locolobo13 

Fixing a flat the other day, I was thinking..

Nowadays, I wear a small daypack, carry panniers, tools, etc. Way overloaded. OTOH if I run into a giant mouse I'll be glad to have the giant mousetrap..

Back in the 60s and 70s.. No pack, "What is that thing?" No rack, bags, etc. Sometimes a spare tube or patch kit. There was a gas station on just about every major intersection. With air. You didn't have to walk a mile to find one. If the attendant was bored he might help you patch your tube. Most of the service stations around here have their air hoses cut, fittings gone. If you put your money in the air machine before checking, too bad for you.

How do you remember the "good ole days", bicycling wise?

Jughed

Early days?

Jersey Shore barrier island - 8 friends, 2 BMX bikes. One guy on each pedal, one guy sitting on the bars, one guy riding the pegs some 50 blocks to the boardwalk. Dem were the days...

rsbob 

In the 60s and 70s I had a frame mount pump secured by a couple of frame clamps, and that was it. Good only for slow leaks, but then I never did any real distance, just back and forth to school/s.

In the 80s, started seriously getting into cycling and carried an under seat bag with a spare tube, patch kit, tire levers, tire boot and multi-tool - and a frame mount pump.

For the last 3 years I have gone tubeless. I still have a very small underseat bag with some of the same stuff: a spare tube, tire boot, tire plugs, valve stem remover, quick link, one CO2 cartridge and head. Ditched the multi-tool since it never is used. Carry a mini-pump in my jersey pocket and always a cell phone. So, I have scaled down to the necessities, but then I usually ride not further than 25-30 miles distant from the house even though I will ride 60-80 miles at times. Have never been utterly stranded in years with what (little) I carry.

Iride01 

In the early days as a pre-teen and teen ager, I never took anything with me other than me and the bicycle. Not even a pump or patch kit. Maybe some water. I don't remember getting caught wanting for more. Perhaps a few times I had to walk home with a flat.

staehpj1

Yep that is true for me as well at least until I was maybe close to 20 years old. That would be in the 50s and 60s. Of course that was the days of "balloon tires" and in the later part maybe an "English racer". I don't think I got a "ten speed" until I was either out of or at the end of that period.

I never have carried all that much compared to what the OP mentions. Maybe a tiny seat wedge with a mini tool and enough to fix a flat and do some repairs. Depending on where I am I may have a mini pump and some means of patching/plugging, but for local daily trail rides these days I have found tubeless so reliable that I may have nothing on the bike for tire repairs. Even on multimonth tours I don't carry much more tools and spares.

philbob57

As a kid and a grad student, I just rode. When I went back to biking several years after grad school, my chain broke on a Sunday ride in Alexandria, Va. No biker who passed me had a chain tool. No bike store was open. I don't remember how I got home. I purchased a Pletscher rack and some sort of bag to hold tools that Monday or Tuesday. I've ridden with lots of tools since then ... more and more as arthritis has weakened my hands (Kool-Stop Tire Jack, anybody?). Now it's a 40 year old Blackburn rack and a year old Carradice 9 L bag, which carries tools, patch kit, tube(s), snack, phone, lock, jacket, maybe arm warmers, leggings ....

Used a rack trunk until last year; went to the Carradice bag because I couldn't reliably get my leg over the rack trunk. I wish I had gone with a Carradice bag years earlier, even though I had to use accessory bag loops.

Carbonfiberboy 

Back in the bad old days, all I took with me was 2 PB&Js and a quart canteen. Back then, tires were so thick I never flatted. But then 10 mph was a respectable all-day pace. Yes, gas stations had air hoses, plenty of pressure to blow the tires right off those smooth rims.

