Carrying too much gear

[zigzag]

a fist sized saddle bag, that carries prk and a couple of allen keys. a small pump attached near a water bottle.

[giropaul]

In Covid, a little more than I might otherwise to avoid having to interact with anyone, but in general
2x spare tubes, repair kit, tyre levers and small pump - all in a bidon sized thingy ( pump pokes out of hole cut in top slightly.
Old but usable light folding tyre (Veloflex is ideal), under saddle ( that’s the Covid extra)
Small but beautiful multi tool and spare chain quick links, and money notes in purse. BC licence as ID. Mask in case I need to go into anywhere in an emergency.
Small, light “ burner” phone - number known only to family.
I’ve lost too much out of pockets over the years to carry a card or an expensive ( and very heavy) posh phone
Always a very light and small when rolled up rain cape.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Looking at the OP's list, a few easy ways to reduce weight without sacrificing functionality would be:
plastic tyre levers instead of steel (Park and Pedro's both good IME)
CO2 not needed with HPX (alternatively, HPX not needed with CO2, but a pump never needs a new cannister)
one tube instead of two (can always deviate into town to get another if you do use the first)
one cable lock instead of two
can leave headtorch at home if confident of being home before sunset
 

[Ian H]

More than enough space for a day ride, as long as I don't have to remove too much clothing during the day.

IMG_20210222_140437183_HDR~2 by Ian Hennessey, on Flickr

[Edd]

For shorter rides I use a small saddle bag with an inner tube, self adhesive patches, multi tool, cable ties, AA batteries (Garmin), pliers, short segment of chain (usually the excess from when i last changed), a spoke string thing and a pen, oh yeah, and a face mask and hand gel (new additions from 2020!). I've been meaning to add a cleat bolt as someone mentioned earlier (you would think I would learn from the consequences of a lost bolt from an SPD!). A small pump lives on my bike (that needs upgrade). Phone, card and a tenner are normally in my pocket along with a couple of cereal bars and some fruit. Longer rides generally mean changing to a larger saddle bag to include more food, some warmer clothes, hand gel and a jacket of some kind and possibly spare batteries for the front light, powerbank and associated cables for phone and rear lights and head torch if I'm going to be riding overnight.

[De Sisti]

I carry my stuff in a Carradice Zipped Roll. Food and rain jacket are carried in my rear pockets.
If I'm on a 200 I will use a Carradice Bagman (Quick Release) and a Carradice Barley (to accommodate extra stuff).

[hubner]

For a minimum, I'd say:
pump
inner tube
tyre levers
puncture kit which includes tyre boot, scalpel blade (to pick out glass etc from the tyre and general cutting)

That covers punctures and a badly cut tyre. Punctures are much more common than any other problem you would get on a ride.

Wheel problems are next (eg, broken spokes, buckled rim) IMO, so add:
spoke key

Then a few tools for components, in my case:
4mm allen key
5mm allen key
6mm allen key and 8mm socket combo tool
10mm spanner

which got me home twice after a broken spoke and a buckled rim, both times needing a mudguard and rim brake removal, I didn't have a spoke key at the time. And would cover minor crashes and you need to straighten your saddle,bars, brake levers etc.

So this is what I carry on my 10 mile commute (I only do utility cycling):
pump (Zefal HPX)
inner tube
tyre levers
puncture kit
4mm allen key
5mm allen key
6mm allen key and 8mm socket combo tool
10mm spanner

[quixoticgeek]

Do others consider the amount of gear they carry whilst out on a local ride? ATM I don't have a  fast bike as such, a steel audax and a steel tourer. Even on the audax bike I have a rack, racktop bag, containing 2 inner tubes, puncture repair kit,  topeak alien multi-tool,  head torch, foil blanket for an emergency (15 years old), 2 lightweight retractable cable locks, latex gloves for oily repairs. Co2 inflator and spare cylinder,  goretex top, wet wipes, a Zeal HPX full size pump velcro strapped to my top tube, loose change and a pair of steel tyre levers that jangle. This is my typical audax  setup. Realistically, for thr short local 40 mile rides a seat pack would do. I CBA to declutter as I generally carry the above on an audax ride. What do other carry on local rides?

Well... um... I have a lot of stuff on my bike...




This is a local 100k ride on boxing day. The only difference between that load out and the 13km recovery ride yesterday, is I had my warm fluffy jacket with me in the picture. I carry much the same stuff on all my rides. The only difference is if I add bivvi gear.

Top tube bag has full toolkit, for everything apart from a bottom bracket. Frame bag is electronics, and toiletries. Handle bars is food and drink. Tailfin is clothes... I want to add a pair of bottle cages to the tailfin (see pave proof bottle cage thread), but am waiting for pay day. When I do include bivvi kit, the sleeping bag goes in a dry bag under the aero bars, everything else is in the tailfin.

