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Old 12-30-14 | 03:11 PM
  #36  
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jin_yeugh
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Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 54
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From: Orange, CA

Bikes: '00 Raleigh USA R-600

Originally Posted by jyl
If you have a newer bike, you would skip some of the tools I picked (e.g. headset wrench, bottom bracket lockring wrench, big adjustable wrench, metric socket wrench set) and instead add specific tools for your bike (whichever bottom bracket tool you need). As a result your kit would be cheaper - I'm getting around $215-230.

Anyway, do with that what you will. It is really nice that your girlfriend wants to buy you a kit, and she probably wants something all shiny and coordinated and good looking - low hassle with free shipping. If you have a newer bike, I think the Park kit will work just fine, you might add a couple tools later, but for just routine maintenance you might not ever have to. If you have an older bike, you will be adding a few tools to the Park kit, call it $20 to $50 worth, plus $25 for a bottle of Chain-L, a bottle of TriFlow, and a tub of synthetic auto axle grease. Either way you'll want a floor pump. Treat her right, and next Christmas, maybe she'll buy you a bike repair stand.

(This all assumes you have zero tools currently, not even a screwdriver set.)

P.S. Park tools are generally okay quality, not great quality - but you don't need the highest quality tools for bikes. It isn't like cars, where you have to apply a lot of torque. So I picked pretty inexpensive tools in the wishlist. Not fancy but they should serve.
+1 !
It's very difficult to make a list of all the tools someone will need if you don't know the bike(s) they will be working on or the pre-existing tools in their work space. I, like many mechanics, started my tool kit with individual tools as I needed them for the specific bikes I was working on. This is a slower process but, I believe, a more efficient way to grow your tool kit.

If I had the opportunity for someone to buy me a premade tool kit years ago, I wouldn't regret it today. I would have a fair number of tools I don't use but the gift giver would have had an easy time shopping.

I would give your girlfriend the wish list of specific tools (which take some research to match to your specific bike components) and tell her that the tool kit would be much appreciated also, though not quite as helpful.
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