– Carrying tools and spare
parts is always a good idea when you head out Mountain biking. But if like myself you drive
to the trails then you have the luxury of taking quite
a lot of stuff with you. But there's no need to
go cramming your car with loads of stuff you don't need to take. But it's a really good idea to have a bit of a car boot set up. Now this is what typically what
I have in the back of my car for when I go riding.
All I need to do is
simply chuck my bike in, pump, and my riding
kit and hit the trails. (whooshing) First things first is seeing
how much storage space you have in the back of your car. Now even if you just put the
seats back on any standard car you've got a decent amount
of room inside there. But what I quite often see when going to trails centers and places like that. Is guys with just literally
endless amounts of stuff just lu-sed in the back of
the car, tires, like blankets, all sorts of stuff. And they're always the people who take the longest getting ready. So the key is organization. So I use a trunk liner dedicated for going in the back of the car. It's soft, it's got handles on it, its got loads of compartments
for separating items on there.
And I keep lots of other
things in there that are useful like ice scrapers and things like that are useful for the
car, spare light bulbs, etc. Now if you didn't want to
go out and buy yourself a trunk liner you can use
a plastic storage case, you can use pretty much anything you want. But it's good to have a thing
that stays in the back of your car with X amount of kit inside it. And I'll get into that in a minute. But also there's a few other things you might want to bare in mind. Especially if you ride
in horrible conditions or you especially treasure your car. Now I've got a trunk
liner in the back of mine it basically lines the
entire boot of the car. There's various different
models available on the market, Neil's also got one. And there fantastic for
just looking after your car. This ones got a little bit
that rolls over the bump of my car, so when I'm sitting
on this and getting changed it's not additionally scuffing
it and losing any paint. It's also completely waterproof
which means on a really muddy ride I don't have to
clean my bike straightaway, I can literally chuck it in the back, get home and clean it properly.
And then when it's all dry I
can just brush it out again. They're really good for looking
after the back of your car and of course it's just a part of it, just a good bit of kit to have. Now also seat covers are
definitely worth investing in. Now I say this because sometimes
you're gonna go out for a longer ride or maybe you'll
be away for a few days. In which case you're
likely to get changed there and drive in clean clothes. But quite often I'll go
riding in the middle of Winter and I'll literally drive home
in the kit I'm riding in, I'll be wearing my flat pair
of shoes, literally I'll just brush them off, sit on the
seat cover and drive home.
And then when I'm still wet at home, then I'll deal with all of that stuff. It just means I don't have
to have any additional time outside getting wet and more dirty. At the end of the day, if
it keeps your car clean that's gotta be a good thing
and they're dirt cheap as well. Now it's always a good idea
to keep some basic tools in the boot of your car for your bike.
Now, no need to go overboard with this, this is essentially just to
keep the bike in good condition when you're out on the
trails and to cover all those likely things that might happen. So I'll always keep an inner
tube, a spare gear cable, electrical tape, rubber gloves
because you're gonna be doing the dirty job at some
point, cable cutters, a floor standing pump because
pumping up your bike tires with a mini pump is no fun,
that should be done literally when you have to, just for arguments sake just throw your home workshop
pump in when you go riding, it makes things a lot easier.
Shock pump, a set of allen
keys, obviously you need allen keys and torque keys. Just the common stuff on your
bike that you need to adjust. Just take into account, take
a look at your bike it's gonna be different for each
particular bike out there. I also keep a spare pair
of clear riding glasses in the boot of my car as well
because in the UK it rains more often than not, and it's
one of those things if you forget it, it could be really annoying. Now all the tools I keep
in the boot of my car they literally stay here,
these are duplicate tools. And that works for me, however
it might not work for all of you guys, you know you might
have limited amount of tools. In which case, you might want
to just have a small portable kit that you can just put in
the car for when you go riding and then transfer back to your workshop.
If you're a little bit more serious about working on your bikes, you've
got your own bike cave. It could be worth while
looking at something like this. Now this is like an all
in one travel tool kit and this is ideal for using
at home, and as well you can take it out on the trails. It has some compartments inside. And it has all the stuff you
need in there, chain whip, cassette tool, allen keys,
torque keys, cable cutters, etc. And the good thing about it's
in a hard and plastic case so you're not gonna lose any
of the tools it'll stay there. Super easy to chuck it
in the boot of your car when you head out and hit the trails. Same as when you go to bike
races, go on holiday and also great to just leave at
home in the workshop. So you can actually save a bit of money by using one of these
for this sort of purpose. However, I'm okay with having
my conventional tool kit at home and then just
a few basics in here. Now I also keep a spare
water bottle and of these big five liter bottles of water in a car.
