Starter tool kit? is it easier from scratch?

247inheaven

Fellow riders please help!!!

I've been riding for a number of years now but when it come to fixing or alterations its usually left up to my crappy bike shop. But now it too time consuming to bleed brakes and fix my UST. So its time to get dirty.
I'm in need of tool kit, i've seen ones on ebay for £35 but i'm pretty sure i'll have to replace the majority of the things because the grade of metal is rubbish...i maybe wrong. Park tool i've seen but for minimal stuff to start with, ending up paying a £100+ seems alittle silly as i dont have the knowledge to back it up as yet.
Anywhere inbetween or list for one i can build up?

ooh also any good websites that cover pretty much everything? look on here, but the UST link doesnt seem to work.

Hope you can help

247

papasmurf.

You get what you pay for with tools, I'd stay clear of too cheap stuff, best thing if you're on a limited budget is think what tool you need most and buy a decent one, then each month just buy another.

a good start would be a decent workshop allen\hex key set and a large adjustable spanne, a grease gun and a stand.

.blitz

Park Tools are good quality but OTT for DIY unless you need something very specific. My advice would be to simply buy what you need (when you need it) and steer clear of really cheap tools especially screwdrivers, spanners and hex keys. Tools for home use don't have to be made by Draper/Snap-On etc.

tjm

I'd avoid cheap ebay stuff but for decent DIY level quality I quite like the lifeline stuff.
I've got this kit from wiggle and is very good value and has the majority of tools you will require. I've not found any big problems.
It does have a allen key set but I prefer seperates (eg bondhus). I keep the lifeline one in my hydration pack.

Stands are very useful but you can manage very well by hanging the bike from the garage ceiling.

I've worked for years without a grease gun but recently got this weldtite one because it was cheap and I have to admit it works well and makes life a lot easier.

If you buy a kit then you can get extra stuff as and when you find the need.

Toby

EDIT: I should add that I have a garage full of tools but the only bike specific ones I use regularly apart from the lifeline kit is an allen key set, a larger cone spanner (the ones in the kit aren't large enough for shimano hubs), pressure gauge, stand and shimano BB tool. (and of course a puncture repair kit )

xtremedash

Personally I found a great little kit on PBK the same as the Lifeline one from wiggle but less than £50. I've been using mine regularly since Christmas and have found it to be excellent. Seriously good value for money.

robmanic1

I bought the Draper set a few years back and, aside from the chain tool which failed the first time I used it, It's been spot-on.


http://www.amazon.co.uk/Draper-87942-Bicycle-Tool-Kit/dp/B000EOSCMA

Mancunianfightingcat

I normally shy away from the cheaper stuff too, but for £25 this might be worth a gamble if you're on a budget.....


http://www.lidl.co.uk/uk/home.nsf/pages/c.o.20090409.p.Bicycle_Tool_Kit.ar9

dave_hill

The rule with tools is - buy the very best that you can afford. You can never spend too much on tools.

99 times out of 100, the price of a tool will reflect its quality. Snap-On stuff might be astronomically expensive, but buy a 10mm Snap-On combination spanner and it's the only one you'll ever need to buy.

For home/DIY use, Park, IceToolz and Pedros are perfectly good fro specialist bike tools. I also have Halfords BikeHut cone spanners, chain whip and cable cutters/crimpers. Being an engineer I've also made a number of my own tools, things like star-nut setters, bearing drifts, headset press, etc.

Everything else is stuff like Teng, Britool, Halfords Professional (which are pretty good value - I've had my combination spanners for years now and they're showing no signs of age) and Stanley.

supersonic

The Lifeline kit is very good, we rated it highly in WMB.

I use the Lidl version at home, and it is perfectly fine for the home mechanic. In fact some of the tools are as good quality as the top end ones I used as a mechanic. 5 years, no probs. Cone spanners a bit ropey, but is not likely that you are going to be using these 5 times a day, nor for any of the tools really. My allen key set came free with a bike mag 6 yaers ago.

I'd get a cheap kit, save a bundle and add to it parts you may need like HT2 BB tool.

Northwind

The PBK/Lifeline kits are absolutely spot on... The little one (in the briefcase) has 9/10 of the tools you need, and they're all decent quality. The cable cutter wears a little too fast but then really good cable cutters cost more than the whole set... (mine are a little loose and blunted after building 3 bikes and adjusting various other cables, but the XTR sleeves are hard on cutters so fair play. They still work fine and that's years worth of service for most folks)

Everything is very well judged, no rubbish in this kit and no mad overkill either. Chain tool is pretty much perfect (Park Tools rip-off) But, 2 glaring omissions, there's no old-fashioned shimano/truvativ BB tool, and there's no T25 torq for discs. They seem to have decided that everyone uses external BBs but so many bikes still come with internal that it's mad not to have it.

The big kit's less good value because it comes with so much padding, the basic tools are the same but you also get cleaners, some reasonably good T-handle allen keys, much nicer park-style spoke keys... But it's not worth it IMO, better to get the wee kit and a set of better T-Handles. They're tools you use all the time so it's worth having decent ones- when you're dealing with a sticky allen bolt you want a good allen key. Still a nice kit, so if you have no tools at all already and want to get everything in one box, it's decent.

The Edinburgh Bike and Icetoolz kits are OK, but the first is a bit nastier in quality and the second has too much padding, at £40 every tool has to be useful, you don't need a horrible adjustable spanner etc.

It's a bit of a no-brainer, to me, the quality of the Lifeline kit is high enough, and you get so much for the money- it'd only buy 2 or 3 Park tools and apart from the cable cutter every tool does the job well, and will give a respectable life. (Park Tools, etc will last longer, but with most of these tools you'll use them maybe a dozen times anyway so bulletproof isn't really needed, they just need to be reasonably durable) If you get the best BB tool in the world today, no doubt shimano will invent a new standard tomorrow and your tool'll be useless by 2012 :P