I think he was assuming ME to be the amateur mechanic and wanted to make sure I wasn't destroying things by grabbing everything with a vice grip.

My first understanding that I will want something better than what came with the $30 tool kit: pedal wrench. The flimsy short-handled one in the kit will not remove the pedals on one of my bikes. I need more leverage. I have a longer handled adjustable wrench that will probably do the job, but those things are often too wide to fit the pedal properly.

There is a lot of good advise here.

Here are a few thoughts I have on the subject.

If you can possibly volunteer at a bike co op you should. They will have all the tools you might need and experienced folks to help you.

At The bike Exchange I have a woman who is just starting out that asked me to mentor her. I told her to go to the pile of junk bikes we have , choose one, and strip it of parts( for future use by us). It is a great way to experience a bike for the first time.

Then she will start to do some services. I don't plan to tell her what to do until she asks for help. I want her to make mistakes. Then try to fix them.

I will be there to guide her and step in when necessary but won't do it for her, only show her how and answer questions.

I also suggested she go out and buy a few tools for herself. I suggested she go to harbour freight and buy a set of box end wrenches and a set of allen wrenches to start and also a tool box.

With that as a starter set she will be able to do a lot of things without having to go to the tool cart every 5 minutes. She will also have some "skin in the game" . As she finds herself going to the cart for the same tool over and over it will become clear what to buy next.

While this is not a complete list here are some basic tools I put together, many of which I already had.

Bike Repair Tools and Equipment

1 Repair stand
2 high pressure floor pump
3 ball end hex wrenches (metric)
4 cable cutters
5 electrical tape
6 chain breaker tool
7 chain lube ( T 9)
8 Screw drivers ( flat and Philips , small and medium size)
9 tire levers (4 )
10 ball peen hammer (and rubber or plastic hammer)
11 scissors
12 Adjustable wrench ( small and large)
13 gear brush ( and tooth brush or similar)
14 Grease ( white lithium grease in squeeze tube )
15 chain whip
16 Freewheel removal tool ( and / or Cassette removal tool)
17 spoke wrench ( individual or multi tool)
18 permanent marker
19 measuring tape (combo metric and english 12 ft)
20 zip ties
21 plastic baggies (various sizes )
22 pencil magnet (with extension if available)
23 cone wrenches (12,13 and 14,15mm combination wrenches or better)
24 Bottom bracket tool ( for your bike?)
25 Catch pan to place under axles etc to catch bearings (i.e. Auto oil drain pan)
26 auto shop towels (red or blue) or terry shop towels
27 wd 40
28 liquid wrench or equal
29 409 or Fantastic cleaner.
30 big floor sweeping magnet ( to find all those tiny parts you dropped on the shop floor and can't find)
(40) Tool box
(41) Work bench (2' x 4' folding table at minimum to set your tool box and misc parts and tools

I think we discussed this maybe privately, not a fan of any of the bike specific pedal wrenches as they have too thin of a purchase on the flats. I use a Snap-on xtra long on most, may not fit all. They are thin and strong and always do the job. Also have a Gearwrench that always works. On stubborn ones a thicker wrench that fits in there is better as it spreads the force and more of it to do the job. All this being said many high quality wrenches should do the job if they are long enough. One last caveat is the Snap-on and the Gearwrench have grooves in the openings that help immensely with grip but can mar the spindle flats, on the ones that this is a concern I use a plain Snap-on and have never had one I could not get off.

Nashbar.com - has some great tools for cheap and they work great.

I picked up a bunch of ILLUSTRATED books cheaply off the internet, including 1973 edition of Glenns Complete bike manual, 1970 edition of Sloane's Book of Bicycling, and Bicycling Magazines bike Maintenance & Repair from 1990. There are a couple of websites that link buyers & sellers. USED bike books are usually under $10 each, including postage if you are American.

Looking for used books with Publishing dates from the 1980s & 1990s will ensure that you don't get a book that covers Oriental mountain bikes.

Also: Good place to start. If you have a nice selection of ADJUSTABLE wrenches you can start by giving them away.

Also remember that ALL available commercial penetrating oils like Kroil, WD40, Liquid Wrench, etc, are USELESS compared to a 50/50 mix of 100% acetone and ATF (dextron/mercron automatic transmission fluid).

I agree in principle, but disagree with the blunt statement.

Go to Sears (or their website) and price basic Craftsman tools, then go to swap meets, yard sales, craigslist, etc to see if you can save some money. Don't spend a lot, until you know that working on stuff is something that you want to do. Don't buy "tool-truck" stuff like Snap-On or Matco, unless you're getting it for Craftsman prices. There are a number of good tool companies out there, but I've pretty much standardized on Craftsman because it's cost effective.

For bicycle-specific tools, Park Tool is the gold standard, but not the only quality tools out there. But do you really need pro-quality tools for the amount of bike work you will do? If so, don't buy everything in the catalog -- just get what you need to do what you plan. Go to the LBS and talk to the tech who's been doing this the longest, and you will discover that over half of the tools on the rack rarely come OFF the rack.

If you plan on working on bikes for the next 20 or 30 years, find a pro-level Park bike stand (forget the consumer-grade ones), preferably on the used market. I've found these as low as $50.