For the last 20 years or so, I've used the Large Ortleib saddle bag and a Road Morph pump. Had my first flat in years today. My GP 5000 tires have been marvelous, best tires ever. I got a big sidewall cut from an unseen rock. Luckily, they're not tubeless. I always carry 2 tubes and a spare tire. Also patch kit and boot kit. I run 23mm on my singles, so not a big deal. Back on my way in 15'. Rural road, bike shoes, np phone, long walk to anywhere. I've never had to walk. OTOH, the really long rides I've done have been with friends. Thus what I carry is also what in the past I've had to borrow to keep going. Now, I can loan.

John E

After getting stranded several miles from home with a flat tire, I began carrying all sorts of tools, pump, patch kit, spare spokes, spare gear and brake cables, chain tool on every ride
At this stage in life, I am still well-equipped to patch or swap an inner tube during a ride.

Wildwood 

Started (as an adult) around 1981/82 with friends as summer training for winter skiing. Los Gatos, CA so Santa Cruz Mts. Had 2 friends that offered spare bikes for me to ride until early Spring 1985 when I bought my own. So I learned - before buying - that fast racy double cranksets were fine even on smallish lightweight frames, but to ride the mountains I needed a triple. Touring triple even better. Also that a 59/60cm fit me better than 57cm.
Bought a Centurion as a bachelor and it saw me thru early fatherhood. (here's the best quick pic -note 30tooth granny for hauling and climbing.) Funny what we save as 'favorites'.



I remember the guy rides subsided when I moved to Santa Cruz, but the solo mountain rides and Hwy1 coast rides (mostly north towards Half Moon Bay) sucked me hopelessly into the cycling vortex. I remember a cycling friendly community. Almost like a kid again, the bike served the purpose of feeling wind-in-your-hair freedom, and a reason to get outside for just a couple hours. Then began N+1. .

Then the family. Had fun riding with 2 kids as well. Neighbors called this one the Seussmobile. We went on 15mi rides on the lower mountain roads up past Scotts Valley.

cyclezen

Now ? Heavenly ! Then? We thought we had heaven... LOL!
Finally being convinced by the 'Old Guys' in Central Park that a decent set of tubular wheels would make my riding much better - getting off the steel rim tractor wheels I had on my used PX10...
'Revelation' One of many more to come !
Tried some new 'race clinchers' in '86 and went right back to Sewups ! But 7 spd ultra, some years before, was a major revelation.
Sewups - you don;t need tire levers, or inner tubes or patches. BITD you carried a 5 allen key, a 9,10,11 small bike wrench and a spare Sewup... a very small tube of quik-set cement, so you could 'hobble' home, after making a tire change because of some tire issue...
Racing? Point to Point, or large road circuit, even a spare wheel meant you were done for the day.
Crit? you got a 'free' lap to put on your spare wheel - YAY!
But cheap stuff was REALLY CHEAP STUFF ! Many of today's entry level machines are way better than much of the top level stuff from the 60-early 70's bike boom.
Wood Sole Duegis were a revelation, because they had a bolt-on cleat.
'Clipless' was a new level of Heaven !
Index shifting - OMG !
Many points of change have been fabulous ! Sadly, UCI has stifled some areas which could have benefited from 'new thought'.
Every stage of my life on the bike has been wonderful and I'm over-the-moon to be riding now.
Then & Now ? It's like when you are well past some tough times - it doesn't seem as anything except - How it was...
Remembrances of getting to Central Park at 5:30 AM for the 6 AM race start, are fond - but prolly wasn;t that, back then...
I live in the Best of Times!
Ride On
Yuri
EDIT: OH Yeah, you hadd a frame pump...

Biker395 

Oh, I miss those days!

Wildwood 

Coming up on the 25th anniversary of the 'triple' Seussmobile pic. Dam I'm old.

Oh yeah, Now. I just wish to ride them all. Vintage, modern, eroad.

A 'commuter'. And a vintage looney

Clyde1820

Growing up, we had DIY bikes that we'd put together ourselves. With those, generally we headed out into the fields for a day of playing around. Never did bring a fix-it kit or bag. What little we did carry was a bunch of water, but that was about it. Be back in the house before dark ... that was about the only real rule, back then.

