wschruba

Some are made in the USA, some in China, some in Taiwan...much like many large tool re-sellers.

If you're asking which tools are made in the USA, it's mostly the expensive, bicycle-specific stuff (frame prep/repair tools, truing stands, etc...).

markwesti

I love this . https://www.amazon.com/Park-Tool-Pro...l+cable+cutter

Grand Bois

That's not a tuner, it's a receiver and so is your SX-650. A tuner requires a separate amplifier.

drlogik 

Grand Bois,

Actually, back in the day, we called them a "stereo". I stand corrected though.

Will Wheeler

There are a few manufacturers out there that make good quality tools so I'm not a "bigot" at all. Shimano, ParkTool, Pro, Unior, you name them. I buy Park Tool when the price is right and/or I can't get a similar item from another manufacturer. My Unior 1752/2 tensiometer is just as nice as the Park Tool TM-1 but at half the price.

kevindsingleton 

Thanks for that information. What a great find, and a huge savings. No idea why the Park version is so expensive.

cyccommute 

There are some Park tools that are clearly superior to the other options. Certain Park stands are vastly superior to anything else I've ever used. They do have some real dogs but the PCS-4-1 portable and the PRS-3.2-1 simply can't be beat for ease of use and durability.

The same goes for Park's TS-2 truing stand. There are others out there that will work but none of them are as good as the Park.

The Unior tensiometer looks fine but I question the "half the price" claim. I can't find one on-line for less than the TM-1 and many of them are more expensive.

well biked

You're poking a wasp nest full of vintage audio equipment knowledge by chiding Grand Bois about old audio equipment. Trust me on this one.

RubeRad

OK originally stated, it sounded like you were asking, are there any Park tools that you really should get the Park version because the Park tool is the ONLY awesome one like that on the market, and comparable tools from ALL competing vendors are crap. The answer to that is none.

But if the question is relaxed, then there could be a lot of answers.

I have a Park PH-5, and it is my #1 bike tool. I wouldn't spring for the whole set, I have a set of metric ball-end L-shaped wrenches that do the trick, but I plan on getting a PH-6 because I would use it a lot (maybe 20% of the use the PH-5 gets), and the longer lever is more useful than a small wrench.

I have an AWS-1, and I expected that to be my #1 tool, but there are just too many bolts that the Y-shape can't deal with. Seat clamp, water bottles cages, etc, seems there's always some part of the frame or something that doesn't allow me to spin the Y-wrench.

I have the nice, 4-sided spoke wrenches SW-40 and SW-42, which I think are great. Worth the extra cost above SW-0/1/2.

Most of my other bike-specific tools come from the Nashbar "Essential" kit, which I have had good success with. Probably not durable enough for a professional shop, but good enough for my light use. The notable exception is the pedal wrench, the jaws of which got mushed. And the cone wrenches seem kinda cheap. I'm sure Park versions of those are much better.

You mention Pedro's, I love their tire levers. Chunky and strong, they work the best of anything I've ever tried (although I did break one once), and they're very reasonably priced. Great value.

My two favorite tools though are two vintage campagnolo wrenches; a 15mm track nut ("peanut butter") wrench, and a pedal/bb wrench. They make me feel special when I use them.

79pmooney

I have a Pedros Trixie 15mm hub wrench with lockring spanner on my good fix gear. Great tool. A touch harder to slide on but every bit as good as a peanut butter tool once on and the lockring spanner is several steps up from my flat plate Park, radically better for the bell shaped lockrings for small cogs. (The new Trixies look smaller and thinner. Glad I have an older one.)

Also have a 40 year old VAR 15mm peanut butter wrench. A joy to use. Wrapped the handle with inner tube. It is one of my most used tools. Lives on the most accessible corner of my tool board.

Ben

Will Wheeler

I must admit i was a bit bold there. Sorry!
But the fact is that I bought my meter in Norway and sometimes the prices here are weird compared to other countries. The online shop had them both listed and the TM-1 was about the double. That is 3 months ago now so it might have changed.
Except literature, I can't use Amazon (where capitalism is at work) here in Norway to buy things from.

rydabent

The must haves are the ones that are needed for the variety of components on your bike.

