Typical Halfords made me think of tooling myself up

Jules Winnfield

So, my other half took delivery of her first road bike on Tuesday, a Halfords Pendleton Initial. She wanted it because of the "colour" :roll: Anyways, because she only drives a MINI and it wouldn't fit in the car, I said I would ride it the short 8 miles back home. To be fair to Halfords (cos I know their bikes get a lot of stick), even though the frame was far too small for me, the bike rode very well and I really enjoyed my short stint on it (even grabbing a few PR's on some Strava segments to boot).

The thing is which IS typical for Halfords, when I got home and gave it a thorough inspection, the bike looked like it was thrown together and had a few minor issues. The headset wasn't fully tightened, the stem wasn't straight, the handlebars were only tightened onto the stem with 1 bolt out of 2, and there was far too much outer cabling on both the brake cables coming from the shifters making the front end look a mess with cables resembling the spaghetti junction.

So yesterday I got a few tools out of the garage and started rectifying the issues. I've not tinkered with a bike properly for years and TBH I really enjoyed the experience. The bike is now sorted, I've checked that all the components are secure, the QR mechanisms are tight, the brakes are doing their job and are properly adjusted and I've even cable proofed the frame with Copter Tape. Apart from fitting the other half to the bike, it is ready to go.

So after this long preamble, the reason for this thread. I realised yesterday that the tools I have my not be upto the job for proper bike maintanence. Sure I've got a good set of allen keys, but I struggled cutting the outer cables with my cutters (do you need specialist ones?) So my question to you good folk is, can you recommend me the tools which I need to maintain both bikes in my household so I don't need to rely on a LBS to do the work for me. I want to know what I need to do every job on a bike, from basic maintanence to the replacement of a bottom bracket. In fact everything I would need to build a bike from the ground up because that is what I want to do next summer.

Cheers

Colinthecop

I bought one of these, which for less than £20 seemed decent.

http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/TOJW13PC/j ... l-tool-kit

The only thing it doesn't have is a cable cutter - but they do one for a mere £6.99.

No haribo though. :?

dinyull

http://www.edinburghbicycle.com/products/revolution-tune-up-advanced-tool-kit?gclid=CPKL8bLyo8ACFcsJwwodwE4AAw

I have this which I used at the weekend to strip bike down to frame, fully service and build back up with new groupset. Had all the tools for the job.

Only thing I would say is that the BB tool isn't long enough IF BB is tight - especially when you see vids using the Park Tools wrench.

Jules Winnfield

Can anyone tell me what the chain whip is used for? Also I take it with both toolkits listed above, you would need to buy specialist tools seperately to remove a Campagnolo Power Torque chainset and bottom bracket?

Colinthecop

Chain whip is for removing the rear cassette.

rafletcher

Colinthecop wrote:

Chain whip is for removing the rear cassette.

More accurately it's used to stop the cassette rotating while you undo the cassette lock ring.

As to cable cutters, I have the Park ones, but even so you need to keep some cable through the outer to stop it being crushed. Personally I invested in a Dremel and use the cutting disc on that to cut outers, and the cable cutters to cut the inners. I guess I could use the dremel for both but prefer the cutters when trimming cables near the frame! And side-cutters are not great for cutting inners - they crush and splay the ends too much IMO.

These days, with modern bike stuff, you'll probably also need Torx keys (usuallu T20 and T25) to go with your Allen keys. BB tools depend on the type of BB's you're dealing with (threaded or press fit, internal or external bearings etc. etc.) and same with crank systems. Some are easy, come (like the latest Campag" a pain. Some need special tools to remove cranks, some only need Allen keys.

But as you noted, it's quite enjoyable, so go for it, and either buy special tools as you go, or leave those jobs to the LBS - but the cost of doing so would probably buy you the tool, apart say from some Park (workshop quality) BB tools!

Colinthecop

rafletcher wrote:

More accurately it's used to stop the cassette rotating while you undo the cassette lock ring.

Pedant... :roll:

Dippydog2

A pal of mine bought this.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Park-Tool-PK65- ... bike+tools

He can now spend the rest of his years trying to work out what each thing does.

ugo.santalucia

Dippydog2 wrote:

A pal of mine bought this.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Park-Tool-PK65- ... bike+tools

He can now spend the rest of his years trying to work out what each thing does.

It's actually good value... I've probably got half of the tools there plus a lot of others... never realised how much money I've got in tools

rolf_f

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Dippydog2 wrote:

A pal of mine bought this.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Park-Tool-PK65- ... bike+tools

He can now spend the rest of his years trying to work out what each thing does.

It's actually good value... I've probably got half of the tools there plus a lot of others... never realised how much money I've got in tools

The only problem is that Park tools seem very variable in quality. Some excellent, some crap in design and/or execution. I'd rather pick and choose than have everything smartly matching in blue!

buckmulligan

Surely that lot can be found for cheaper than £920?!

I know things like the headset press are a bit pricey, but that still sounds OTT.

lapavoni10

you need one of these.....would love to have one and have it on my coffee table.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Campagnolo-Tool-kit-your-choice-of-Italian-or-BSC-Missing-3-non-tool-items-/161398601755?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item25941b381b#ht_983wt_1399