TLDR: Advice on flat repair kit items (spoons, jack or stand for moto, spare tubes, lubricant)
On my recent camping trip up Rollin’s, I found the only nail on the pass with my rear tire. Foolishly, I had recently acquired a basic repair kit, excluding any sort of flat repair kit… Lesson learned. Fortunately, some other riders had spoons, a 27mm wrench for my rear axle and a tube stem finder tool.
Needless to say, I want to buy those tools. Looking for pointers on the following, and any tools I forgot to mention / don’t know about:
Tire levers
Front and Rear axle tools
Lubricant
Jack or stand to lift bike
The other thing is, that I only had a front tire spare. Was able to change the tube, seat the beads and inflated to around 20PSI. I was afraid of going any higher, seeing that the front tube is so much narrower than the rear.
How far can I push a front tube in a rear? Is it a “limp home” situation or can you ride it pretty much like normal? This also brings up the question: do you only bring a front spare tube or both front and rear tubes on rides?
Bead Breaker. Beads on the T7 are notoriously hard to break and I’ve seen this tool in the field. If you’ll need something like this if riding solo, otherwise can use the kickstand of buddy’s bike to break the bead.
I carry a trail stand / crutch, for when there are no rocks or logs to stack
Patch kit
Air compressor.
Not sure if lube is required, though nice to have. Water from a camelback works too.
I’ve run a 21" tube in an 18" wheel but it was a temporary solution. I have a couple hidey-holes on the 790 to carry both front and rear tubes. If I were doing a multi-day ride I’d carry both flavors on bike / in bags + patch kit so I could repair the flat with a new tube then patch the tube at camp / hotel and carry that as my spare. Then I’d be on the lookout for bike shop or other to buy a replacement tube. Use Prime to ship a new tube to next hotel
One of the expanding stand things to hold the bike up with a wheel off the ground is an essential in the west where there may not be trees or stumps to use.
A 21 inch tube in a rear wheel is a “get you home” solution and not a very good one. It’s a pain to put in and who wants to have to change the tube twice for one flat? I carry both even on my dirt bike.
Motion Pro bead breaker levers work great and are recommended.
I may lose some popularity here but lube, bead buddies, and valve stem pullers are all unnecessary. What replaces all of these is practice.
Practice: this is the big one. For me this means when it’s time to change tires do it yourself on the floor in your garage with what you carry on the bike. No lube, no extra tools. This is really the only way to take the drama and hassle out of roadside repairs.
I’ll also add that I always carry a manual pump. On longer trips I’ll bring a compressor as well but compressors die, bike pumps almost never do.
Oh yeah, valve stem pullers:
Inflate the tube just enough that it holds its shape. Put it in the tire. Put the rim down onto the tire with the hole lined up with the valve stem. You can pull the tube out of the tire a little for even better access. Put stem through the hole and thread the nut on. Now finish mounting tire. I have never understood why guys will mess up their hands trying to fish the stem through after the tire is mounted. It’s just not necessary.
