Trail Rider Magazine

Trail Tales Trail Tales By Chris Burton By Chris Burton Tool of the Devil So I was thinking about trailside bike repair and how it has changed over the years. Back in the day anybody riding off-road carried a whole selec on of tools, spare parts, and various aids (tube glue, duct tape, zip es) whenever they went riding. Companies like MSR sold thousands of fanny packs, fender bags, etc. along with compact specialized tools. Each rider had their own emphasis within their trail tool collec on, determined by what had previously broken on their bikes. My buddy Brian C has been carrying a clutch lever for a '91 KDX in his bu -bag for over thirty years, despite owning hydraulic clutch-equipped Austrian bikes since 2000 that have never broken a clutch lever. When a bike would inevitably fail on a ride everybody would break their pack out, and it was a point of pride as to who would provide THE tool that could make the cri cal repair. That said, it always seemed that no ma er how many re tubes and patch kits we brought along nobody EVER had a func oning CO2 canister to refill a re. It did seem like every riding group broke down into two personality types: the wannabe MacGyver's and the guys like me who had great tool kits who would hand them over to the MacGyver's to work their magic. In addi on to a great trailside tool pack I also brought along what became my most frequently used tool – the Moose tow strap. Contrast that with today's scene where most riders leave their truck with no tools whatsoever. Now from a certain perspec ve that makes sense – to- day's bikes are more reliable despite adding lots of complexity (fuel injec on, onboard comput- ers, water cooling). The advent of mousse inserts has greatly reduced but not eliminated re is- sues. Of course guys s ll hit trees, bolts s ll loos- en, and chains s ll snap. The difference is that today that's usually a day-ender. If it's a trail ride then someone might have a rudimentary toolkit that will always lack the par cular tool needed, if its an organized event they wait for the sweep- ers. Who also have no tools. My Pilgrim Sands Trail Rider club has a hook a achment we put on the back of a quad to pull broken bikes back home. The role of the Sweeper has changed to be a spo er and guide for the first responders (rider problems) and the Hook (bike problems). My favorite trail rescue story comes from an enduro mileage layout session several years ago. I was Trail Boss for the Training Wheels Enduro, and my assistant was Tom G who is one of my riding mentors and an accomplished A class champion enduro rider. He had experienced a rear flat during the second half of the 49er Enduro the previous week, and just rode it out to salvage points. In the process he had damaged the bead on his Dunlop re, but with a new tube it seemed to seat on the rim ok. We were about 30 miles out, se ng and marking check loca- ons, when he looked back and the re was flat again. Tom G was hot. We tried to fix it, but to no avail. There was a remote Staging Area a few trail miles away, and he was to ride to it while I rode back to the truck and would drive up to the Stag- ing Area and pick him up. When I got there with the truck I could tell there was a problem. While Tom was si ng in the hot sun fuming over his re issues, a guy from a group that was camping there had decided to give Tom some 'advice' on how to fix his re. You have to picture this guy – mom's basement-dwelling, summer teeth (some r there, some r not), star of an episode of Live PD. I don't think he actually rode dirt bikes, but there he was telling an already-pissed Tom what a loser he was. As I pulled down the tailgate, Tom gave me a look I'd not seen before and with clenched teeth said "Chris, get me the hell out of here". He didn't bother with a ramp, he just threw his KTM 300 into the bed and sat next to it. "GO!". I did as I was told. October 2026 15

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