Originally Posted by wile e. coyote
Cone wrenches: I don't see a difference between Park, Shimano, or the store brand ones, they're all punched from sheet steel. Therefore I buy the cheapest possible. Rubber takes the edge off but still too sharp for high torque. Too short too!
BB & cassette sockets: work well but again, store brand are probably made the same so why not buy cheap? A bb tool permanently fixed to a breaker bar would be nice for really stuck bb's, but that's usually when ya put the tool in the vice and wrench the frame.
bottom line: nothing wrong with Park, but same quality is available in generics, and using better quality non-bike tools is best when possible.
I think some of the problem with bikes and biketools is spacing, there isn't a lot of room around a cone for example to get a good quality tool into. However like many others, I would rather use a generic tool, then to buy a specialty tool. If the 15mm normal wrench is narrow enough to fit the pedal I have, then I would rather use it, then go out and buy a special wrench, just for pedals. Of course that raises the question, if a normal 15mm wrench is 7mm wide, why not make the pedal nut 8mm wide, so that a standard wrench will fit. I can see cones needing a special tool, because cones need to be small, due to the space available. Actually the pedals on my MTB look like nice wide nuts on them, so a standard wrench, should fit.