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Landgolier

If you know what you're doing, you can fix most anything on a bike with an adjustable wrench, a screwdriver, and a fair sized rock. If you don't, there are specialized tools for breaking almost everything on the bike. Obtain the skills to work on your machine, and what tools you need will be obvious to you.

HillRider

Check out the Bike Tools Etc web site (www.biketoolsetc.com) They sell every common and specialized bike tool made and have a list of recommended tools for both the starting mechanic and the advanced professional. They are an excellent resource.

Langolier's tongue-in-cheek comment is about right. An expert can fix almost anything with minimal tools and an incompetent can ruin parts with the finest tools available. For most of us, a middle ground of reasonable expertise and good tools makes bike maintenance fun and rewarding.

Landgolier

Yeah, I should probably be a little nicer about it

Park, Pedros, and the other brands make some basic tool sets. If you're actually considering one of them, people here can tell you which one is best for you and what 1 or 2 other things you might want. Learn how to use everything in the Park BK-2 set (plus throw in your own allen wrenches and socet driver), and you'll be well on your way.

HillRider

Actually the best starting "tool set" is a couple of good maintenance manuals. Read them thoroughly and you'll have a much better idea of what tools you need and how to use them.

A couple of suggestions to consider:

Bicycling Magazine's "Complete Guide To Bicycle Maintenance and Repair".

Lennard Zinn's "Zinn and the Art of Road Bike Maintenance". (There is also an MTB version.)

barba

I would decide what repair/maintnance/upgrade you want to do, do your research on it and then buy the appropriate tools for the job. Besides books that are available, there are also good web resources out there (this board being a valuable one, but also check out Park Tool's web page).

A good quality set of hex wrenches is the most important place to start.

phantomcow2

I would go with Barba's suggestion.
I think if I was to buy a tool kit like from Park, I would not use all the tools. THats a bit of a waste.
YOu will need the cassette lockring remover, available at your LBS and everywhere else. Possibly the tool to remove an ISIS bottom bracket. I got mine from my LBS for 10 or 11 dollars.
Some simple green, and an old tooth brush.

Francis Buxton

My most frequently used tools:
3-way hex wrench
Metric hex wrench set (in addition to above)
Cassette lockring removal tool
chain whip
narrow flat-bladed screwdriver (to adjust derailleurs)
Crank removal tool (appropriate to cranks/bb on bike)
bottom bracket removal tool
Small and large pair of channel-locks/adjustable pliers
Cable housing cutting tool
Cable cutting tool
Diagonal Cutters
needle-nose pliers
Park Shop Chain Tool (the small ones suck)
Homemade coat hanger chain holder thing
Pedro's Syn lube
Slick 50 Teflon Grease
Finish Line bike grease
rags
floor pump
shock pump
old toothbrushes
Citrus degreaser
Boulevard Brewing Pale Ale or Bully! Porter

Those tools will allow you to fix almost all of the common maintenance items on a bike. Quite often, when you buy a new part, there is an installation manual included. When I was younger, I kept them around in my own version of Sutherland's bike maintenance book. That's how I learned how to work on my own bikes, besides what riding buddies and shop mechanics taught me.

I have quite a bit more crap than that, but the above items are what I think the average cyclist would use the most without getting into more detailed work. It also assumes you have a "modern" bike with a cartridge bottom bracket and threadless headset, cassette, etc.

You can drop your tool list to 3-way wrench, chain whip, lockring tool, 15mm wrench and beer if you switch to a singlespeed/fixie. Makes for a much cheaper toolbox.

Mentor58

if you get the book ZINN and the Art of Road Bike Maint. it has a good list of tools based on what kinds of jobs you are trying to do. Think it's refered to as Level 1, Level 2, etc. Also a very good guide to how to do the jobs.

Avalanche325

I agree with what is posted above. Figure out what YOU are capable of mechanically. Then buy tools that will support that much work. There is no point in buying a professional toolkit with a headset press and facing tools if you will never have a need or the skills to use them.

There are some specialty tools that you have to have to do anything beyound the most basic adjustments. Something like the Park roll-up toolkit will allow you do just about anything on the drivetrain, whithout giving you things you don't need. If a kit fits your needs, it is a cheaper way to buy. As long as you have the coin up front.

The Park tool web site has all of the instructions you are likely to need. Tool lists included.

roccobike

Park makes great specialty tools, but for routine tools like a hex set, I buy Craftsman when possible.

Grand Bois

What do you do with those?

HillRider

Ruin parts because you didn't use the right tool.

WorldWind

The first tools you need are a double action floor pump, tire levers, a chain breaking tool and a set of good allen wrenches.

