What specific bike tools do you own?

karolywatcher

I have been acquiring several bikes recently and discovered that specific bike tools are needed to work on bikes.

So far, I have acquired these recently:
1. bottom bracket sockets
2. small metric open end box end wrenches
3. bottom bracket stamped steel wrenches
4. cable stretcher/cutter
5. bike stands
6. derailuar alignment tool
7. allen wrenches - mostly metric
8. truing wheel
9. chain tool

What specific bike tools do you own? My thinking was to acquire enough tools so that I could work on (learn) just about anything.

I talk with my local bike shop owner often but my primary instruction on heavy wrenching comes from YouTube.

Your thoughts, please.

MattFalle

Well don't think of bike mechanicing as heavy, wrenching, both or in any way complicated. its none of those. you're just working on a bicycle - its not very difficult.

You'll need a tourque key/wrench, carbon paste, moly grease for things that move and Copperslip for things that don't. Go to the motor factor/B&Q and get big pits of it.

Decent allen keys, decent cable snips - my Park Tools ones have lasted for years.

JIS screwdrivers for Shimano mechs so you don't chew everything up.

Head race remover and installer tools, headset cup remover you can make from an old seatpost. Headset cup installer tool.

spirit level/s.

work stand/old turbo trainer to put the bike on.

if doing internal cabling a long length of cable inner or one of those magnetty things to draw the cable through.

GT85 for cleaning and it smells nice.

Degreaser but not Muc Off or any trendy overpriced stuff from the bike shop. Motor factor, huge cans of Jizer or Gunk.


Just start doing stuff and what you need will pop up. buy as you go along.

pblakeney

To summarise, every tool required for a complete strip down and rebuild as I do that annually. Previously bought as and when as MF says.

Ben6899

MattFalle said:

Well don't think of bike mechanicing as heavy, wrenching, both or in any way complicated. its none of those. you're just working on a bicycle - its not very difficult.

You'll need a tourque key/wrench, carbon paste, moly grease for things that move and Copperslip for things that don't. Go to the motor factor/B&Q and get big pits of it.

Decent allen keys, decent cable snips - my Park Tools ones have lasted for years.

JIS screwdrivers for Shimano mechs so you don't chew everything up.

Head race remover and installer tools, headset cup remover you can make from an old seatpost. Headset cup installer tool.

spirit level/s.

work stand/old turbo trainer to put the bike on.

if doing internal cabling a long length of cable inner or one of those magnetty things to draw the cable through.

GT85 for cleaning and it smells nice.

Degreaser but not Muc Off or any trendy overpriced stuff from the bike shop. Motor factor, huge cans of Jizer or Gunk.


Just start doing stuff and what you need will pop up. buy as you go along.

Plus a hammer and a box of matches.

david37

Wot one the MF's just said.

However if you want to be able to do ANY task then you should add the following,

Torque screwdriver (adjustable) in the range .2 to 3NM
Torque wrench 2.5 - 25nm or similar
Torque wrench 20 - 100nm

Compressor or tank suitable to inflate tubeless

Bleed kits (the official ones so you have stuff like 8mm crowsfoot ) for most main brands but at the least SRAM that deffo includes the bleeding edge tool, Shimano including the adapters for the road STI, probably a bunch of others.

Hose cutters
small press / tool to insert hydraulic fittings into hose

Needle nose pliers
Flush cut snips (for flush cutting tie wraps)
Cable cutters
Chain tool to break chains and insert pins buy a decent heavy duty one
Quick link pliers
vernier caliper (metric)
chain wear tool
cassette removal and chainwhips shimano and campag. NB the shimano/sram version is used on some forks and discs too
freewheel tools
bearing press and drifts for wheels and bottom brackets
blind bearing puller
some drifts
those funny wrenches for adjusting older style brakes
loctite (the blue stuff) bearing retension stuff (the yellow stuff)
crank puller / removal tools in both sizes and the tool for removing shimano HT cranks
Picks (the park ones with the magnets are expensive but ive found no end of uses for them)
tweezers
rotor truing tool
shockpump (the digital ones are very useful for setting the same pressure each time)
digital tyre gauge. Very useful for MTB and esp if doing
Tub glue one pot lasts errrr some time.
truing stand - no need for a shop quality one the one sided ones work very well.
Spoke tension gauge (you can get geeky here)
dishing tool
hanger alignment gauge (very very useful)
soft faced hammer
metric spanners including 7,8,9,10,14,15, and 19mm (bmx) plus sockets in the same sizes
hex and torx bits or sockets. get some long ones in 6mm too (these are for torque wrench and difficult to reach spots.
get some very short ones too for odd spots like inbetween frame and calliper
some chamfer free sockets in suitable sizes for forks. (the bike specific ones are VVVVV expensive but you can take a cheap socket and stick it on the belt sander to remove the chamfers and give a flat finish.)

various sized spoke keys and bladed spoke holders
keep a stock of Gorrilla tape in various widths
that rubber stuff forprotecting your mtb frames
Frame alignment gauge for forrays into restoration
even more hex and torx keys
electricians tape
spoke/bearing gauge

Workbench
light engineers vice
various width jaws for holding various diameter axles etc
rivnut gun
headset press

You could go on for ever it is literally never ending.

Buying as you go is the way ahead the tools for personal bikes will be limited.

BUT if you have tens of thousands worth of tools you have a perfect excuse to design and build a workshop to work in and store it all. Which is a worthy destination anyway

MattFalle

Ben6899 said:

MattFalle said:

Well don't think of bike mechanicing as heavy, wrenching, both or in any way complicated. its none of those. you're just working on a bicycle - its not very difficult.

You'll need a tourque key/wrench, carbon paste, moly grease for things that move and Copperslip for things that don't. Go to the motor factor/B&Q and get big pits of it.

Decent allen keys, decent cable snips - my Park Tools ones have lasted for years.

JIS screwdrivers for Shimano mechs so you don't chew everything up.

Head race remover and installer tools, headset cup remover you can make from an old seatpost. Headset cup installer tool.

spirit level/s.

work stand/old turbo trainer to put the bike on.

if doing internal cabling a long length of cable inner or one of those magnetty things to draw the cable through.

GT85 for cleaning and it smells nice.

Degreaser but not Muc Off or any trendy overpriced stuff from the bike shop. Motor factor, huge cans of Jizer or Gunk.


Just start doing stuff and what you need will pop up. buy as you go along.

Plus a hammer and a box of matches.

petrol helps those stubborn bits as well.

#burnitwithfire

MattFalle

Oh - and a hi-fi and a moca pot and some pork scratchings and bottles of ale and a comfy chair.

#essentials

Cargobike

Pfft.....
I employ a full-time mechanic to do all my fettling for me.
Makes life far simpler.

shortfall

Not many. A knock off campag chain tool that cost me less than a tenner off ebay, Campag and Shimano cassette tools, a chain whip, a spoke key,various Shimano bottom bracket tools, some cone spanners, a small assortment of tubeless repair items such as glue, a bradawl thing, tubeless plugs, co2 inflators and some VAR levers. Err that's about it I think. Anything else I need is either a standard tool or one that's been adapted such as a 3 leg bearing puller I use for ultra torque bearings. Some jobs I do too infrequently to justify the expense of buying bike specific tools so if I need a headset pressing in or similar it's off to my LBS.

MattFalle

imagine TDKBOMB wielding a Snap On snapper.....

#blimeyineedtogosomewherecold