To the guy with the split outer cable:
Do you not carry a pliers to enable you to cut back the outer cablefor such an emergency? Just a thought.

Also, Ben with 24 spokes ripped out. Thats happened to a mate of mine, luckily we were able to pull the odd spoke form a few of our bikes and relaced it as best we could so he could continue. It lasted for 12 miles with a (sorry Chewy) 18st lump on its back :-)

A set of pliers wont cut through all cable outers. At least not my ride-on goretex ones.

and not to mention the extra weight with carrying the pliers with you, which i'm not prone to - unless riding in the alps

I always carry bolt croppers just in case, you can never be too sure...

Seriously though, if you decide to carry pliers where does it all end? I don't carry pliers or even a Gerber-type multi-tool and I've never felt I've needed to retrospectively. I do carry a few spare chain links and a powerlink, a bike-specific multitool, tyre levers, pump and spare tubes and, last but not least, a Park Tyre Boot, which is brilliant if someone rips a big hole in a tyre. Oh, and a HT2 tightening widget as well.

I always carry a small Leatherman because it also has screwdrivers and a blade on it.

I carry a Victorinox Rucksack knife, in addition to exactly what Juan carries above.
It's got a huge blade (sharper and more durable than any US multitool blade) and a 3" wood saw, it's brilliant for trail maintainance. That is the actual trail.
But no pliers.
That would be pointless.

I carry a Leatherman multi tool- very useful while out in the mountains extra weight or not. Useful for cutting out snapped spokes to make safe - that is until you employ muppetry and cut the good spoke out by mistake and it's not even your own bike - whoooops! He still hasn't forgiven me!

Leatherman for me too, its like the 21st Century swiss army knife, imagine what MacGuyver could do with that thing!!!...ok cant do the most important thing like open a bottle of wine :)

You don't need to cut broken spokes, you can just zip tie them to the next one or twist them round their neighbour. Sorry, but Leatherman's are stupidly heavy for what they are - a glorified Swiss Army knife with not very good pliers attached. They're also absurdly overpriced.

I carry a wheel-truing stand, just in case like...

i carry a gerber suspension multitool. and have used it in the following circumstances.
1) tightening the bolts on my eccentric bb
2) cutting various bits of string / rope etc. that were strun accross bridleways / locking gates that were blocking bridleways.
3) adding extra leverage to a chain tool to losen a pin.
4) bending a chin link back into shape.
5) cutting brambles that have grown accross the trails.

i'd not be without it.
best bodge repair was on the c2c earlier this year - mate's chain slipped and broke 3 spokes on an already very out of true wheel.
piccy here....
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/julian.alden-salter/images/c2csmall/Coast%20to%20coast%20080.jpg

being a big guy i've always had the philosiphy that it's better to loose weight off myself before stressing aobut how much i carry on the bike. a smallish saeatpost bag is enough to carry everythign i need. none ofthis backpack nonsense.

Sorry, but my Leatherman pliers were a Godsend whilst guiding and they were worth their weight in gold. Which wasn't actually an awful lot because they are the smaller models, so don't actually weigh too much...

Hans – I think you're fibbing!

Now I know why I'm not fast up the hills.......I'll ditch my Leatherman.........must have been weighing me down! Hopefully I can sell it for an absurdly overpriced rate too! (sarcastic but it's Friday!)

Calm down dear, it's only a forum.

I'm not saying Leatherman tools aren't occasionally handy, I'm just questioning how often I'd use it in the real world. If you do fine. Whether it's absurdly overpriced is subjective, but I can think of better uses for 80-odd quid...

Anyway, Gerber ones are better ;-)

Buying Leatherman tools this side of the Atlantic is a waste of money. I bought a leatherman wave in the US for about 75 dollars, they're about 120 Euro here...

Heheh!

You can do the 'Gerber-flick' with them...

Purely for the sake of argument, here's mine, which cost the grand sum of £40. Small and genuinely useful tools. Didn't see the point of some of the more expensive tools, especially when I don't have any horses hooves to remove stones from.

I'm calm - I admit i don't use it loads but I know the time I don't bring it I'll need it - you know how it goes! Like you on price - it's subjective and I did my mine in the US on hols as I'd baulked at the price here. Another thing it doesn't have is 'one of things for getting stones out of horses hooves' (laugh).

A set of pliers wont cut through all cable outers. At least not my ride-on goretex ones.

Mine will...

;-)

Are they for splicing ropes? My Scout days are too far back to remember?