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Your most creative MacGyver fix...

4K views 28 replies 24 participants last post by  cstem 
#1 ·
So we've probably all been there...stopped on the trail with a mechanical and no clear way of how to fix it and avoid a long walk out. What is you most creative trail side bike fix? And I'm not talking about booting a tire with a power bar wrapper...gotta be more unique than that! Oh and let's keep the sarcasm to a minimum....real fixes only!
 
#3 ·
All I can think of is all the times I broke my bike on the trail and have not been prepared to do anything about it. One time I stripped the threads on the thread insert of my truvativ crank, and lost a pedal. Rode with 1 pedal. Pin came out of my brake caliper, lost the pads, rode with front brakes only. Hit something with my brake caliper, loosening the brake line, leaked out all fluid, rode with front brakes only (again). And the list goes on of things I didn't fix in a creative manner...
 
#4 ·
Got a flat....ran stans....I never carry extra stans.....my tubes were bunk.....because stans is that good.....so I stuffed tires with grass and limped home.

I turned my 5.5" travel Mach 5 into a singlespeed by doing a middle to middle gearing and then jamming suspension travel with a stick because I did not have a pump with me.....major epic there to include death mud....many folks still make fun of me re: that trip....I chuckle too.
 
#5 ·
Rode Mingus Mt. with some buddies back when I was around 16 and got a flat just after cresting the top of the trail. I didn't ride with anything more than a water bottle and a candy bar back then, so I split the tread side of my tube and stuffed it with pine needles and small branches. Got down to the parking lot with minimal stoppage and barely far enough behind the group for them to start thinking something had gone wrong.

Used Gorilla tape and Camoform tape to hold together a broken rear triangle long enough to make the 2.5 or so miles back to the parking lot. I ride with the JB Weld metal putty stuff now..
 
#6 ·
Broken hanger

Some Italian friends flew across the pond a few years back, and I took them on a little road trip to Gooseberry Mesa and Moab, Prior to hitting the road, two of the Italians went out and bought new Cannondale full suspension bikes. First day we hit Gooseberry and the second day we rode Little Creek Mtn. About halfway through the ride, and about as far as you can get from the cars, one of them snapped off the rear derailleur hanger. No one in the group had an extra hanger except me, but mine was for a Turner and wouldn't fit the Cannondale dropouts, but we made it work. First we were able to use the QR to hold the Turner hanger in place (see pic 1), but the QR wasn't able to keep the hanger from rotating. So plan B was to use a tire level and some bailing wire and zip ties to keep the hanger from rotating (pics 2 and 3). It worked and he was able shift gears, and ride out 6 or 7 miles back to the car. Plan C was to air the rear shock up to 200 psi and turn it into a singlespeed.
 

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#8 ·
I remember a ride with U2metoo and Honemaster T (Sam and Tim) a few years ago. We were shuttling the Pinals and Tim broke his chainstay coming down Icehouse. IIRC we used surgical tape I had in my bag to wrap it up, and possibly tire irons to support it, can't really remember the details but Tim was able to scramble to a road crossing and ride all the way down to truck. Better than walking!
 

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#9 ·
Turning my 3X7 POS into a single speed on the middle front and middle rear gears after breaking the rear derailure and twisting 2 links in the chain. Was able to limp it over a mile back to the car that way. Debated riding it further, but the rear axle was bent slightly and the chain was too tight. Something woulda snapped.
 
#10 ·
As Maad alluded to, turning a full suspension bike into a ss is a tricky business. Shortening the chain requires just the right amount of slack to not climb the cassette and yet not too short it will break when the susp is compressed. My most successful effort was on Scott trail north of Steamboat when I still had 15 miles to ride.
 

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#11 ·
MacGyver is my middle name, but when my husband broke his throttle cable 20 miles from the truck, with most of it up and down into deep sand washes, he was bummed....and I was eager to spring into action. I was 100% sure I could fix it, he KNEW I couldn't. I started digging in my goodie bag looking for my zip tys and duct tape, while asking him to hand me a stick I pointed out....he refused to hand it to me saying there was NO WAY IT WAS GONNA WORK! After picking up the stick myself, I was able to mend the broken throttle cable and he rode it all the way back to the truck with zero problems. It worked so well that instead of taking the Hwy, we rode the "fun" way back.
 
#19 ·
From the historical files ~1992. Repairing a loose square taper crankarm the old fashioned way. Poison Spider Mesa. The owner of Absolute Bikes applying the tool.
This is the winner to me only for reminding me of the days of anodized purple, day-glo and helmets made of the same material as styrofoam beer coolers!
 
#18 ·
Had to resurrect this one after the ride y'day. Hat tip to Phil for this gem. Broken crank arm bolt on the non-drive side? No problem. 2 zipties & 2 sticks did the trick to get Jeff the 6+ miles back to the car.



Hold it, hold it....

Boom! done.
 
#20 ·
I seem to remember Yuri and/or Gordo dismantling a water bottle cage to replace a seat rail on a Flag to Grand Canyon ride that was pretty awesome.

Very cool stuff on this thread!
 
#21 ·
When I had my harley, I was riding from Michigan to Sturgis when I parked in a soft, hot asphalt parking lot and my bike tipped over. My front brake line hit something in the fall and had a half inch split in it. Some old school bikers saw me messing with it and fixed it by emptying a beer can and cutting it into a strip with a sh!t load of rubber cement and hose clamps. It held for a little more than 2300 miles....
 
#25 ·
I have used a couple of common tricks picked up over the years to get home. I actually did not think these would work until I had to use them. First one is having to tie a knot in a tube after suffering three flats in one ride. I was out of tubes and 7 miles from home, so I tied off the punctured area with a knot, stretched it around the rim and re-inflated. While every wheel rotation was met with a harsh thunk, I made it home much faster than walking.

I have also used a quick release handle from a skewer as a tire lever.
 
#27 ·
Tore side wall on trail bike tire and the tube was popping through. Took my debit card out and folded it in half and put it between the tire and the tube so it would stay in.

My favorite was on a dirtbike in the middle of the sand dunes (glamis) my buddy crashed and put a hole in his radiator on a kawasaki 450.

I plugged it so that it would run on only the left radiator by sicking branches in the tubes and using the hose clamps to seal it. Then i pissed in the top tube to fill it with "water" and capped it off. Got back the 10 miles with no damage.
 
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