I am irritated at myself for forgetting my Rule.
"If lacking a special tool means you have to send a bike to the bike shop, always buy the tool and do the job yourself. You may spend a little more, but you'll have the tool, usually it will pay for itself the second time you do the job."
This time I needed to overhaul my bottom bracket, it is an old Stronglight, I don't have the 23.3mm puller, so I took my bike to the shop. It will be $32 to overhaul. Turns out the tool costs $55. So unless I will never need to remove an old Stronglight crank again, I should have bought the tool.
Do you agree with this Rule? Are there cases where you do not? Do some tools not pay for themselves despite a reasonable amount of home use? Facers perhaps?
I love tools, was a mechanic/service manager for over 20 years but my own bike has never been serviced by anyone but me since 1972. No, I don't agree that rule always holds - there are too many variables/exceptions. If you don't have a back-up bike, wheel, etc, a tool can be purchased immediately, you have the knowledge to do the repair properly, will spend less time to get the tool and fix the bike than to have the shop do it, and you expect to have the opportunity to use the tool in the future, then absolutely you should buy the tool. Changing one or more of the above situations could change the equation toward having the shop do it.