Do I need to carry all this junk on every ride? no. But it's a lot of faff to take it on and off, and if I take it off for the training rides, then it'll be more of a shock when I start a race or audax. It also means I've been able to help out other cyclists when I've come across them at the side of the road. A pair of roadies who had a flat were struggling with their mini pump. When I pulled out the road morph from the saddle bag (since moved to the frame bag), the look on their face was amazing.

J

[Kim]

Do I need to carry all this junk on every ride? no. But it's a lot of faff to take it on and off, and if I take it off for the training rides, then it'll be more of a shock when I start a race or audax.

This makes good sense to me.  Even if the weight isn't negligable, if it's going to be there for an important ride, it might as well be there for the unimportant ones.

Obviously if you're not just leaving luggage attached to the bike when not in use, YMMV.

[De Sisti]

When I pulled out the road morph from the saddle bag (since moved to the frame bag), the look on their face was amazing.

.....especially when you volunteered to pump up their tyres.

[Cudzoziemiec]

There used to be a Bristol CTC regular (now returned to the Antipodes) who on all club rides used to carry a track pump in a pannier.

[T42]

Do I need to carry all this junk on every ride? no. But it's a lot of faff to take it on and off, and if I take it off for the training rides, then it'll be more of a shock when I start a race or audax.

This makes good sense to me.  Even if the weight isn't negligable, if it's going to be there for an important ride, it might as well be there for the unimportant ones.

Obviously if you're not just leaving luggage attached to the bike when not in use, YMMV.

And if you'll be carrying it on important rides it makes sense to train with it on for the rest of the time.

[rdtrdt]

For anyone who wants to carry more stuff  or like me wanted to redistribute the same stuff, then these things are an option:
https://www.76projects.com/shop/thepiggy

I got one of those so that I could fit a smaller seat wedge pack. I stick the stuff that I (virtually) never need - inner tubes, multitool, etc - into the Piggy, leaving the seat bag free for the stuff that I'm more likely to want access to. Shifts some weight lower on the bike too if that's your thing. Pump is a Lezyne Road Drive attached to the seat tube bottle cage.

I'm able to carry quite a bit of stuff with this set up if I need to, but it looks quite discrete so feels (is) faster.   

[hatler]

There used to be a Bristol CTC regular (now returned to the Antipodes) who on all club rides used to carry a track pump in a pannier.

I dimly recall gerald on a Yuba Mundo on a FNRttC with a track pump lashed to the rear rack. Or am I imagining that ?

[Karla]

There used to be a Bristol CTC regular (now returned to the Antipodes) who on all club rides used to carry a track pump in a pannier.

Just why??

[quixoticgeek]

For anyone who wants to carry more stuff  or like me wanted to redistribute the same stuff, then these things are an option:
https://www.76projects.com/shop/thepiggy

I got one of those so that I could fit a smaller seat wedge pack. I stick the stuff that I (virtually) never need - inner tubes, multitool, etc - into the Piggy, leaving the seat bag free for the stuff that I'm more likely to want access to. Shifts some weight lower on the bike too if that's your thing. Pump is a Lezyne Road Drive attached to the seat tube bottle cage.

I'm able to carry quite a bit of stuff with this set up if I need to, but it looks quite discrete so feels (is) faster.   

There's a similar setup available from Wolf Tooth components. Have a look at their BRAD range. Very versatile.

J

[Cudzoziemiec]

There used to be a Bristol CTC regular (now returned to the Antipodes) who on all club rides used to carry a track pump in a pannier.

Just why??

She left a few years ago now, so I might be reinterpreting events in my mind, but she said it was just useful. There was so often someone who needed a pump and I guess she'd be carrying the pannier anyway. After all, a track pump is much easier to use than a frame-fitting pump, let alone a mini-pump.

[quixoticgeek]

There used to be a Bristol CTC regular (now returned to the Antipodes) who on all club rides used to carry a track pump in a pannier.

Just why??

She left a few years ago now, so I might be reinterpreting events in my mind, but she said it was just useful. There was so often someone who needed a pump and I guess she'd be carrying the pannier anyway. After all, a track pump is much easier to use than a frame-fitting pump, let alone a mini-pump.

Carry the best, and largest pump you can justify. I don't understand how people think those mini pumps are worth carrying.

The pump in my bag is one of these:

https://www.topeak.com/global/en/products/216-Mini-Pumps/244-turbo-morph--g

(I incorrectly thought it was a road morph g in previous post).

It's orders of magnitude better than most portable pumps I've tried. When you're tired, it's late, and in a rush, being able to inflate a flat tyre back to pressure without needing 200 pumps of a mini pump is worth the extra weight.

