Tool Bags, Kits, and Wraps: Recommendations?
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Matthew Williams
May 26, 2025, 5:51:23 PMMay 26
to bicycletouring
Hi everyone,
I’m trying to reduce weight and I’m reconsidering what tools and materials I should be carrying for long-distance (>20 miles) rides. For example, carrying both a Swiss Army knife and a Leatherman tool is probably unnecessary.
At the same time, I get a little panicky if I don’t bring something, because I’ve had so many incidents in which the one item I need is the one item I didn’t bring. Below is a photo of my current kit, and a list of what I'm carrying:
Patch kit
Spare tube
Tire levers
Mini pump
Gorilla Tape
Presta-to-Shraeder adapter (for gas station air)
Mini bungee cords (to hold chains or cables while replacing a wheel)
Chain tool
Spare links
Leatherman
Swiss Army knife
Channellocks
Chain pliers
Needle-nose pliers
Hex wrench set
Zip ties
Cyanoacrylate glue
What do you carry in your toolkits, for long-distance rides? What am I missing, or overcarrying? If I have a patch kit, is a spare tube necessary? Please share photos of your tool kits, bags, and wraps!
As always, your wisdom, advice, and experience are welcomed and appreciated.
I’m trying to reduce weight and I’m reconsidering what tools and materials I should be carrying for long-distance (>20 miles) rides. For example, carrying both a Swiss Army knife and a Leatherman tool is probably unnecessary.
At the same time, I get a little panicky if I don’t bring something, because I’ve had so many incidents in which the one item I need is the one item I didn’t bring. Below is a photo of my current kit, and a list of what I'm carrying:
Patch kit
Spare tube
Tire levers
Mini pump
Gorilla Tape
Presta-to-Shraeder adapter (for gas station air)
Mini bungee cords (to hold chains or cables while replacing a wheel)
Chain tool
Spare links
Leatherman
Swiss Army knife
Channellocks
Chain pliers
Needle-nose pliers
Hex wrench set
Zip ties
Cyanoacrylate glue
What do you carry in your toolkits, for long-distance rides? What am I missing, or overcarrying? If I have a patch kit, is a spare tube necessary? Please share photos of your tool kits, bags, and wraps!
As always, your wisdom, advice, and experience are welcomed and appreciated.
cyclin...@gmail.com
May 26, 2025, 6:11:33 PMMay 26
to Matthew Williams, bicycletouring
I’d dump the chain pliers, you can use a good shoelace or paracord to compress the removable link - https://tinyurl.com/29f6fdnu And the pedal rotation will expand the link.
Not sure why you need the Channellock’s? I’ve toured many thousands of miles without a need for a pair.
Probably the Leatherman is more useful than the Swiss Army knife due the Leatherman having pliers and cable cutter.
My 2 cents worth!
Regards and Tailwinds,
Adam K.
Sidney, BC
Canada
Email: cyclin...@gmail.com
Website: http://www.adamk.ca
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Mark Boyd
May 26, 2025, 7:48:03 PMMay 26
to cyclin...@gmail.com, Matthew Williams, bicycletouring
I agree with Adam about the chain tool, channellocks and swiss army knife. I actually have a Leatherman Skeletool CX multitool which I used two days ago when I was working on one of my bikes. However, given the current price for that tool, I 'd recommend the much cheaper Chinese made multi tools which Amazon sells.
I also carry a spare tire as well as a patch kit. A damaged tube may not be patchable.
Mark
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ernest b
May 28, 2025, 10:42:02 AMMay 28
to bicycle...@googlegroups.com
man, that's a lot of
stuff! ;-)
random thoughts/observations (in no particular order):
i always carry a spare tube and patch kit. not just because you might have a puncture/blowout that requires a whole tube replacement, but because i'd rather swap in a fresh tube in the event of a failure and then patch later someplace more comfortable than the side of the road.
