You may think we’re ‘aving a giraffe’ but, seriously, this Gorilla Tape stuff is legendary amongst long distance cyclists

So, what’s it for then? You may ask. Well, nothing and everything we’d suggest, although it can’t fix a chain. It’s basically extra strong tape that can bandage up broken components, act as a tyre boot, hold together something with a missing bolt …. all sorts. We can tell you that it held together a broken mudguard on one very long Audax and stayed on the bike afterwards until the replacement mudguard arrived a few weeks later. There’s a clue here, long distance randonneurs/audaxers use this stuff to patch up bikes on long rides. It’s obviously too bulky to carry in a small saddle bag on the Sunday Club Ride, but keeping a roll in the garage in case your commuter bike needs an overnight patch-up may be something to consider. Audaxers on long audaxes will, of course, have room for it in their Carradice bag! One enterprising idea we have heard of, is wrapping a strip around a tyre lever in case of emergencies, which would probably suit most with small saddlebags.

This series is based around the question as to whether you really need the component under discussion or not? We are open minded, not everyone needs all of them, but we will forsake our neutrality on this one, it’s a good thing to have on the garage shelf and if you are lucky enough not to use it on your bike, it works on household goods too!