Bike Camping - Post 5: Repair

When you bike camp the point is to get away "from it all" - which can include being far removed from bike shops.  This means that preparation for mechanical problems is very important.  It's a major bummer when you have a mechanical failure, you are in the middle of nowhere, and you don't have the proper tools and parts to at least get your bike in working order to get you to a bike shop.  A common list of problems you should be equipped to deal with include:

• flat tire
• torn tire
• broken spoke
• broken chain
• broken cable

I did not put a lot of thought into one of these problems prior to my trip and was very lucky that things ended up working out.  Yes, I got a flat tire and was well equipped to deal with that - I brought extra tubes, all the necessary tools, and a pump.  But the problem I did not prepare for was a broken spoke - which I did end up encountering.  This is not shocking because I had more weight on the back of my bike than I ever had and some of the terrain I was riding on was not very smooth.

If you have never heard a spoke break, it sounds sort of like the muffled "ping" of a softball being hit with an aluminum bat.  When I heard the spoke "ping" my heart sank because I knew that I did not bring an extra spoke - something you should definitely bring along for a camping trip or any long ride where you will be away from help. 

My feeling of despair turned to hope when the friend I was riding with said he thought he had an extra in his bag.  I held my breath as he unpacked and when did find it there was a ray of hope - his wheel size was the same as mine so we were in business. 

My feeling of hope once again turned to despair when we took off my back wheel and soon realized that we would not be able to replace the spoke unless we took the brake disc off.  The problem?  The brake disk was secured by star bolts - take a look:

I had never owned a bike with star bolts on it before getting my Globe and was not even sure I had the tool needed to take them off.  What is it with star bolts anyway?  I think it is just a corporate ploy to get people to buy new tools.  Why can't they just use bolts that fit standard Allen wrenches?

I held my breath as I got out my Topeak multi-tool and exhaled when I saw that it did have a star wrench.  I had no idea it even had this feature when I bought it because at the time I did not have a bike with star bolts. 

Thus we were able to remove the brake disc and insert the spoke and we trued the wheel by putting it back on the bike, spinning it, and holding an Allen wrench up to the wheel to detect where we needed to adjust the spokes.  For this you of course need a spoke wrench as well.

Everything ended up working out fine, but not because of any preparation on my part. So if you are considering a trip that is going to take you away from civilization, make sure you inspect your bike parts prior to leaving to ensure you have the right tools and right replacement parts for common problems - you will save yourself a lot of grief if you are properly prepared. I should also say that I was fortunate on one other count - the spoke I needed was the exact same size, but if a spoke had broken on the drive train side of the wheel, I would have been out of luck.  The spokes on the drive train side are a different size. 

One thing I have on my "to do" list is to go buy two extra spokes - one "normal" size and the other for the drive train side of the back wheel.  I will then zip tie them to my frame so I am ready if this should happen again. 

Have you encountered a problem in the middle of nowhere?  Were you prepared?  Horror stories or success stories welcome via comments. 

Comments

[Andy]

Yesterday I was on a 125 miles ride with a cycling club, and just after I had reached 100 miles, an awful noise started. It sounded similar to a problem I had on my commuter bike, which was caused from the bottom bracket bearing casing falling apart. I figured it would be okay to keep riding, and I would just buy a new BB when I got home. A few miles later, I realized the noise was only getting worse and quickly. It was even there when just coasting, so I then shifted my thinking to it being a rear wheel problem. No spokes were broken though, the wheel was in true, no issues with the brakes. I took the wheel off and noticed some play in the cassette, but nothing bad enough to cause this noise.

Then I realized the problem... The two bolts that tighten against each other on the axle had come loose. To properly fix this, I would need a chain whip, cassette lock ring tool, socket wrench, and two wrenches for the bolts. Of course these are not the typical tools someone carries, so I made a good-enough adjustment by sticking the flathead screwdriver part of my multitool against the inner bolt to move it around while turning the wheel. This is a tricky adjustment, even with the right tools, because if the bolts are too far in, there is pressure on the bearing and the wheel won't turn well. If they are too far out, than the axle will have play, and bearings can move around far more than they should (potentially very dangerous if a bearing jumped off the track). I finally adjusted it close enough, and just finger tight, but it worked for the 25 miles to get home, with just a multitool.

Breaking a spoke is really a minor concern. On normal wheels, with 32 spokes, breaking one can be remedied by adjusting the opposing spokes on either side to get the wheel back in true without putting a new spoke in. You'll want to replace it when you get a chance, but I did a 65 mile ride this year on my touring bike after getting to the start and realizing that a spoke had snapped earlier. On my touring bike, I did have 3 spokes of slightly different sizes taped the the rack stays just in case. They were only $1/ea from the bike shop. You could also carry a FiberFix, which works like a spoke but can be adjusted to any size. Check it out here: http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/fiberfix.htm. No local shops had them, and no online vendors I've bought from recently carried them, but I plan to get one before touring again.

[Andy]

Oh, and that star tool is also a saviour on old alen bolts that have stripped. I had a bolt that just wouldn't grip with the proper alen tool, and then I realized that the star tool was the same width, and it grabbed the bad bolt well enough to get it out.

[Peter Maus]

That star bolt is actually called a Torx head screw. Wikipedia has a good definition of them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torx

[Eric]

Or you could carry one of these:

http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/fiberfix.htm

[ME]

they are not star bolts or star tool, they are torx.....torx come on. Plus, they are harder to strip out than the regular hex bolts and that is why they use them.

[Demario Mitchell]

During 1 of my morning commutes I was forced to leave late due to my girlfriend's fear for my safety. She insisted I wait till at least 6am and I did. While taking my normal commute, the street became crowded and there was a sign over hanging the right side of the road. My choices was to take the lane or hit the grass on the right. I went to the right side but my skinny tires could not handle the mud. Slipped off the side and popped my front tire in a ditch =(. I do not own a repair kit so, I walked the rest of the way home. I have yet to replace those road tires, but oh well.

[Torben Putkonen]

Because of their cam-out resistance properties, Torx bolts can be made with a lower profile than hex bolts. That space near the fork end is pretty cramped, so there might not be enough space for hex bolts.