You do NOT need to buy a truing stand -- you RIDE one. Eyeballing the rim as it turns is enough for nearly every truing job that you will do. If you want absolute precision, after the eyeball alignment take a 3x5 index card, and cut one corner into a notch. With a big spring clip, attach this to the frame, with the rim of the rim just touching the inside of the notch. True the spokes until you can turn the entire wheel and the sound doesn't change.

Working on bikes isn't rocket science. There are certain details which the folks here can help you understand, but don't be afraid to take things apart and see how they work.

You're correct but misinterpreted my statement: don't buy cheap tools. In my vernacular cheap means shoddy, sub-standard NOT inexpensive. Buying used good tools, Craftsman as your example, is excellent way of getting into having good tools on a budget but even used good tools can cost more than *cheap* (sh***y) tools. A bad tool can ruin your work and your day. I think it's often better to spend $10 once than $5 twice.

I somewhat disagree.

For the tools you use the most, get the minimum that will perform under constant use. Craftsman wrenches, or Kobalt wrenched will perform under constant use, and cost 20% what Snapon, Matco or Mac will cost.

If you wear out a tool, decide if you should replace it with like kind, or with better.

For special tools or infrequently used tools, it is often ok to get something "just good enough". If you use it enough to grow to hate it, then you will gotten your money worth from the tool.

But a whole lot of tools will be used very infrequently and there is no need to get "the best".

basics: screwdrivers, wrenches, sockets, allen keys? - get at least HD or Lowes or Craftsman

More esoteric stuff? cost vs benefit vs expected uses.

In my world I got the good hand tools, really good 3/8 impact and a really cheap 1/2 impact bc other than knocking off tires I just don't the big one. I got a good skilsaw, absolutely top of the line cordless drills (more than 1), but harbor tools engine hoist and chop saw. I've used the chopsaw enough to grow to hate it.... but the other ones are still sitting there for when I (infrequently) need them.

After struggling on a couple of occasions with removing pedals with either cheap pedal wrenches or adjustable wrenches, I decided to spring for the Park Tool Pro pedal wrench. Caught it for $26 on Amazon, received it today.

Now THIS is a pedal wrench!

Well scored, quality tools are the key, bought as you can afford them, one by one if necessary.
I have extensive general mechanical knowledge but I still use youtube and writeups from places like the Sheldon Brown site to navigate maintenance. Bicycle maintenance is simple but it's easy to get it wrong and I hate getting things wrong.

You're going to have a lot of pleasure in the years ahead. I love servicing my bikes, much more so than my autos and other gas powered gear.

I want to learn some of this stuff too. In looking at the $50 kits from Nashbar, Performance and Bikehand (Amazon), they are all the same and just rebranded, probably from China. But they seem a good start to work on a drivetrain. The junk parts are probably the patch kits, tire levers, chain tool, spoke wrench. Wait, that's almost everything.

What would be really cool is to part out these kits and the experienced people on this board show us which replacement is better, but maybe not shop tool quality.

https://www.performancebike.com/webap...400154__400154

Tools:

• Chain Tool
• Integrated Bottom Bracket Wrench Adapter
• Double Bit Phillips/Flat Head Screwdriver
• 6-Piece Hex Wrench Set (2/2.5/3/4/5/6mm)
• Chainring Bolt Wrench/Crankarm Dust Cover Tool
• Flat Head Screwdriver
• 8mm Hex Wrench with ½" Driver
• 2-Piece Tire Lever Set
• 15mm Pedal Wrench with 14/15mm Socket Wrench
• Sprocket Removal Tool
• Integrated Bottom Bracket Wrench
• Cassette Lockring Tool
• 2-Piece Cone Wrench Set (2 x 13/14/15/16mm)
• 3-Sided Spoke Wrench
• Crank Extractor
• Cartridge Bottom Bracket Tool
• T-25 Torx Wrench
• Patch Kit

I can tell you that so far, from the cheap kit I bought, the one tool I realized right away that needed an upgrade was the pedal wrench. Poor surface contact area (stamped metal, too small) and poor leverage (too short) make the cheapies unbearable for me. YMMV. Now I have a 14" Park Tool Pro Pedal Wrench.

Thanks for info here. I feel like I can be coordinated enough with tools, but I don't have very good bike mechanic skill-set. I am busy as mature student and part time job. I also have been busy collecting CV/parts bikes for the last 8 months. I don't even want to think about how much cash I have actually dropped on this hobby already.(There was a stretch there where I was a little addicted to shopping) Had to slow down, but am still on a expensive seemingly never ending, parts chase! So now I have 8 +- complete bikes. A couple framesets and a growing parts pile. So I have a bunch of projects sitting pretty much, (some easier than others to deal with).

Part of reason I got into this hobby was to start working with my hands and learn how to restore bikes. I have very few tools, and I guess a back patio to work on stuff. I think I am going to volunteer at a bike co-op starting soon, get a book, watch vids, and keep doing some repetitive basics on my own. Maybe if I stop buying bikes/parts, I could afford to get some tools and a stand. It would be nice if I got a car at some point too, in the mean time how about another basket/ bungie cord trip, to the grocery store on my MTb beater.

I just realized I had already brought up the pedal wrench issue. Apparently, I'm really excited about pedal wrenches!