts and bits off old bikes.

Spares are very expensive retail so general rule I think is salvage what you can and buy when you need to.

rolf_f

Eventually you end up with both a complete spare bike and a bikes worth of spare parts. Which can end up becoming another bike if you aren't careful..... I think the simplest answer is to have spares of every item you are confident that you can fit yourself. Or, slightly more minimalistish, every item you are confident that you can fit yourself and which, if it fails, will fail quickly enough to immobilise the bike (eg bearings don't tend to come into this as they can grumble on for 100s of miles or more before they actually stop spinning) - especially those that fail without warning (cables, brake blocks when it rains a lot, bar tape if you use the white stuff ). Spare chains (some in rotation on and off the bike) and spare cassette.

Spare wheels are a very useful thing to have. There's a lot of things that can happen that might make you wish you had a spare set. Spare spokes if you tend to break them.

Ideally buy stuff when it is cheap. Things always cost more when you need them NOW!

cougie

I've never snapped a brake or gear cable in 30 years....

Tubes are obvious. Maybe a tyre or two - worth stocking up if there's a sale on.

Cleats are handy too - unless you check them every week.

A chain maybe and some brake blocks too.

rolf_f

cougie wrote:

I've never snapped a brake or gear cable in 30 years....

Campag does tend to fray gear cables in the lever mech. I've had two gear cables go this way in 14000 miles or so of my Ribble. On the other hand, I have period bikes which have never had inners or outers replaced in 30 years plus!

Incidentally, do you mean that you've never actually ever replaced the cables on any bike you've had or that your cable replacement regime is conservative and always results in cables replaced before they need it? Or do you change bikes a lot? Or do you not ride much. Simply stating a time period means nothing at all! A mate of mine has never had to replace a clutch in over 20 years but that doesn't mean he is light on his transmissions!

BrandonA

Excluding the things I carry in my saddle bag, the only spares I store at home are inner tubes. What with having two road bikes and most online stores offering very quick delivery you don't need to stock pile.

martinperry

Deraillieur hanger
10 min fix, buggered without one!

keef66

Just inner tubes for me at the mo. I went through a spell of buying spares when I saw them cheap, and collected spare chain, BB, inner gear cables, hub bearings and tyres. All but one of the tubes are now in use. I'm not pessimistic enough to stock spare mech hangers.

team47b

A bike

martinperry

Wait till you have one break!
They are designed to fail if dropped onto the rear mech to protect the frame.
Having ridden 20 miles on a fixie after mine went, I always have a spare!

rolf_f

martinperry wrote:

Wait till you have one break!
They are designed to fail if dropped onto the rear mech to protect the frame.
Having ridden 20 miles on a fixie after mine went, I always have a spare!

If it became a fixie after the hanger broke, then it's no wonder the hanger broke in the first place!

cougie

Rolf F wrote:

cougie wrote:

I've never snapped a brake or gear cable in 30 years....

Campag does tend to fray gear cables in the lever mech. I've had two gear cables go this way in 14000 miles or so of my Ribble. On the other hand, I have period bikes which have never had inners or outers replaced in 30 years plus!

Incidentally, do you mean that you've never actually ever replaced the cables on any bike you've had or that your cable replacement regime is conservative and always results in cables replaced before they need it? Or do you change bikes a lot? Or do you not ride much. Simply stating a time period means nothing at all! A mate of mine has never had to replace a clutch in over 20 years but that doesn't mean he is light on his transmissions!

I'm exclusively Shimano/Sram these days - last had Campag when i was a schoolie. I've never snapped a cable out on the road - and only swapped new cables in when I was changing stuff round - groupsets or transferring to a new frame. I ride every week all year round too - so I'm not overly gentle on cables.

I have snapped 2 chains on the road - but never bothered taking a spare with me - I can ring for recovery every 10 years or so. :-)

slowbike

cougie wrote:

I have snapped 2 chains on the road - but never bothered taking a spare with me - I can ring for recovery every 10 years or so. :-)

A quicklink should sort out most broken chains on the road - but this isn't about what to take on the road - it's what to have at home!

You can break many things on the bike and it'll become unusable until fixed. You can get around a broken mech hanger by turning the bike into a singlespeed - I've done this on the roadside with just a chaintool.

Spares you need depend largely on how often you ride and how much you depend on your bike - if you're highly dependant then it would be best to have a spare bike ready to go plus the most often used "consumables" for the "broken" bike.

Brake/Gear cables may fray or snap - but it's unusual and if they fray you should get a bit of time to get replacements in.
Chains may snap - but again, it's unlikely and can often be fixed without needing to immediately replace the whole chain - they do need replacing from time to time, but you can keep an eye on that and order replacements in time.
Brake blocks - never had one fail on me - others may have - again, its something to keep an eye on, but unlikely to need spares straight away. What I do is once I've replaced a block I keep the old set just in case.
Bar tape - eh? lack of bar tape doesn't stop you riding - a bit of electrical tape would fix up loose ends.
Cleats - depends which ones I guess - mine are metal SPDs - unlikely to go wrong, but as I have 2 bikes and 1 pair of shoes I have a spare set!

Of course, you can have a complete set of spares waiting to go on - nothing wrong with that - depends how much money you want to part with up front !

rolf_f

Slowbike wrote:

Brake/Gear cables may fray or snap - but it's unusual and if they fray you should get a bit of time to get replacements in. As I said, a known issue with Campag levers - you can't really see it before it's happened. There's quite a few people on here mention cable breakages as well (not just in Campag!) so I don't think it is that unusual
Chains may snap - but again, it's unlikely and can often be fixed without needing to immediately replace the whole chain - they do need replacing from time to time, but you can keep an eye on that and order replacements in time. You should have one or two in circulation anyway - swap the chains when you get home and replace the missing links on the broken chain
Brake blocks - never had one fail on me - others may have - again, its something to keep an eye on, but unlikely to need spares straight away. What I do is once I've replaced a block I keep the old set just in case. If you commute in all weathers, in hilly terrain, a brake block can dissappear in barely more than a week if you use soft pads!
Bar tape - eh? lack of bar tape doesn't stop you riding - a bit of electrical tape would fix up loose ends. That was a rather obvious joke - you know, white bar tape discolouration emergency
Cleats - depends which ones I guess - mine are metal SPDs - unlikely to go wrong, but as I have 2 bikes and 1 pair of shoes I have a spare set! Plastic cleats can fail abruptly if you don't change them soon enough but a pare pair of shoes and cleats is more ideal

Of course, you can have a complete set of spares waiting to go on - nothing wrong with that - depends how much money you want to part with up front !

CiB

Spares? Some tubes and a packet of crisps.

As there are bike shops ranging from cheap n cheerful all the way up through Evans, crap but handy and onwards & upwards to Ultimate Bike P0rn all within easy access of me plus a handy one near to where I work I don't see much logic in keeping a load of spares 'just in case'. Modern business thinking is JIT - Just In Time - get stuff in when you need it. And like others, although I'm aware that cables, chains, spokes, frames & h/bars can snap it's never happened to me* so I'll carry on the same thanks.

*chain snapped once after inadvertently re-using a Shimano chain pin. Phoned the wife, sat in the pub till she rolled up then sat in the pub a bit longer with her + boy Jr. What's not to like about that sort of breakdown?

simonhead

Not a spare but something that is always useful is a box of surgical gloves.