Bargainous and helpful halfords!

The Northern Monkey

Well I went to halfords to get s few tools, mainly a spanner big enough to remove a threadless headset and a square taper crank and BB removal tools.

Turned out that these tool aren't too cheap on their own, so I had a look at the Halfords "essential tool kit".... Bloody brilliant, £20 and I now have pretty much every tool i'll ever need to maintain bikes! (along with a few other bits and pieces i've aquired form building my last bike).

Oh and I asked the bike mechanic about some of the tools (mainly the sq taper bb tools) and he was very helpful, so now I know how to use each tool properly

Very impressed with Halfords today

Oh and an even bigger bonus, my Mum just said sh'es give me the cash for the tool set for my birthday! can't be bad

joed05

lets see how long those tools last then. what do you mean a proper toolkit? get parktool, not really worth buying anything else. as is with everything you get what you pay for

ride_whenever

Park tools are professional level tools. these cheap generic toolsets are fine for the casual home mechanic and will last you a lifetime if you treat them with a bit of care.

lesz42

ride_whenever wrote:

Park tools are professional level tools. these cheap generic toolsets are fine for the casual home mechanic and will last you a lifetime if you treat them with a bit of care.

what he said^^!

abductee

This one?

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/ ... t-09-34986

BlackSpur

joed05 wrote:

get parktool, not really worth buying anything else.

And another contender for the "Bullshit Post of the Month" award a long woth the guy who claimed
"Don't get carbon they snap the ally is nice and light."

The Northern Monkey

abductee wrote:

This one?

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/ ... t-09-34986

yip thats the one... only cost me £20

Will do me fine, as long as you aren't ham fisted there shouldn't be a problem.#

I do have a mixture of park tool and halfords own... and TBH, the price incrase for the park stuff hasn't been justified IMO.

jay12

there stuff from Ice Toolz and Cyclo who make very good stuff for much less than Park Tool. if you have the money or own a shop then buy them but if you want something cheap and good, look somewhere else e.g halfords, Ice toolz etc.

Raymondavalon

To quote the title of the review: "Emphasis is on quantity rather than quality with the Essential Bike Tool Kit but strength and quality is good enough for the occasional use home mechanic."

So, as long as you aren't using them in a commercial workshop environment they'll be just fine. May pick one up myself at that price.

ride_whenever

Of course that said, i tend to do most of my bike work down the lbs so i use park tools and other nice pro-level tools.

supersonic

joed05 wrote:

lets see how long those tools last then. what do you mean a proper toolkit? get parktool, not really worth buying anything else. as is with everything you get what you pay for

I've used Park and these. The Halfords ones a fine for the home mechanic, and some will last years if not forever. Infact I prefer some of the cheaper ones.

Northwind

joed05 wrote:

get parktool, not really worth buying anything else. as is with everything you get what you pay for

What a load of total cobblers. For most people it's not worth buying workshop quality tools as they're built for high usage, which they won't get in the average garage. A decent quality budget kit like Lifeline or Icetoolz will serve most people every bit as well for a fraction the cost. My lifeline kit cost me about the same as a pair of Park cable cutters, but it's built 5 bikes and not a single tool is showing signs of wearing out- that's more than these kits will usually see in a lifetime. So why pay more if you won't use it more?

ride_whenever

the exception to this is cable cutters. You want a good set but you need a cheap set as they all need replacing fairly regularly.

Or you have different sets for different uses.

supersonic

I use a set of 10 quid Draper ones - work just as well as the Park ones.

Northwind

ride_whenever wrote:

the exception to this is cable cutters. You want a good set but you need a cheap set as they all need replacing fairly regularly.

Yeah, again I think the lifeline ones hit a good balance here... Mine are still in decent shape, they'll be the first thing to go from the kit but then they've been used a fair amount. They were the bit I expected to be rubbish, but they've done very well, give a nice clean cut even now.

