Bike Essentials: Rescue Tape

I'm starting to compile a little list of essential items to keep under your seat when you go riding, and the most important item on that list is Rescue Tape.

After an unfortunate and untimely separation of the toe of a gear pedal from the rest of the pedal, my comrade was considering the possibility of riding 50 kilometres to the nearest town in first gear, then having the bike towed back to Melbourne.  Then we remembered the rescue tape under his seat, and with the addition of a thin spanner from my toolkit to act as a splint, we elevated motorcycle first aid to a new plane, and the McGuyver Gear Pedal was born.

The goal was to be able to get access to a couple more gears on the move and make the trip back to Melbourne both possible and more comfortable than being stuck in one gear.  When we stopped for a break part way back however, I asked how The McGuyver was holding up, and it turns out that it felt so solid and normal that he had at times forgotten that he was riding with a repair job holding the gear pedal together!  An impressive result for Rescue Tape I must say!

I had heard vaguely of rescue tape before now, and thinking that it was just a fancy name for ordinary tape threw a role of gaffa tape under my seat.  I see now how wrong that assumption was.  The Rescue Tape comes in a roll lined with plastic, much like the self-seal envelopes have the wax paper cover over the adhesive that you have to rip off to seal the envelope.  And the reason for this plastic layer is the same - the Rescue Tape bonds to itself when it comes into contact with more Rescue Tape.  This allows you to create "bandages" of rescue tape far stronger bond than is capable with ordinary gaffa tape.

So do yourself a favour... find your old pocket knife that you haven't carried around with you for years, and pop it under your seat along with a roll of Rescue Tape.  You can buy it online (ebay works for me) which is what I'm about to do myself.