It’s What We Do

This entry is part 1 of 18 in the series Adventure Rider Issue #15

wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Main-series-img-3.png

I feel like I’m carrying way too many tools and I don’t think that’s fair.

With all the technological advances on today’s bikes, why should I still have to carry several kilos of dead-weight hardware? Is it because I’m what my son calls ‘Old School’? Maybe that’s part of it.

I learnt from really good people the value of being able to repair the common problems that might crop up on a bike, and I admit I’m reluctant to let go of those teachings. But when I look at my current tool kit, I scratch my head and wonder. There’s a great many things I considered essential equipment a couple of decades ago that I now think are a complete waste of time. I don’t carry a spare plug. I don’t fit spare cables or carry a cable-repair kit. I don’t carry gas bottles or spare sprockets any more, either.

I know the variety of tools I need is partly because I’m lucky enough to be on a different new bike every week.

I’m hopelessly forgetful, so rather than pack a new toolkit for each bike, I have one kit that will service most Euro and Japanese brands.

That means Torx drivers, Allen keys, sockets, open-enders and a couple of select ringees. Even one multi-tool doesn’t seem enough. I usually have three, all just a little different in some respects.

“A puncture could be a credible excuse to pull up and catch my breath without having to admit how knackered I am.”

Already that’s a chunk of mass that needs to be secured, preferably down low some-where on the bike to make sure it doesn’t move around and work its way free.

But the real wodge of mass is in the tyre repair gear.

I still do my tyre changes from my on-bike toolkit to ensure I’ll have all I need when I’m caught in the desert or bush somewhere,and it’s an area where I think the modern bikes haven’t taken many steps forward with technology.

I’m still using and carrying the Metzeler tyre levers I had modified 20 years ago – they’re shortened and have axle spanners welded to them – a couple of tubes, a patch kit with a gazillion patches and a couple of tubes of glue that always seem to burst and clag up an entire CamelBak, pannier, or bum bag. Those things make up a heavy load and take up a lot of room and I’ve been carrying them, with some variations, for a long time.

But now, with the big-horsepower and luxury of today’s adventure bikes, I also need a bead breaker and one of those funky multi-fit hex-driver things to get the front axle out of a few of the current models. Of course there’s no standard size and I was even caught recently when none of the four or five drivers on the tool I had would fit the bike I was on. That was a bit of a bummer, I can tell you.

“Go tubeless!” I hear some of you cry and I’m a big fan. Chuck in a plug set and pump and you’re good to go…until you tear a sidewall or ding a rim. When that happens the only repair that might get you to the next town is a tube.

So they’re still in my kit and that means I need the bead breaker and all the other gear.

“Mousse tubes!” I imagine others crying out. But I don’t know of any mousse tubes rated for the speed of the big horsepower bikes. If I can’t do the speed, what’s the point in having the horsepower in the first place?

Old School I may be, but I still feel as though the advances in modern bikes haven’t meant I can carry less gear.

What it does mean though, is where my 650 single of a couple of decades ago offered something like 35 horsepower, today’s multi-cylinder dream machines are commonly offering three times that power output, and if I’m hanging on to 100 horsepower or more, a few kilos of tools is the least of my worries.

A bike with that kind of power delivery can be a real handful to ride hard, so a puncture could be a credible excuse to pull up and catch my breath without having to admit how knackered I am.

Maybe there’s a subtle strategy there I hadn’t considered…but you can bet I will in future.

Series NavigationRideKTM >>