Bike Touring – our essential tool kit

A tool kit is an essential for any bike tour. There are some must have items we will need to carry with us in New Zealand in order to deal with basic maintenance and minor emergencies.

The advantage of travelling as a pair means one toolkit will suffice for both of us, especially since the bikes we chose for our first foray into bike touring are the same brand with much the same specification. One tool kit will help to keep the luggage to a minimum!

This is the essential tool kit for our bike tour that we’re starting with, whether we need more when we’re on the road in New Zealand, we’ll wait and see:

(This post contains affiliate links.  As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.  More info in our Privacy Policy.)

• Puncture repair kit (rubber patches, glue, sandpaper)
• Tyre levers
• Multi-tool – we’ve gone with the Topeak Alien II which has Allen keys (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8mm), chain breaker, screwdrivers (Phillips crosshead & flat blades), spoke keys, wrenches/spanners, emergency pedal wrench, Torx keys.
• Mini pump with tyre pressure gauge – again we’ve gone with Topeak – we chose the Morph for its lightweight mini size
• Tyre patches & instant stick patches
• Chain lube
• Cable ties
• Duct tape
• Surgical gloves & rag
• Spare inner tubes
• Speed links (10-speed & 11-speed)
• Spacers

Bike and the mechanics

Derailleurs, spacers, speed-links, cartridges and cassettes were all double Dutch to at least one of us (no guessing who!). That was until tonight.  Now after a crash course in basic bike mechanics thanks to Steve from Velo Culture, Dave will be able to fix any minor emergency on our New Zealand bike tour, while I watch on and pass the tools!  Failing that I will call the nearest bike shop for help.