So I have taken the leap and bought a nice aero bike, which is great and all (actually pretty excited), but I do have a question.
I still have all of my repair stuff for flat tires in a incredibly un-Aero underneath the saddle bike bag. This is definitely not aero. I have seen people use plastic bags under the saddle, stuff their repair kit in the back pocket of their jersey, use duct tape to fasten it tightly under the saddle, and even stick it in an empty water bottle and put it on the cage.
I looked up articles on this fourm and in magazines and everyone talks about where to put your drink, what helmet to wear, how to position your aero-bars…thanks for that, but here is my question:
What is the best way to pack your repair kit and what do you put in it?
My kit has:
two spare tires
yellowstick
allen key
Co2 cartiridge (x2)
Co2 valve (the thing that hooks the cartridge up to the stem – not sure of the technical name).
I want to set my new bike up properly And take full advantage of the aero-ness (is that a word?) and having a cloth bag stuffed full of these things hanging of my saddle probably isn’t it.
Pix are appreciated…
Thanks
So for a race, if you are totally just there to complete the race, then just leave it the way it is, wrapped up as tight as possible perhaps.
If you are wanting to go a bit faster though, just take 1 spare tire, and 1 co2.
wrap it all up as tight as you can in a ziplock and tape it tightly up under the seat.
for short races consider not bringing it at all. If you bring newer tires that are not worn out and cut up, the odds of a flat are very low.
I do one of three things, and it depends on the race length.
In a sprint I put my flat kit in my helmet using electrical tape. I have a Lazer aero helmet, and I put my tube, levers, and inflator/CO2 in a plastic bag that gets taped into the tail of the helmet. I only do this for a sprint as that little extra weight can start to hurt my neck after a while.
In an Olympic or HIM I take the same flat kit in a taped shut zip-lock sandwich bag, have it lying in my helmet in T1, then put it into a rear pocket in my trisuit. The only downside to this, is that in two races I’ve run out of T2 with it still in my rear pocket!
In an IM I use a bento box on my top tube, as I have gels in a flask in my pocket.
For training, I always use the bento box.
As has been suggested already, consider the length of the race and your purpose. For me, if it’s a sprint, I don’t carry anything. For an oly race or longer, I have 2 spares, 2 co2s and an inflator. I run xLabs behind my saddles on my race rigs so everything gets secured to it in some fashion.
xlab carbon wing or sonic wing…great for waterbottles, but there is also room inbetween to hold everything you would need
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I put my flat kit in a specialized virtue aero bottle mounted on the seat tube cage mount, no hydration on the frame, just a bottle between the bars and one behind the saddle on an xlab mount.
In a water bottle lashed under the seat.
The advantages of the bottle are that it’s waterproof and can be easily moved between bikes.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2567/4204782025_3c22a00dfb.jpg
If you are running clinchers, one tube should be enough. You can add some of the stick-on patches for extra insurance.
http://dsp.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/pDSP1-7373912p275w.jpg
In a sprint I put my flat kit in my helmet using electrical tape.
taped into the tail of the helmet.
This is pretty ingenious. Never heard of, or considered this before.
The water bottle is a good idea if you need the space (eg. Tubular tires), but stuffing it all under the seat is way better.
My Cannondale Slice came with a sweet mount under the seat that I had two bottle cages on originally, one right and one left. I found that I didn’t like to carry two bottles on the rear because when i did it was more difficult to do flying mount and dismounts.
I just re-arranged and now have one cage pointing rear, and repair items wrapped and tucked above the cage and under the seat. I have one tube, wrapped around one tire lever, and fasten with a piece of elastic lacing. I then used Velcro to secure 2 x CO2 cartridges, and one valve, around the tube and the mount.
That looks good. I didn’t even see teh tire in the first photo…
If you’re considering a bento pack for your flat kit, here’s another option, a dsw Speedpack:
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I love my Speedpack. Wish you guys at Dark Speed Works would design some sort of a flat-kit bag that is meant just for this purpose, tiny, just flat-kit essentials, that will hug-up behind and beneath my seat
Thanks for the feedback. So a related question, do you carry a behind the seat (BTS) bottle?
I don’t mount a bottle behind the seat. I wanted something very minimal, similar to joec nyc’s post above. I had a very small zippered bag, about 4" square, with a belt-type loop. I am able to stuff a tube, levers, and crap pipe inside. Then I had one of those ipod arm bands lying around and I used the velcro neoprene armband (the ipod case part is removable to wrap through the belt-loop of the bag and around my saddle rails which keeps everything snug and clean. Right now a still keep the c02 in my Speedpack.
I had thought of designing my own bag (my girlfriend sews, I can’t sew a button) so that it is similar to a wrench roll-up with small pockets for the tube, levers, and c02.
Love the roll up bag idea. Run with it. I will buy one when you start selling them in REI.
What about the “Wedgie?”
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Cool. never seen that before.