J

[Diver300]

Talking of CO2 cartridges. I often see loads of what look like CO2 cartridges spilt by the side of the road.
Are they actually shed from cyclists who haven't zipped their saddlebags up tightly enough or are they actually laughing gas or something from the local yoof?

There's normally one or two but yesterday I saw dozens all in one place, which suggests they're not from a single cyclist.

NO₂ cartridges, as spotted here:- https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=53164.msg2470948#msg2470948

[cycleman]

I have carried a track pump on rides before and still do from time to time. My cycles are so heavy to start with that it makes little difference and I don't have to kneel to use it 

[Cudzoziemiec]

There used to be a Bristol CTC regular (now returned to the Antipodes) who on all club rides used to carry a track pump in a pannier.

Just why??

She left a few years ago now, so I might be reinterpreting events in my mind, but she said it was just useful. There was so often someone who needed a pump and I guess she'd be carrying the pannier anyway. After all, a track pump is much easier to use than a frame-fitting pump, let alone a mini-pump.

Carry the best, and largest pump you can justify. I don't understand how people think those mini pumps are worth carrying.

The pump in my bag is one of these:

https://www.topeak.com/global/en/products/216-Mini-Pumps/244-turbo-morph--g

(I incorrectly thought it was a road morph g in previous post).

It's orders of magnitude better than most portable pumps I've tried. When you're tired, it's late, and in a rush, being able to inflate a flat tyre back to pressure without needing 200 pumps of a mini pump is worth the extra weight.

J

Well okay, that's one view. But the size of pump you can justify is going to depend on things like how frequently you get punctures, how bad the results of a puncture might be for you, and how much weight and bulk you're prepared to carry. So it's perfectly valid for the largest pump you can justify to be a mini-pump; just enough to get you home but not enough to slow you down with bulk and weight.

An alternative view would be to take the smallest pump you can get away with. The smallest that will get you home in an envisageable emergency. And it might be that the smallest would be a track pump (unlikely, but for instance you might only have a track pump).

FWIW I wouldn't consider the Topeak Morph a particularly large pump.

[L CC]

I'm curious about all your risk assessments. There seems to be a lot of looking at consequences and not much looking at liklihood.

For me, if the wheel collapses, I'm going home. I'm not fucking about at the roadside rebuilding a wheel.

Obviously now I've blithely stated this I've been reminded of LW&B having to replace spokes on the tandem, me bending a broken spoke around another to finish BoB and Mr Smith fitting emergency kevlar things.
None of these were local rides though, we were doing multi day rides hundreds of miles from home.

I've managed to break 2 gear hangers in the last 8 months on local rides. I walked home. I'm not about to start carrying one in my commute pack, despite them 'weighing nothing'. I'd always much rather carry less.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I'd agree with that. Last summer, I had a pedal spindle snap in half as I moved off from the traffic lights. It must have been my mighty thighs of Hoy, obviously. Fortunately on that occasion I was only a mile or so from home. If I'd been 100 miles away I'd have been, I suppose, flagging down a passing motorist and pleading for a lift to the nearest bike shop or train station. Has this persuaded me to carry a spare set of pedals with me? No, it's persuaded me to buy decent pedals.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Carrying less gear might not make you go faster or further but there's another F: funner. A bike that's not weighed down is funner to ride, and not just up hill.

[Kim]

I'm curious about all your risk assessments. There seems to be a lot of looking at consequences and not much looking at liklihood.

For me, if the wheel collapses, I'm going home. I'm not fucking about at the roadside rebuilding a wheel.

Not having a car or someone to drive it a phone call away, going home either means trying to summon a taxi that'll take the bike, finding somewhere within pushing distance (which may not be very far, if I've brought the wrong bike and the wrong knee) to secure the bike and coming back for it, or fucking about at the roadside rebuilding a wheel^[1].

Hence I carry a comprehensive toolkit and expect to do a bit of fettling with the recumbents or mountain bike, but if the Brompton punctures I'd just throw a bit of CO2 at the problem and re-route along the nearest bus/train route with a view to folding and jumping on public transport if the tyre doesn't hold.  Hacking about town on the hybrid is somewhere in the middle: I'm carrying a decent lock, and unlikely to be more than a few miles from home.  I'd probably fix a puncture or broken chain, but anything more complicated can wait.

(For urban riding, the main inconvenience is in having another thing to remove from the bike when you lock it, rather than the weight/volume.  Pumps that fit in the pocket of a bag win over those that attach to the frame, on that basis.)


Also, being prepared for mechanicals means I can divert emotional energy towards the much more likely reason for having to abort a ride:  Body problems^[2].


_{[1] To date my only catastrophic wheel failure was within 200m of home, and I just carried the bike on my shoulder and grabbed another one.
[2] In which we can probably include "borderline hypothermia waiting for someone to fix a mechanical on group rides", which is enough reason for me to carry the afore-mentioned adjustable spanner and a decent pump.}