New Tools

slowbike

I need to give my other half some ideas/links on what to buy me for Christmas.

I'm of an age where traditionally I should receive a pair of socks/slippers ... and TBH, I don't _need_ anything.
However, I think I'd like a ratchet or torquedrive hex set and a set of ratchet ring spanners.

Any suggestions?


(tbh, I'd prefer to avoid Wiggle/CRC if possible - although I appreciate they often have the keenest prices)

keef66

Some of the Halfords pro quality tools are pretty good. I got a 1/4 inch drive socket set as a present a couple of years ago and it's a joy to use. Came in very handy fitting some chromoplastics to a colleague's bike recently.

I should really replace my sloppy 35 year old budget 1/2 inch set with a quality 6 point one for use on the cars...

I'm also still lusting after some brightly coloured Wera hex and torx keys.

dannbodge

Halfords or Machine mart for generic tools.

Get on Machine Marts mailing list and every couple of months you get a 10% off everything or VAT free on Clarke voucher!

Matthewfalle

Ignore all the cycle places for tools unless they are cycle specific.

Halfords professional range get really good reviews and have a lifetime guarantee
Teng Tools are around the same price and are very good.
Facom or Snap On if budget is no limit. I have some Facom stuff and it's lovely, Snap On is the Nina of tools.

I have lots of Sealey Draper stuff that I've had for decades and used on everything from bicycles to knackered land rovers, motorbikes to cars. Very good for the price,, lifetime guarantee.

Don't go to B&Q or similar - go to the tool factor - i.e. The place that sells tools to tirade: every town has one. Go in yourself, ask for the Christmas deals brochures - all makes do them.

I got my Sealey Draper tool chest for £100 and it came with £400 worth of free tools - these deals are on all the time as they are loss leaders for Sealey. You'll also get massive discounts on stuff because it in the deal or random schizzle like buy a screwdriver and get a free football.

Put a big circle around what you want and hand it over to her.

Little things like torque keys just CRC a Ritchey one for £15.
https://www.drapertools.com/promotions

slowbike

I've got a decent large socket set - and a reasonable small socket set (I think it's 1/4inch) - but I don't have the hex bits for them.
I've got a large torque bar and a ritchey 6Nm torque key - which tbh I don't use that often - not much requirement I guess.

But - having had to fit/remove/fit a childs seat braket on the seat tube a couple of times and other sorts of fiddly jobs that require the constant re-aligning of the allen key - I'm thinking I could do with at least the hex bits for my existing ratchet - or perhaps a new torque ratchet ...

similar for the ratchet spanners ..

keef66

Ratchet spanners are a real time saver where access is tight. You can waste so much time constantly removing / repositioning conventional ones. Ditto hex and torx bits in a ratchet. If I had a pound for every time I've fumbled and dropped an allen key while doing mudguards, racks, bottle cages and the like I'd be shopping for a new groupset...

slowbike

try replacing engine & gearbox on an MGB ... British Engineering ... you can feel the stud with the finger tip ... but you can't see it - you can get a ring spanner on, turn it a fraction, have to remove the spanner, turn it around, place it back over the nut and turn it a fraction again ... repeat ...

Matthewfalle

It's be very careful when using ratchet tools on bicycles - far too easy to ratchet away then snap some small bolt somewhere. Seen it does loads of times. I only use non ratchet stuff on bicycles,

Matthewfalle

If you want to go ratchet no need for anything bigger than 3/8ths.

ayjaycee

My wife bought me one of the larger Halfords 'Professional' socket sets a few years ago and it's really good. I have never managed to break any of the sockets or the ratchets in it which is more than I can say for some cheapo ones that I had in my younger days. The tolerances also seem good as I have never managed to round any bolts etc. either. Over the years, I have managed to lose the odd part from it and generally replaced it with Facom which, again, are very good quality and equally as tough.

Keef - I've got a set of those Wera hex /torx keys - they are top drawer and I don't regard them as that expensive. Others might argue but I have always thought that they generally feel better and more secure to use than cheap I have had in the past- again, I guess that's down to tolerances.

A wise person once said something like 'buy cheap, buy twice' which I reckon applies to tools more than almost anything else.

964cup

Thoughts:

This http://www.wiggle.co.uk/silca-hx-one-ho ... ntial-kit/ is a lovely thing to own, and I got mine as a (requested) present. Obviously cheaper high-quality allen keys are definitely available.

Get a proper torque wrench, not just a 5nm torque key. You won't regret it. There's a generic one that lots of people, including BBB, relabel which has worked very well for me, otherwise go Park because blue=pro.

I'd also consider getting a *proper* torque wrench, which is to say the kind normally intended for fitting automotive wheel nuts. I got mine from Halfords (for fitting wheelnuts) and now use it mostly for torquing up BBs and chainsets. You need one that starts no higher than 40nm (30 would be better), and a set of 1/2" drive allen keys (which also neatly replaces the silly-money Campag Ultra-Torque tool).

What about wheel-building kit? Over the years I've also acquired a full set of pro-ish wheel-building tools (not P&K Lie, more's the pity, but Park's proper stuff). The need for a tensiometer, dishing gauge, spoke keys and wrenches for every eventuality including four different kinds of internal nipple makes it the present list that keeps on asking.

Finally, get a derailleur-hanger alignment tool. Park's is good, of course. I thought I'd use it a couple of times a year, but what with too many bikes, and too many clubmates complaining of poor shifting, it seems to get an outing once a week at the moment.

