Originally Posted by Wogsterca
As for tools, my preference is to buy them as I need them, I wanna remove a crank, I look in my toolbox, no crank puller, then I just go buy a crank puller. If the tool is expensive, and something you do fairly rarely, then I am likely to let the LBS do it.
It's a pretty good strategy, but you'll probably spend more in the end... I got into bike mechanics all at once, and bought a $100 toolkit from Performance. An excellent investment! The only tool I've had to add to it is an old-style BB lockring wrench.