Fixed It With Duct Tape: 20 Field Repairs That Saved Bike Tours
When something breaks 50 miles from the nearest town, touring cyclists become improvisational engineers. After years of collecting stories from long-distance riders, I’ve compiled the most creative field repairs that kept tours rolling. Some are elegant, some are desperate, but all worked when it mattered most.
Frame and Fork Repairs
1. Cracked rack mount repair: A rider in Mongolia discovered his rear rack mount had cracked, causing the rack to swing dangerously. Solution: Hose clamps wrapped around the chainstay, creating new mounting points. The clamps held for 800 miles until reaching a shop.
2. Broken seat stay: A fatigue crack developed in a steel frame’s seat stay during a South American tour. The fix: a Coke can split and wrapped around the crack, secured with zip ties and electrical tape. A metal sleeve from hardware store was later slid over as a more permanent fix that lasted 3,000 miles.
3. Fork crown crack: The most terrifying failure, discovered during a pre-ride inspection. The rider compressed the fork with wooden wedges harvested from shipping pallets, then wrapped the crown with fiberglass repair tape (meant for mufflers). Rode 200 miles to a bike shop at reduced speed.
Wheel and Tire Emergencies
4. Sidewall blowout: A rock slice opened a 2-inch gash in a tire sidewall. Multiple layers of duct tape inside the tire, reinforced with a folded $20 bill (stronger fiber content than modern bills), created a boot that held for 300 miles at reduced pressure.
5. Broken spoke, no spares: With no replacement spoke and a severely out-of-true wheel, a cyclist removed the broken spoke and wound tie wire from a rural hardware store through adjacent spoke holes. Not pretty, but rideable to civilization.
6. Cracked rim: A pothole cracked an aluminum rim near a spoke hole. The immediate fix: loosening surrounding spokes to reduce stress on the crack, then monitoring carefully. Long-term: a steel strap secured with hose clamps spanning the crack site to prevent further opening.
7. Valve stem failure: When a valve stem tore from the tube, and the only spare tube had an incompatible valve for the rim, the rider drilled out the hole in the rim (slowly, carefully) to accommodate the different valve. Better than walking.
Drivetrain Saves
8. Broken chain with no spare links: A chain break with no chain tool seemed tour-ending until a local farmer offered a hammer and nail. Carefully driving out the stuck pin and reconnecting the chain (without the outer plate on one side) created a weak but functional link that survived 100 miles to a shop.
9. Stripped pedal threads: Pedal threads destroyed in a soft aluminum crank arm. The field repair: JB Weld epoxy packed into the threads, pedal reinstalled and not removed for 2,000 miles. Actually held.
10. Snapped derailleur cable: In the era before electronic shifting, a snapped derailleur cable meant single-speed unless you got creative. One rider wrapped the cable housing around the derailleur and indexed gears by positioning the housing between stays. Crude but provided three usable gears.
11. Bent derailleur hanger: After a crash, a bent hanger caused chain skip across every gear. Using two adjustable wrenches as a hanger alignment tool (one holding the frame, one bending the hanger), careful adjustment restored function. Standard practice for experienced tourers.
12. Broken freewheel: When the freewheel body cracked, losing all pawl engagement, a rider locked the freewheel to the hub with JB Weld—creating a fixed gear bike. Cadence took adjustment, but it was rideable for 400 miles until replacement.
Brake and Control Repairs
13. Torn brake hood: A torn brake hood exposed internal mechanisms to dirt and rain. Duct tape molded to shape kept grit out and maintained reasonable ergonomics. Not comfortable for aggressive riding, but adequate for touring pace.
14. Broken brake lever: After a fall snapped the brake lever, a touring cyclist fashioned a replacement from thick aluminum sheet (salvaged from a road sign bracket) bent to shape and secured with hose clamps. Ugly but stopping power restored.
15. Hydraulic brake bleed, no tools: Air in hydraulic brakes created a mushy lever with minimal stopping power. In a country without bike shops, the rider improvised a bleed using a syringe from a pharmacy, mineral oil from a hardware store (verified as compatible), and electrical tape to seal connections. Proper bleed but unconventional method.
Carrying Capacity Solutions
16. Broken rack: A welded rack joint failed, leaving rear panniers dragging. The repair: wood splints strapped alongside the broken joint with zip ties and tape, then additional support from bungee cords to the seatpost. The lashed-together rack completed 1,200 more miles.
17. Lost pannier hook: When a pannier hook disappeared, leaving the bag unsecured, a bent tent stake created a replacement hook. Held by wire through the pannier’s hook hole, it wasn’t elegant but kept the bag attached for the remaining tour.
18. Handlebar bag mount failure: With the mounting bracket broken, paracord woven through the bag’s attachment points and around the handlebars created a secure, if slightly wobbly, mount. Many touring cyclists now carry this as a backup plan.
Miscellaneous Desperation Moves
19. Lost pedal: A pedal body shattered, leaving just the spindle. In a remote area, the rider strapped a flat piece of wood (cut from a pallet) to the spindle, creating a platform pedal. Foot retention was nonexistent, but forward progress was possible.
20. Seized bottom bracket: A bottom bracket seized solid, ending all pedaling motion. The radical solution: removing the cranks, cutting the bottom bracket shell out of the frame (with a hacksaw from a hardware store), and re-welding at a local farm’s machine shop. The frame survived another continent.
Essential Field Repair Kit
These repairs succeeded because riders carried versatile supplies:
- Duct tape (wrap around water bottle for compact storage)
- Zip ties (assorted sizes, minimum 20)
- Hose clamps (2-3 sizes)
- Wire (tie wire or safety wire)
- Multi-tool with pliers
- JB Weld or similar epoxy
- Electrical tape
- Spare bolts, nuts, and washers
- Fiberglass repair tape
- Sewing kit with heavy thread
The underlying lesson: most touring failures can be addressed temporarily with creativity, basic tools, and willingness to improvise. The repairs above weren’t meant to be permanent—they were meant to reach proper service. That’s the touring cyclist’s standard: keep moving forward.
