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Old 07-26-13 | 06:46 AM
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Retro Grouch
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Joined: Feb 2004
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From: St Peters, Missouri

Bikes: Catrike 559 I own some others but they don't get ridden very much.

I'm not a fan of "kits".

The problem of kits is that the guy who decided what to put in it doesn't know what kind of bike you have. The bike that you showed, for example, needs headset wrenches. Many bikes today don't so there's a good chance that any kit you buy won't have headset wrenches. Cranks are another developing technology. Every few years a new crank and bottom bracket concept comes out that requires a funny new socket. If your tool kit has one, it probably won't be the right one for your bike.

Another issue is the quality of the tools in kits. Most things it doesn't matter too much but I'd strongly recommend stepping up when you decide to buy a cable cutter. I have a VAR cable cutter hanging on my tool board that's at least 40 years old and still makes a clean cut. I can't tell you how many Park cable cutters I've used that would cut all but 1 strand cleanly. PITA!

Buying tools as you need them isn't as inconvenient as you are probably thinking. You'll be surprised at how much you can do with just a 5mm allen wrench. Most other projects you can plan ahead so you can source the bottom bracket tools or headset tools or cone wrenches that you are going to need.
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