Now get out of that!

By Mike Davis

Before (top) and after

We're noticing a distinct theme to your bodged trailside repairs - cable ties and sticks. Clearly if you're looking for a universal repair kit, you need to make sure that you (a) carry plenty of cable ties and (b) ride in woodland areas.

This week's top bodge comes from Roger Wayte of well-known club Berks On Bikes (www.bobmbc.com):

There were 21 of us doing a trail starting and finishing in Basingstoke via Watership Down. The furthest point of the 34-mile trip was a granny ring climb to get onto Watership Down.

At the top is quite a nice long blast but it was at this point my front mech cable outer split leaving me jammed in my granny ring. Since I was the one closing the gate (I'm usually the slowest up the hills!), everyone had disappeared over the horizon, although we are a responsible club and they waited for me a mile or so further on. I needed to effect some repair so that the ride could carry on (with me).

The outer was fixed using two pieces of wood and three cable ties. The repair was effective enough for me to ride all the way back without compromising speed or general lunacy.

Splendid work. We've seen this done with plastic tyre levers and tape, too. One well worth remembering...

Over to you

We want to know about your MacGyver-esque trailside repairs - the ones that show a bit of lateral thinking, a dash of inspiration and the all-powerful spirit of bodge. We'll share the best ones with the world, in the hope that they might come in handy for someone else one day.

Send a description and a picture (that's important - we want stuff that you've actually done and has worked) to us at the usual address...

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Discuss this article, 1 of 44 messages, read more:

fatty davies

Posted: 22/09/06 07:53:25 25

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 :-)

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