When I have gotten a new bike or trike, I check to see if there is some special tool that is needed to work on it. That would be such as taking the bottom bracket apart to service it.
The rest of the bike can be serviced with standard hand tools.

ChuckD6421 

Glad you mentioned this, I agree. It's a 2nd tier tool along with a truing stand and chain whip, but absolutely critical when you're having shifting issues you can't pin down. It should be your first check if there's any doubt.

richart

Wish I'd had one back in the old days...it would have paid for itself in no time. Kids were always throwing their bikes on the ground and bending the derailleur hanger. After doing enough you could eyeball one and adjust with hand tools, but this tool would have saved a lot of time.

cyccommute 

What are you guys doing that you need a derailer alignment gauge so often? I have one in my personal shop but I seldom use it. I also have one in our shop tools at my local co-op but even there we only use it a few times per year.

And, if you have a more modern frame, the tool is mostly useless for replaceable derailer hangers.

I would have made my kids fix their own bent derailer hangers. But, honestly, getting out the DAG isn't that much easier or faster than just using an allen wrench for small tweaks to the alignment. I find it to be a fine tool but hardly "must have".

ChuckD6421 

Maybe a misunderstanding of how it works? It's absolutely useful for replaceable hangers. They're bendable and can get bent, and straightened.

richart

Not kids as in my own, but kids in general bringing bikes into the shop. I would have used such a tool several times a week. Just saying great for a shop where it would get a lot of use, but I agree it would be overkill for an individual's tool collection.

Kaze6

Assuming that you will be working on your own bike(s), rather than going pro:

Pro-level bike stand.

That's it.

Beyond that, figure out which tools you need for your bike(s), and check around. Park may or may not be your best option. Don't buy Park because it's Park, don't buy a tool because it's made for bicycles. If you don't know that you need something, you probably don't. Few of the things that you will need to do will come as a surprise, so you can get tools as you need them rather than stuffing the toolbox.

THE EXCEPTION to this rule is that if you run across a bike shop selling out their tools as they go out of business, you may be able to get a good deal on the whole lot, then you can sell off the stuff you don't need.

cyccommute 

Yes, replaceable derailer hangers can be bent but that doesn't mean that they are "bendable". The operable word with replaceable derailer hangers is "replaceable". The whole point of them is to be a sacrificial component so that the frame isn't damaged beyond repair in the event of the hanger being damaged. All of the replaceable hangers I've seen are aluminum and shouldn't be straightened if bent. Aluminum doesn't take to bending and being rebent all that well...hence the reason for the replaceable hanger in the first place.

Kopsis

CX racing. Though I suspect people who do a lot of mountain biking are in the same boat. But even then it's not a use it every weekend kind of tool. But when you need it, I haven't found a better solution than Park.

I've found replaceable hangers often benefit from slight adjustments when first installed. You don't want to bend them much and you don't want to do it more than once or twice, but a small one-time adjustment won't weaken the hanger enough to compromise reliability.

You're eyes are better calibrated than mine (which wouldn't be hard as myopia combined with presbyopia has been making once easy tasks more challenging for me). I've checked RDs I thought were square and found them to be off by enough to be worth adjusting. Just because it's not a must have for you, doesn't mean it's not a must have for somebody.

Crankycrank

Yes, and any replacement hanger that gets mounted should have the alignment checked as well. They don't always mount up perfectly the same as the old hanger. No sense putting everything back together and chasing your tail trying to get it to shift properly only to find that your new hanger is off.

Miele Man

Beware Park Tolls. The Park Tools warranty is worth crap! I have two Park tools that had lifetime warranties on them but when they failed after little use Park basically said too bad how sad. I'll never buy a Park tool again unless it's something i need that no one else makes a similar tool.

Cheers

newspeed

The mechanic at my lbs warned me about this too. There is no warranty for worn out tools only "defects." Do any bike tool companies offer a true lifetime warranty like sears does with craftsman?

Great info in this thread. Thanks guys.

Miele Man

My two Park Tools that failed were hardly used. They were defective.

Cheers

wesmamyke

In my experience Park warranty depends on who you actually talk to. Sometimes they are awesome, and sometimes they tell you to eat it.

That huge crown race puller is the only thing they make now that doesn't have a better equivalent available elsewhere.