As a teen and up through my twenties, I often did carry a smaller daypack and/or fanny pack. Brought along a change of clothes, simple tools, spare tubes. But my bikes were quite simple back then. Little to go wrong, and I didn't push them hard, using them primarily for A-B transportation.

This past 25yrs or so, I find I'm always with a saddle bag of tools and a small sack of something. A few spare parts and tools, water, some nibbles if it's going to be a ride in excess of 2+ hours (which is rare, anymore).

locolobo13 

My Dad insisted I carry a dime. Not for spending. The dime was for calling home when all else failed. Growing up in the city, there was a phone booth and a drinking fountain within a mile or two, usually.

Don't think I used the dime more than once.

ofajen

30-50 mile solo rides on country highways. Back then no annoying rumble strips at the edge of the road. 300g tubular training tires, a spare strapped on the back of an Ideale leather saddle and a frame fitted Silca pump with a Campy head that made a formidable tool for keeping country dogs at least arms length off the bike. DP shoes with nailed on metal cleats, toe clips and straps. Amazingly, I didn’t get killed and always made it home on my own power.

Otto

rando_couche

As a rule, the "good old days" weren't.

indyfabz

This is the 25th anniversary of my first ever tour. Seattle to Ocean City, NJ via Bar Harbor, ME. On June 1 we crossed the N. Cascades Highway in rain and snow. We spent this night in Republic, WA. Light snow the next morning during breakfast, before the climb up Sherman Pass. It snowed during my descent, but I had the pleasure of seeing a moose.

Fredo76

Then: Spare sew-up plus a Silca frame pump with a Campy head. USA population 205 million. My nickname was 'Freight Train'.
Now: Spare sew-up* plus a Topeak two-stage, double-action mini pump. USA population 336 million. I am now 'The Wheezing Geezer'.

*On Blue Bella, at least. Fredo has a small seat bag, Clem and Bella have racks with top bags.

downtube42

I rode my Schwinn Continental with it's 27x1.25 (that's 32mm in today speak) Schwinn Approved gumwalls all over the gravel roads of north central Indiana, carrying one water bottle and generally less than $2. Cyclists knew which friendly homes had a spigot, which churches had open doors (most of them), and where you could buy lunch for under $2. My typical mid-ride meal was a Hostess Cherry Fruit Pie and a Mott's apple juice. I don't recall a single flat tire; I didn't carry any repair and there was certainly no rescue call.

Re: being the good old days. A middle school friend was abducted while riding a bike. He managed to escape. It was all kept hush hush; he certainly didn't receive any kind of counseling, other than from the local dealers as he self medicating for the next decade or so.

locolobo13 

Bought a Schwinn Varsity in the early 70s. Rode it everywhere. Gravel, dirt, alleys, even tried jumping it in a gravel quarry. Spectacular crash. The bike was OK. We would drink from cooler hoses in people's yards.

Sorry about your friend. Sometimes we'd hear scary stories of the kind but nothing for certain.

ascherer 

When I got started 50+ years back I carried a water bottle, a pump, tube, and a MAFAC tool kit. Maybe a patch kit too. After a year or two I started riding on tubulars, so a spare or two replaced the tube and levers. Over time the toolkit expanded a bit but not too much. A small number of tools enables me to do most of what's most likely to go off during a ride. Jersey pockets or bags for snacks, phone, extra water bottle, whatever a given ride may require.

1972/2024

rsbob 

Had a green Schwinn Continental for two years until it was stolen after the chain was cut. It was replaced a brown Schwinn Varsity - not having skewers on the Varsity was a pain - but seldom had a flat in the 6 years I rode it and put on thousands of miles commuting. Had a frame pump on the Varsity with a couple of screw on brackets. No tools carried in those days.

indyfabz

Remember these?

Flip Flop Rider

ride and play..lay your bike down and come back to it whenever..ride to the store and cash in some bottles