Ask the LBS where you buy these things for an old chain that is the same as your chain, or the chain you are going to upgrade to. This will be your first step in preventive maintenance. Except for the high-end bikes almost all ‘off the shelf bikes’ benefit from a better chain.

Practice with the chain tool until you can do a perfect open and close with no binding. When you have that down pat you will be ready to start wrenching on your bike.

https://www.bikepartsusa.com/product_...ml?p=01-138326

Don’t get me wrong I do like Park tools and most of my small tools are Park but not all are. Chain tools, cable cutters, and allen sets are some exceptions.

It gets right down to personal preference and how much you use your tools. Keep in mind that bike tools and car tools are very different things and anything with an adjustable jaw is not appropriate for a bike. Standard metric wrenches are to thick to work on bike hubs and headsets and have looser fit tolerances that can deform the softer bike components.

AndrewP

Spoke wrench, cassette removal tool, and cone wrenches should be in your starter set. Look over your bike to find the hex nuts, and get combination (C one end, ring the other) wrenches to fit. Build up your collection of specialty tools (crank extractor, bottom bracket extractor) as you need them.

You have noticed that you need to learn about cleaning and lubing the drivetrain (oil collects dirt - dont use it). Otherwise most maintenance will be on the wheels and brakes.

Francis Buxton

I generally use my small channel-locks to pull my derailleur/brake cables tight while tightening down the nut.

They also come in handy when you can't find the "right" tool. Sometimes you just have to wrap the jaws with a rag or some tape. Trust me, I know what to use when, but when you're 400 miles from home at a race, you don't always carry your entire Craftsman tool socket set with you.

I prefer Bondhus hex wrenches with the knuckle on the end. Very nice.

WorldWind

I don’t believe that spoke wrenches, cone wrenches or a cassette splined socket should be in a starter tool kit.

I believe that the person that teaches you to true a wheel should give you your spoke wrenches.

I have seen so many rims that could have been saved, ruined by someone that thinks he knows how to true a wheel.

There is currently a thread running where a member took his wheel to a shop and the wheel didn’t last one day of riding. Had the mechanic known what he was doing he would have fixed the wheel properly or refused the work.

Once you have mastered your chain the next thing is learning to how to maintain and replace your shift and break cables. This means learning how to adjust your derailleurs and break pads. The tools you need for this are your allens and possibly a third hand tool. Depending on your groupo you may need a brake wrench.

I cannot think of an instance where I have ever used a socket wrench on any bike I have ever worked on. A nut driver yes, and an allan socket in a torque wrench for some forks, but other than that that no.

WorldWind

This is what you use to tighten cable.

And this is what break wrenches look like.


Until you find something you like better I recommend you use WD-40 to clean your drive train and chain and then wipe them off with a shop rag or old terry towel. Set your bike on an angle so the WD-40 doesn’t drip onto your wheel but rather onto a rag. Holding the corners use the folded edge of the rag in-between the rings to get out all the grime and flood with WD-40 spray as you slowly move the cranks backwards. Move the chain to get to all the cogs. Use try flow to lube the chain and wipe off all the excess. The rest of the bike I clean with windex.

I buy used white towels in bulk from a local laundry for less than 20 cents a piece. I tear them in quarters and through them away when they are too dirty to clean any more.

DCCommuter

I bought this tool kit from Nashbar: https://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?c...eid=&pagename=

For $40 it does almost everything on the eight bikes I maintain. It's a starter kit, but as you get serious you can augment it with higher quality tools.

Francis Buxton

Personally, I think WD-40 is terrible on drivetrain. If my chain's dirty, I use Finish Line Citrus Degreaser on it with a shop rag and then put one drop of SynLube on each pin of the chain. Run it around several times to get it worked in, and then wipe the surface dry with a shop rag. I find that towels drop lint, which then gets coated in oil and attracts dirt.

I've also found that all the 3rd and 4th and 5th hand brake/cable tools are an utter useless pain in the ass. A small pair of channel-locks are easier to use and don't honk up your cables. I don't need to buy specialized brake wrenches, b/c I have set of metric open-end wrenches and metric sockets.

I will agree about leaving the spoke wrenches to a qualified mechanic or wheelbuilder. It's incredibly easy to mess up a wheel.

I'd also stay away from the cone wrenches for a little while. Once you've mastered brakes/derailleurs, then you can start tearing into adjusting the bearings on your hubs. That's not a real frequent thing anyway.

Start with hex wrenches (and tire irons/floor pump if you don't have them). That will do most of your day to day stuff.