Roadside Repairs
You probably won’t need to replace a rear cassette by the side of the road on a day trip around the Goring Gap, but if you’re going on a major expedition it’s useful to have the skills. The bike shop had the spare part, but not the staff availability to fit it. Being friendly Scots, they were happy to lend the necessary tools to get the bike fixed outside the shop before the ferry left for Arran. Bike fixed, ferry caught, expedition still on schedule.
Even on local rides, knowing some basic fixes and having a few tools can make the difference between making your own way home with a long walk, or a wait for International Rescue*.
Don’t leave home without
- A spare tube (the right size for your wheels)
- A multi-tool
- Tyre levers
- A pump (with the right adapter for your spare tube), or a CO2 canister if you trust these and know how to use them.
*It’s surprising how many cyclists live with someone who answers to the role of International Rescue.
Punctures
It’s a fact of life that bikes get punctures, and sooner or later you are bound to get one. You can minimise their frequency by making sure you have good-quality tyres that are not worn out and that are pumped up sufficiently. Under-inflated tyres can be prone to snake-bite punctures, where the wheel rim hits the ground causing a little hole each side, making the inner tube look like it’s been bitten by a snake.
Common causes of punctures in the Goring Gap area are tiny pieces of flint (particularly popular on The Ridgeway) and thorns, more common in the Chilterns woods. This website does not make commercial endorsements, but the repeated experience of a number of the Goring Gromils riders is that the type of tyre most resilient to punctures is the Schwalbe Marathon Plus.
Some videos on how to fix a puncture are very idealistic and make it all look too easy. The one shown here is less guilty on this front, though it is filmed in a nice clean workshop rather than on a wet and windy roadside. There is particularly good advice at the end: you get better with practice, so practise removing and refitting your wheel at home to gain confidence in how to do it. It also refers to “vulcanizing fluid” rather than glue. Do not treat it like glue, slapping the patch on while it is wet, which is the most common reason for failed puncture repairs. Wait at least two minutes until the fluid has lost its shine and looks dry.