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12 of the best emergency bike fixes — get going again with these smart bodges

Top tips for fixing punctures, split tyres, broken chains and snapped gear cables

[This article was originally published August 6, 2015]

Having a mechanical problem when you are a long way from home is never much fun, much less so if it’s raining and cold, which is usually seems to be when we have a puncture. We asked the road.cc Facebook page for their best roadside maintenance bike fixes and here are some of the best suggestions.

From the submissions we had, it clearly looks like punctures and ripped tyres are the biggest cause of roadside mechanicals, but there are some ingenious solutions to rarer mechanicals like snapped gear cables and spokes. And it appears many mechanicals can be fixed with nothing more expensive than zip ties, gaffa tape, empty gel sachets and even plasters.

Repairing a puncture

Darragh Delaney has a good solution for repairing a puncture if you’ve not got a spare tube or patches. “If you puncture your only tube, find the hole, slice tube at this point. then make a knot and pull tight. It will be a squeeze to put back into tyre but it can be inflated and will get you home," he says.

It's probably preferable to Andy Fraser’s solution: “I once stuffed my mtb tyres with grass to get me home.”

Fixing a split tyre

Punctures are never much fun, but a split tyre is even worse. Mark Bleakley simply says it’s “all about the energy gel wrapper to fix the hole in a split tyre!”

plaster tyre

Plasters are an unlikely method. Simon William Robertson O'Brien says he "fixed a burst tyre on the coast to coast with blister plasters!"

Martin Evans prefers to be even more prepared in the case of a split tyre. He says to “cut out a section of old tyre to carry and use as a boot in the event of a tyre split.”

As our own John Stevenson discovered back in 2017, new-style Bank of England plastic notes can also make highly effective tyre boots. 

The gaffa tape bodge

Matthew Rollinson reckons gaffa tape is an essential roadside tool. “Wrap several lengths of gaffa tape around the handle on the mini pump you keep in the saddle bag, you can wrap it round and round on itself straight from the roll. It will fix literally anything," he suggests.

roadside fixes3

What can you fix with gaffa tape? How about a split tyre, as this photo shared by Andrew Mcgurk demonstrates.

roadside fixes5

The broken spoke zip tie fix

In the unlikely event of a wheel spoke breaking, Pete Spittles shows that it is possible to use nothing more than a couple of zip ties to fix the broken wheel. Here's a photo he shared of a hastily repaired mountain bike wheel spoke.

roadside fixes4

Broken chains and snapped cables

Broken chains are rare, but still it pays to be prepared, reckons Richard Rothwell. He says to “tape a split link to your chainstay. Knock out damaged link. Join chain in seconds. Always there if you need it.”

roadside fixes1

Snapped gear cables are a bit more troublesome, but not impossible. “Fixing a broken front derailleur cable by jamming a short stick between the mech and seat tube, so it stays on the big ring,” is the top tip from Rob Smith, who shared this photo of his fix for the RideLondon 2014. He rode the last 40 miles like this.

roadside fixes2

But what happens if your rear derailleur cable snaps? A rear derailleur will force the chain into the small cassette sprocket when the cable is removed, which will make pedalling hard work. Steve Cutler shows here how he managed to force the rear mech into a middle gear using nothing more than an inner tube and some precision knot tying.

An inner tube has many uses

In fact, there are many uses for a spare inner tube. Azeem Pirbhai tells us how a broken rack was fixed with one. “On a ride from Wittmund to Bremerhaven along the coast, the rear rack snapped at the bottom, of course in the middle of nowhere," he recalls. "A strip of old inner tube was employed to lash what remained of the rack to the frame. I carried on with fully loaded panniers for the remaining 450km of the tour. old inner tube has many emergency uses!”

Sod it, call a cab

Sometimes though, there’s nothing else you can do but “call a cab,” suggests Julian Bright.

Do you have any good roadside fixes? We'd love to hear them in the comments below.

David worked on the road.cc tech team from 2012-2020. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds, and you can now find him over on his own YouTube channel David Arthur - Just Ride Bikes

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16 comments

Avatar
Woldsman | 3 years ago
1 like

Instead of fannying about with packaging material, chewing gum and bits of tree why not carry the proper kit? 

A rear inner cable for brake and derailleur take up little more room than a cafe lock and you can use your old toe strap (or maybe your grandad's) to fasten a folding tyre to the underseat pack where you keep that spare derailleur hanger  3

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pockstone | 3 years ago
1 like

No need for sticks, chewing gum or a pulp of dead leaves to keep going when a derailleur cable snaps (usually within the shifter), just choose your preferred gear and wrap the cable round a loosened  bottle cage nut, pull the cable tight and nip up the bolt to secure the cable. If the terrain or gradient changes you can easily select and maintain a different gear.

