Don't know who said 'plan for the worst, hope for the best' but he/she could well have been a cyclist.
Most of us here at Tredz cycle to work most of the time. Some of us every day – and we’ve built up a pretty good collective knowledge of what you really must take on the commute with you. Stuff that you will use every day, stuff that you’ll need in an emergency and stuff that will make your ride a whole lot more comfortable.
If we asked each rider here what they need on they’re cycle to work we’d have a pretty disparate selection of answers. Despite what some of the people downstairs would say, full lycra isn’t one of life’s necessities (more than a few wouldn’t call it one of life’s luxuries either) – so we’ve gone with a group average of essential cycle to work kit.
Starting this week with tyre choice and maintenance:
It is of course possible to go whole months of puncture free existence, cycling happily on your relatively cheap, unkevlared standard tyres without a care in the world.
It is also a pretty sure thing that streets liberally sprayed with glass, thorns and storm drains are going to get you at some point – but you can do a good job at a) preventing them and b) preparing to fix them when the pavement gods spit on you.
Preventing them comes down to choosing good puncture resistant tyres and maintaining the correct pressure. With regards to the tyres, we can happily recommend the Specialized Armadillo range, as more and more of us here at Tredz are using them. Maintaining them is as simple as maintaining the correct pressure (you’ll see on the sidewall) and brushing off the days crud that they’ll attract, to prevent the chance of any sharp bits getting more embedded. Easy to do and at least as important as Kevlar in preventing punctures.
OK, so you’ve taken some big steps towards preventing punctures, but short of carrying your bike you will still suffer them at some point. Carrying the necessary equipment to get you back on your bike as soon as possible after a puncture is vital, as not many bosses take too kindly to the puncture excuse for being late.
Trust me.
A bicycle hand pump and a spare inner tube will get you going in no time when you’re in a rush. Be sure to make sure that the tyre has had whatever caused the puncture removed – and before you’ll be on your way in no time.
Apart from the spare tube and pump, a puncture repair kit (it should have at least patches, glue, chalk, sandpaper and levers) is necessary for those times when you’ve already used your spare tube… Remember, punctures are a pack animal, attacking cyclists in groups – you just never seem to get one at a time.
You’ll be able to get all this stuff into a decent saddle bag – a handy, unobtrusive way of keeping it on you at all times.
Remember sods law was created with cyclists in mind, the day you don’t bother taking this stuff with you is the day that you’ll get a puncture.