The other exception is allen keys- bad allen keys mean you're more likely to strip a bolt head. It's well worth buying quality there too. And that doesn't mean Park either, since their T-handles are outrageously expensive and actually inferior to a decent "non-bike" kit like my Teng set, which cost about 1/3rd as much. Quality wise, the Park ones are pretty comparable to the Draper Expert kit you can pick up for £15.

supersonic

I use a free allen key set I got with MBUK from about 6 years ago. And sometimes the ones in my PBK kit!

ride_whenever

i'd agree, but i tend to use a socket set and a torque wrench for allen keys when home, or gorilla grip sets when in the lbs.

supersonic

I've never notcied that much difference in the quality of allen keys, except the really cheap monkey metal ones.

ride_whenever

you notice it more with the really skinny ones, you can snap them on seized bolts.

snotty badger

I have a mix of ParkTools and regular stuff. Some Park stuff ain't too badly priced TBH.

Northwind wrote:

The other exception is allen keys- bad allen keys mean you're more likely to strip a bolt head. It's well worth buying quality there too. And that doesn't mean Park either, since their T-handles are outrageously expensive and actually inferior to a decent "non-bike" kit like my Teng set, which cost about 1/3rd as much. Quality wise, the Park ones are pretty comparable to the Draper Expert kit you can pick up for £15.

I've got a set of Draper Expert allen keys, had them for years and they see alot of use at work- only the 2.5mm has rounded- and that use to get used dozens of time a day!

Northwind

snotty badger wrote:

I've got a set of Draper Expert allen keys, had them for years and they see alot of use at work- only the 2.5mm has rounded- and that use to get used dozens of time a day!

Yup, I've got a set too, they're retired now since I got given the big teng kit but I don't think I'd have ever replaced them otherwise, good kit. Draper honk me off something rotten actually, some of their kit is really nice and some of it's appalling, and the only way to find out is to try. Like, the standard wire crimper is the best I've ever used, and the Expert one is mince.

RichMTB

I've got a set of Draper spanners very good quality. I did treat myself to a set of P-handled Park Allen keys though and they are very good but i still use one or two tools from the cheapo Lifu tool set i bought a while back including the chain whip and cassette tool.

Knowing what your tools are for and how to use them is probably more important than whether it says Pedros or Park on them

snotty badger

My Pedros track pump is a bit iffy TBH! Can be hard to pull it back of the valve and the the gauge is a bit Mickey Mouse

scale20

My toolbox is made up mainly from lifeline tools but I do have 1 or 2 park tools in there.

If you work on your bike now and again for pleasure then expensive tools are not needed, I have shelled out that little extra for the tools that get used the most like T handle hex keys and and certain torx keys and a good cable cutter but why buy park tool screwdrivers when you can get B&Q's own for a couple of quid?

The next thing you need is a workstand IMO a must if you want to work on your bike properly, I dont know how i got on without mine!

N0bodyOfTheGoat

Received my Sealey torque wrench and matching 7-set of allen keys yesterday, cost <£50. Looks a quality bit of kit, will be playing later on with all the bolts on my Kooka Race stem and Modolo Dumbo bars

dynamis_dk

am pretty fortunate as my dad works in the DIY / tools trade so a lot of things like allen sets, spanners etc i have been able to get very cheap over the years for decent stuff.

Can't remember how much i paid for my toolkit for the bike now, wasn't too much tho and has most of what i wanted. Only added a few items like a longer non t-handle set of allen keys and a torque wrench.

Hoping i can get into the building side of bikes as its something i've always paid LBS for in the past.

The Big Cheese

I have a mix of tools, I have found that Ice Toolz are pretty good in my experience, cyclepro also, I have a couple of Park tools bits, but my gig tools (headset press, race setter, headset remover are all X-tools/ice tools, and they have been fine, the only thing that I spend a decent amount of money on are hex keys/Torx keys, drivers and spanners (oh and cable cutters, I bouught some Draper ones for £12 the weekend, and they lookk like they are goiing to last