Photo story: The mechanics of the bike pros - and their favourite tools
Uwe Kampe
Anne Terpstra and Nicole Koller won the Cape Epic in 2024. In the same year, Terpstra was runner-up in the cross-country world championship. This season, Nicole Koller is right at the front of the World Cup. Uwe Kampe keeps the racing bikes of the Ghost Factory Racing athletes in top condition.
BIKE: Which screwdriver trick should every biker know?
UWE KAMPE: Everyone who rides with tubeless tyres should know a relatively simple trick - especially in combination with an insert. At some point, the valves always clog up and no more air can get in. So, simply remove and clean the valve core from time to time and open the valve again with an Allen key. That's all there is to it.
What was your worst defect so far?
We once had a crash with a hardtail in Australia. The frame was broken, but we had to keep using it for the time being. So I fixed the breakage with Allen keys, cable ties and copper tape so that it held for at least another two days. That was pretty borderline.
Which tools would you never do without?
I always have my Maxxis tyre lever with me. You can use it to do everything from prising off stickers to pushing back pistons. And you won't lose it because it's so nice and orange. Then you need a 6 mm Allen key and a 25 mm Torx, which will get you pretty far. If you also have a great pair of Knipex pliers with parallel gripping jaws, then you have everything you need.
If a threaded eyelet tears out of your bottle cage during a training camp, you have to be able to improvise. Uwe Kampe
Manuel Pasterer
The Austrian was already busy copying his father's wrenching tricks when he was tinkering with his motorbikes. During his studies, Manuel worked part-time in bike shops, which is how he discovered his passion. For the past two years, he has been keeping the chain on tension for three-time downhill world champion Vali Höll.
BIKE: What is your favourite tool?
MANUEL PASTERER: My absolute favourite tool is an Abbey quad tool. It looks like a plus sign and there's a different Allen key at each end. It's pretty cool and handy. Perfect for a quick bolt check on the bike. I'm still annoyed that I didn't take the version with the 25mm Torx, which wasn't available at the time.
Screwing on a dirty bike, a no-go?
So on race weekends, when things have to be done quickly, that's fine. But as a colleague from Vienna once said so beautifully: You don't take shitty trousers to the tailor either.
Do you mark the bolts on the bike for the correct torque?
No, I check everything five times before every run anyway - for my head, so that I can send Vali out onto the track with a clear conscience.
What was your worst defect?
I don't want to shout about it, but so far we haven't had any mechanical defects during races. Apart from a chain breakage last year in Poland, where the chain got really stuck in the cassette and the rear triangle. I hope I'll be spared any major failures in the future.
I check everything five times before every run so that I can send Vali out onto the track with a clear conscience. Manuel Pasterer
Yanick Gyger
The Swiss was fascinated by tuning from an early age. Skateboards, inline skates and later his father's bikes - no screw was safe from Yanick. He was 16 when he rode with a Scott team for the first time. Even Thomas Frischknecht was still active then, Yanick remembers. Back then, he was only allowed to work as an assistant mechanic and had to wash the pros' bikes. Today, as team mechanic for MTB superstar Nino Schurter, the Swiss rider knows how to make race bikes fit for the highest demands.
BIKE: What work on the bike can you not stand?
Yanick Gyger: There's nothing I don't like about screwing.
Which defect made you really sweat?
I didn't have a compressor with me in South Africa. I had to build something out of a PET bottle to get as much air as possible into the tubeless system. I simply screwed a valve into the lid and then used a second one to inflate the bottle so much that it almost exploded. I used a hose to get the air into the valve on the tyre - that actually worked.
What is your favourite tool in the toolbox?
Difficult question. I love fancy tools, and when something is beautifully milled or perhaps made of titanium, something special that not everyone has. For example, I have titanium tyre levers - absolutely useless - but I just think they're cool. I also have a gold-plated Allen key set. It's plated with 24-carat gold!
Okay, do you also have tools that you can really screw with?
The tools I need most are definitely a hexagon socket, Torx 25, Torx 30 and a torque spanner - these are the basics that everyone should have.
Bike maintenance is the most important thing. Most people pay far too little attention to the cleanliness of the drivetrain. Many simply put a little oil on the chain. In the end, you always end up with more wear and tear. Yanick Gyger