*always* carry currency; US currency is a very high quality paper, and a $1 bill (or $20 if you're feeling fancy) works very well as a 'boot' if you actually tear a hole in a tire and need to keep the tube from bulging out for a while. (Powerbar wrappers are probably the best for this, but i don't carry them anymore for other reasons.)
reminds me; check the glue in your patch kit; amazing how this stuff goes bad even if it's never been opened!
you can probably find a multi-tool (i like Gerbers for their better blades) that has a set of pliers, so you could leave the pliers and Swiss Army Knife at home. the only thing you'll lose is a cable cutter, but you can curly up the extra length of a cable out of the way until you get someplace you can deal with it later.
tire levers; i never use them, so don't carry them. 'm able to mount-dismount the tires i use one the rims that i use without tools. your combo of tires/rims may vary.
you can probably find a good cycle-specific multi-tool that has a chain breaker and Allen keys built in; make sure you get one with the sizes for the nuts/bolts you're most likely to need to tighten.
i haven't needed a chain tool while out on the road/trail in several decades; and then it wasn't for me. my impression is that chains are much better than they once were, but i might still bring one if on tour. probably wouldn't bother with extra links; i'd be OK with a couple fewer links 'til i could get to wherever i could replace the chain if need be.
(funny story; last chain repair i did was for a guy i met on the side of a trail above Boulder who was trying to hammer his chain together off the bike. fortunately he had not succeeded, and although the 5 different kinds of links my riding partner and i had with us did not include the kind he needed, we got him on his way with his damaged link removed. moral; tools are worthless if you don't know what you're doing.)
Schrader adapter; i would never use a gas pump on my tires for fear of blowing them up due to the poorly regulated pressure at those pumps, so wouldn't carry the Schrader adapter. if you can't live without it though, why not leave it screwed onto the (rear) wheel? not likely you're going to be able to feel it there, and at least you don't have to pack it somewhere.
bungees? i don't use anything to hang chains or cables when changing a wheel, so wouldn't bring them (at least for that reason).
tape; if you're going to bring that little bit, clean up a water battle and wrap some around that; you're still bringing it, but at least that way you won't have to find a place to store the roll.
glue; not sure what i'd need this for.
Channellocks; i don't' know what i'd need these for; definitely would not bring them. same with the chain pliers and needle nose.
more than anything else, i'd say keep up on your maintenance so you don't need most of this stuff at all! i may have different luck and/or different tolerance to the experiences, but i have never had anywhere near enough issues touring or mtn biking that i would consider carrying anywhere near this much stuff.
cheers!
e
random thoughts/observations (in no particular order):
i always carry a spare tube and patch kit. not just because you might have a puncture/blowout that requires a whole tube replacement, but because i'd rather swap in a fresh tube in the event of a failure and then patch later someplace more comfortable than the side of the road.
*always* carry currency; US currency is a very high quality paper, and a $1 bill (or $20 if you're feeling fancy) works very well as a 'boot' if you actually tear a hole in a tire and need to keep the tube from bulging out for a while. (Powerbar wrappers are probably the best for this, but i don't carry them anymore for other reasons.)
reminds me; check the glue in your patch kit; amazing how this stuff goes bad even if it's never been opened!
you can probably find a multi-tool (i like Gerbers for their better blades) that has a set of pliers, so you could leave the pliers and Swiss Army Knife at home. the only thing you'll lose is a cable cutter, but you can curly up the extra length of a cable out of the way until you get someplace you can deal with it later.
tire levers; i never use them, so don't carry them. 'm able to mount-dismount the tires i use one the rims that i use without tools. your combo of tires/rims may vary.
you can probably find a good cycle-specific multi-tool that has a chain breaker and Allen keys built in; make sure you get one with the sizes for the nuts/bolts you're most likely to need to tighten.
i haven't needed a chain tool while out on the road/trail in several decades; and then it wasn't for me. my impression is that chains are much better than they once were, but i might still bring one if on tour. probably wouldn't bother with extra links; i'd be OK with a couple fewer links 'til i could get to wherever i could replace the chain if need be.