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ktache replied to pockstone | 3 years ago
0 likes

I like that one. 

When my tripple cable snapped a couple of monts back, I removed a few lab disposables to see what would enable me to get to the middle and then remove so I could climb the big hill, I discovered that the lid of a plastic bijou worked almost perfectly, just a fraction of a mm out, the rivits just touched the cage and made for an interesting noise when I was in the middle.

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pockstone replied to ktache | 3 years ago
2 likes

I discovered this one at the very bottom of Norwood Edge on the way to see the World Champs last summer. Put it in the climbing gear and cruised all the way to the top. Unfortunately it was downhill all the way to Harrogate from there.

Too lazy to adjust the cable, I was spinning like a demented windmill the rest of the way. A bad enough look on your own in the middle of nowhere, especially embarrassing in the company of just about every cyclist in the North of England and several from beyond our shores.

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ktache replied to pockstone | 3 years ago
0 likes

I use GrungeGuards to cover my derailiers, lessen maintenance and prolong their useful life, so jamming things into the parrarellelogram was less of an option.

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PpPete | 3 years ago
2 likes

Gear cables usually break in the shifter.  With externally routed cables: move the rear derailleur in by hand and lift the chain to the biggest sprocket on the cassette.  Withdraw the broken cable from the shifter and tie it off around the cable stop at the head tube.  You won't be able to get it very tight, but with a bit of luck the slack will mean that when you turn the pedals the chain ends up comfortably somewhere in the middle of the cassette.

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caw35ride | 3 years ago
0 likes

SJS Cycles sells a tiny, emergency spoke for 9 quid. Probably a fiver when I bought mine, but it finally saved a ride on the Dunwich Dynamo last year.

A Voile strap can do any number of things, including the front and rear mech bodges shown.

An old toothpaste tube makes a good tyre boot. Dollar bill too, I hear.

Carrying, and knowing how to use, a compact chain tool will save you or your mate one day. Quicklinks are a must (encourage your regular riding buddies to carry them too)!
 

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Kendalred replied to caw35ride | 3 years ago
5 likes

Re Quicklinks - I saw a good hack the other week, and I have now done it myself: simply put a new quicklink/powerlink on your house keys keyring, that way whenever you take your housekeys out, you have a quicklink with you (and who doesn't take their keys with them?). Thankfully not had to use one yet, but at least I know it's there. I do also carry one in the saddlebag as well.

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ktache replied to Kendalred | 3 years ago
0 likes

wrong thread.

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IanGlasgow replied to Kendalred | 3 years ago
1 like

Kendalred wrote:

Re Quicklinks - I saw a good hack the other week, and I have now done it myself: simply put a new quicklink/powerlink on your house keys keyring, that way whenever you take your housekeys out, you have a quicklink with you (and who doesn't take their keys with them?). Thankfully not had to use one yet, but at least I know it's there. I do also carry one in the saddlebag as well.

I carried a quicklink on my keyring for about 20 years (I learned the hard way when my chain broke and I didn't have one). Didn't use it once. Admittedly for about 5 years I didn't even own a bike.
Of course a year after I took up cycling again my chain broke and I walked home. I wonder what happened to that old quicklink I carried for so long?

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Hirsute | 3 years ago
0 likes

I couldn't work out the spoke one from the picture.

How do you get enough tension in the spoke? And how do you fit the tie ?

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Bishop0151 replied to Hirsute | 3 years ago
0 likes

I think they have looped one cable tie and poked that loop through the spoke hole in the rim. Then extended other cable ties from this loop, down to the hub. Tension would have to be a best guess. Assuming some tension at this point would be better than none.

Not convinced that this would make an appreciable difference to no spoke!

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boblo | 3 years ago
0 likes

I had the familiar shotgun blast/split tyre event yesterday. I carry a small length of old inner tube to insulate CO² canisters to avoid frostbite when using them. That was successfully pressed into use as an emergency tyre boot for the remaining 40 tandem miles home...

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kil0ran | 3 years ago
5 likes

Polymer bank note as a tyre boot. £20 for the Rapha crowd (hey, it's pink after all), a Winston for everyone else 😉

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Eton Rifle replied to kil0ran | 3 years ago
0 likes

kil0ran wrote:

Polymer bank note as a tyre boot. £20 for the Rapha crowd (hey, it's pink after all), a Winston for everyone else 😉

Erm, I think they're blue these days, but, yeah, great addition to a saddle bag for no weight or bulk. 

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kil0ran replied to Eton Rifle | 3 years ago
2 likes

Literally haven't seen one. Last time I used cash this year was at the end of January...

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