I could go on, but then I have an uncontrollable tool-collecting habit. I have, and have used - once - the tool that converts an Ultra-Torque chainset bearing puller into a Power-Torque chainset remover. I have six different freewheel keys. In fact I have all manner of random things I've only used once. Enjoy.

Matthewfalle

2-12Nm tourque wrench will do everything except cassette lock ring that needs a 40Nm heft.

Contrary to my advice up there, b&Q had some nice looking tourque wrenches at a good price. You'll pick up a 40Nm one for pennies but the lower stuff costs more.

I have a few tourque wrenches but always find myself using the tourque key as it's just easier.

Matthewfalle

Agree completely with 964 above re Park tools for bike specific stuff - they are just really nice.

Pippy aston

Most of the park tool stuff is good, had a leyzne tool for shimano bottom bracket cups, a real good quality tool but then shimano changed the size of the ultegra cups so I needed a new tool to fit, reviews on the park tool one said it was made of soft aluminium so I got the one made by shimano. Looked at the park tool scissors but got some CK ones instead. The park tool blue suitcase style toolbox is top notch though! Buy the best you can afford. Not many nuts on bikes now though!!

trivial_poursuivant

Matthewfalle wrote:

Facom or Snap On if budget is no limit.

Many years ago when I was a mechanic, I used to love the Snap-on truck visiting the garage to sell tools.

So many shiny shiny things. I had around 3 grands worth of tools from spanners to windy ratchets. And a massive tool chest that cost £500 on its own. Alllife time guaranteed and impossible to break anyway. Shame I had to sell them all.

Matthewfalle

Trivial poursuivant wrote:

Matthewfalle wrote:

Facom or Snap On if budget is no limit.

Many years ago when I was a mechanic, I used to love the Snap-on truck visiting the garage to sell tools.

So many shiny shiny things. I had around 3 grands worth of tools from spanners to windy ratchets. And a massive tool chest that cost £500 on its own. Alllife time guaranteed and impossible to break anyway. Shame I had to sell them all.

Gutting.

Snap On are so lovely. When I win the Euro millions I'm buying the contents of a Snap On truck just to gaze at them.

trivial_poursuivant

Matthewfalle wrote:

Trivial poursuivant wrote:

Matthewfalle wrote:

Facom or Snap On if budget is no limit.

Many years ago when I was a mechanic, I used to love the Snap-on truck visiting the garage to sell tools.

So many shiny shiny things. I had around 3 grands worth of tools from spanners to windy ratchets. And a massive tool chest that cost £500 on its own. Alllife time guaranteed and impossible to break anyway. Shame I had to sell them all.

Gutting.

Snap On are so lovely. When I win the Euro millions I'm buying the contents of a Snap On truck just to gaze at them.

Don’t do it. It’s like the mirror from Harry Potter. You’ll get lost in the gaze of your own reflection in a million chromed sockets and qtr inch drive torque wrenches.

When I win Euromillions I intended finding where My old Boss lives, buying the house next door and moving in a family of illegal immigrants with 12 kids and heroin habits.

webboo

Dannbodge wrote:

Halfords or Machine mart for generic tools.

Get on Machine Marts mailing list and every couple of months you get a 10% off everything or VAT free on Clarke voucher!

You might be a very genuine and sincere person but I wouldn't want to take advice on tools from someone called bodge.

slowbike

Matthewfalle wrote:

It's be very careful when using ratchet tools on bicycles - far too easy to ratchet away then snap some small bolt somewhere. Seen it does loads of times. I only use non ratchet stuff on bicycles,

Thanks for the warning. Rest assured I’m not a mechanical numpty. Granted I’m not the best but I don’t recall ever snapping a bolt
I’m quite a sensitive fellow

big_p

Welcome to the inside of my toolbox............

ayjaycee

Slowbike wrote:

Matthewfalle wrote:

It's be very careful when using ratchet tools on bicycles - far too easy to ratchet away then snap some small bolt somewhere. Seen it does loads of times. I only use non ratchet stuff on bicycles,

Thanks for the warning. Rest assured I’m not a mechanical numpty. Granted I’m not the best but I don’t recall ever snapping a bolt
I’m quite a sensitive fellow

I'll happily confess that I am the aforementioned mechanical numpty but I have never snapped a bolt either. That said, I bet I have problems the next that I use a ratchet and, when I do, it will all be Matthews fault!

Also, I have looked at the Silca hex set more than once and each time tell myself that they are lovely and I want them but always manage keep the card in my pocket. As an aside, you all ought to google their new T Ratchet and TI Torque Kit. Again very nice but then I watched the promo video and realised how impractical the torque key would be to use compared to the Park torque wrench that I already have.

slowbike

Just seen their minipump - at £115 I'd want one that pumped the tyre up itself - having already made me a coffee to drink whilst I wait. ....

That Silca hex set looks nice - but the description says it all ...

ideal addition to any style-conscious cyclist’s wardrobe

Eh? I don't want it in my wardrobe - I want it in my toolkit ... and whilst I like "Nice" tools - I need them to be practical and understand that they're going to get covered in gunk from time to time ...

Matthewfalle

For Allen keys to live in the garage, T bars are excellent: I have these alongside normal Allen keys:

http://cpc.farnell.com/sealey/s0466/t-h ... gJ2-PD_BwE

Really nicely made, all sizes from tiny to take apart bits of shifter to huge to throw at people like a ninja throwing star and a good price as well. Comes with the metal holder thing.