(funny story; last chain repair i did was for a guy i met on the side of a trail above Boulder who was trying to hammer his chain together off the bike. fortunately he had not succeeded, and although the 5 different kinds of links my riding partner and i had with us did not include the kind he needed, we got him on his way with his damaged link removed. moral; tools are worthless if you don't know what you're doing.)
Schrader adapter; i would never use a gas pump on my tires for fear of blowing them up due to the poorly regulated pressure at those pumps, so wouldn't carry the Schrader adapter. if you can't live without it though, why not leave it screwed onto the (rear) wheel? not likely you're going to be able to feel it there, and at least you don't have to pack it somewhere.
bungees? i don't use anything to hang chains or cables when changing a wheel, so wouldn't bring them (at least for that reason).
tape; if you're going to bring that little bit, clean up a water battle and wrap some around that; you're still bringing it, but at least that way you won't have to find a place to store the roll.
glue; not sure what i'd need this for.
Channellocks; i don't' know what i'd need these for; definitely would not bring them. same with the chain pliers and needle nose.
more than anything else, i'd say keep up on your maintenance so you don't need most of this stuff at all! i may have different luck and/or different tolerance to the experiences, but i have never had anywhere near enough issues touring or mtn biking that i would consider carrying anywhere near this much stuff.
cheers!
e
Mark Boyd
May 28, 2025, 4:34:31 PMMay 28
to ernest b, bicycle...@googlegroups.com
On Wed, May 28, 2025 at 10:42 AM 'ernest b' via bicycletouring <bicycle...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
man, that's a lot of stuff! ;-)
That was my first reaction as well,
....
*always* carry currency; US currency is a very high quality paper, and a $1 bill (or $20 if you're feeling fancy) works very well as a 'boot' if you actually tear a hole in a tire and need to keep the tube from bulging out for a while.
I've aged out of touring now, but for the several decades when I was touring at least three month a year, even though most of my tours were in Europe, I would always have had US cash with me. I haven't had a US dollar bill in my wallet for years, but I think I'll get one to carry while riding! Thanks for reminding me!
....
you can probably find a multi-tool (i like Gerbers for their better blades) that has a set of pliers, so you could leave the pliers and Swiss Army Knife at home. the only thing you'll lose is a cable cutter, but you can curly up the extra length of a cable out of the way until you get someplace you can deal with it later.
The multitools I carry have always had pliers with a cable cutter.
....
more than anything else, i'd say keep up on your maintenance so you don't need most of this stuff at all! i may have different luck and/or different tolerance to the experiences, but i have never had anywhere near enough issues touring or mtn biking that i would consider carrying anywhere near this much stuff.
Sounds like good advice to me!
Mark
cyclin...@gmail.com
May 28, 2025, 7:53:20 PMMay 28
to Mark Boyd, ernest b, bicycle...@googlegroups.com
*always* carry currency; US currency is a very high quality paper,*
If you can get them, Canadian bills are now made of polymer, just about impossible to tear!
Regards and Tailwinds,
Adam K.
Sidney, BC
Canada
Email: cyclin...@gmail.com
Website: http://www.adamk.ca
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GMX
May 30, 2025, 3:16:33 AMMay 30
to Matthew Williams, bicycletouring
First of all, I do not consider anything below 200 km a long distance ride. So for most rides, which tend to be between 25 km (weekday morning before work) and 100 km (Sat./Sun.) ride, I carry 2 spare tubes, tire levers, minipump and a multitool. For any emergency that cannot be solved with those items, the remedy is my phone and my wallet.
On a brevet (200 or 300 km) I also carry an emergency spoke and an extra spare tube.
Cheers,
Nathan
Nathan Wajsman
@nwajsman.bsky.social
Слава Україні! Героям слава!
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GMX
May 30, 2025, 3:20:11 AMMay 30
to cyclin...@gmail.com, Mark Boyd, ernest b, bicycle...@googlegroups.com
The one time in the past 15 years that I have needed to “plug” a hole in a tire, my business card (I always have a few in my wallet) worked fine.
Nathan Wajsman
@nwajsman.bsky.social
Слава Україні! Героям слава!
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