Keep this in the foot
well of the passenger seat in the back so it can't
rattle around and accidentally fall over and leak if
its got a bad lid on it. I also in Winter take a bucket with me. A bucket, a brush and some bike wash. And keep that as a unit together. I don't tend to use it that
much but its definitely got me out of jail a few times
when I've got way too muddy to sort of go anywhere
socially acceptable afterwards. And also it does mean you can
use the water bottle itself, as bit of a jet wash, like it's
a bit of a budge but it does work for getting the worst off if you really, really are covered in mud.
Now also like to keep some
J-cloths because not only are they good for cleaning
parts of your bike but their reusable we can wash them
out, but there good for cleaning your face, cleaning
any mud off your hands and off any exposed skin areas, perhaps if you're wearing shorts, the gap between your socks
and knee pads for example. Also keep, a roll of old shop
towel, an old rag just for cleaning my chain and
other things like that. Some chain lube and a water
displacer of some kind. On the basis of if I do wash
my bike, I don't want any surface rust to occur on
there, I just wanna make sure it's just getting the basics done. It's a pretty basic set up but it just covers everything I need. Now in the Summer, obviously
you're gonna be probably be driving to the trails in a
pair of shorts and T-shirt, and you might want to change the T-shirt if you get a bit sweaty, but you're gonna be quite
happy to drive home the same. Winter is a little bit different, you're gonna be wet and muddy.
So having a set of fresh
clothes to change into or perhaps to drive to the
trails like I have today. And your riding kit to get
changed into is a good idea. Now I keep one of these big bags, it's essential like one
of those giant Ikea bags in the back of your car. It's waterproof, I can get
changed in it if need be and dump all my kit inside there.
Any here, I've got waterproof,
so I got a spare carrier bag for any dirty kit and all
my typical riding kit. But what I also carry
in the back of my car is a carpet tile. Now this here got plastic bottoms on them and it's a nice carpet surface. You can just chuck this on
the floor wherever you are and keep try feet when
you're getting changed. That don't cost a lot of
money so they're well worth just getting one and keeping
it in the back of your car. It will always come in
handy, super useful. I'm quite happy just getting my kit off in a carpark to get changed. And if that's not your cup of
tea then of course they are some other options if you
wanna be a bit more discreet.
So one of them on the market
is called Change in a Bag. It's as you might think,
unzip it, put it on the floor, and inside it is a giant
bag that you get inside, it's like a big poncho. It's windproof basically, so it covers you up, keeps
you out of the elements and you clear your dirty
kit in it and you can actually throw the whole lot straight in the washing machine when you get in. So, there's various different options available to you on the market. Now the last thing but
probably the most importantly is how you actually pack
your bike in you car. Obviously, you don't want
your bike to get scratched by anything else that's rattling
around and you don't want to get mud and dirt on
the backs of your seats or on the roof on the inside of your car. Because the upholstery is
a bit of a pain to have to continuously clean if
you're riding all the time. Now it's really good to
have a specific method and a specific way you can get it in. Now because I ride 29ners
and obviously size XL bike.
I'm on the limit of what I
can get in the back of a car. Now lucky enough that I've
got an estates that has got a bit of extra room in there. And what I normally need to
do it take off my front wheel, put a little pad space on there just in case the lever gets operated. I've got a very specific
way that it fits in that every time, bang, in it goes. I use that trusty carpet
tile to put over my frame, that when I put my wheel
on top of it so nothing can get scratched or damaged. And I always make sure that
my disc rotor, on the wheel that sits on the top is
facing upwards so it can't get bent or it can't get
contaminated by anything on there. Now I also keep a blanket in
the back of the car or a sheet to put over the whole lot afterwards. In case I stop anywhere on
the way home from riding but more often than not I'll
be straight home, wash the bike and get that stuff done.
And with heavier items
like the floor pump, I don't want any chance
of this rattling around and scratching my bike. So this will go in the foot
well behind the passenger and drivers seat, and the
same with the water bottle, so I can wedge it in
there so it can't move. Last thing you want it is a
water bottle accidentally, or hitting the chain ring and
splitting open or whatever, and just filling up the back of your car. That'd be a bit of a pain, ey? (zoom) And of course lastly, you
want to make sure you've got a UBS cable or prevision to
charge your phone in your car.
If you're anything like
myself, Blake or Neil, you'll be taking Instagram
pictures whenever you're out riding, so your
batteries gonna run low. And of course keep some change
handy because you've gotta be able to cover road
tiles and of course carpark when you go to trail centers. For a couple more great
videos along these lines, click down here for the
sorts of mistakes you make when your traveling with your bike.
And click up here for
some trail side hacks. As always, give us a thumbs
up if you liked the content and don't forget to
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