So Im sick of working on my bike w/ the crappy tools I have laying around my house... I need a good starter's tool kit. Question is, which is a good set to start off with?

Thanks!

What's your budget? There are a lot of "crappy" sets out there too, and you'll hear a lot of opinions about this, it's been covered a lot, did you search? The Park AK-37 is kinda the bomb, but expensive at ~$220 and overkill for most, esp for fixed gear bikes. What I did when I got back into biking and wanted to jumpstart my tools with some quality was get the basic Park SK1 kit for $65 and added on a Hozan lockring tool, Park chain whip, and a Campy PB wrench. And a Park PCS-10 stand for $125 and I am frickin good to go

A lot of people are content with their $50-100 kits, depends on how much you wrench really and if you're ok with something breaking or possibly even messing up your stuff. The other common advice is if you buy a crappy tool you end up buying twice, but buy quality from the start and you're good for life. i went with the latter

Depending on what you have now, just buy quality tools piecemeal as you need them imo

+1 to buying quality tools as u need it. Esp if your only bike is ss/fg. Most of the times, I only buy tools from park or pedro's. But I buy in pieces as I need it.

I wonder why this sort of questions is not asked in the Bike Mechanics subforum, where much more experienced people visit.

Anyhow, get this, this, this (the red one), these, this, this (may be a bit on the pricey side, but it's best of breed), and this. Get these, too.

That should cover your basic needs. I selected the best tools that are still affordable (no Rohloff Revolver 2, for example, though it's the best chain tool in the world).

You don't have to thank me (I know you wouldn't anyway - now get off my lawn!)

Moving to mechanics in 3...2...1...

Most of the parts you just linked come with the Park SK-1 (except Hozan lockring tool and cone wrenches) and their total not counting shipping approaches that of the SK1, but the SK1 also has 2 screwdrivers, flat kit, chain cleaner device, gear brush, and a case. just sayin

It may have those things, but as you said, it doesn't have a lockring tool nor the cone wrenches, which are pretty important if not indispensible. Also, the SW-7 is a much worse spoke wrench than the one I suggested - it makes truing a wheel a pain im der arsh. The tire levers I suggested are also much better than the ones that come in the SK-1, you need to remove only one tire to ascertain yourself of what huge difference there is.

Just sayin'.

yeah that's why you still buy them, like I said I did

You don't give any reasons. I wouldn't really know, I don't true my wheels yet

Tire levers are only needed for some tire/rim combos IMO. They're only a couple bucks either way

I'm all for the piece by piece strategy. I've probably spent $100-200 in tools, but its been spread over the past two years. EG just starting out you probably don't need headset or bottom bracket spanners.

Fantastic.

thanks for the help guys.


ya I only ride a FG so I find myself only needing certain tools when a situation arises, so I wasn't sure if just getting a kit from the start is better than buying individually (I've heard its cheaper for the kits at times... but I could be wrong).

Buying a kit is usually cheaper than buying all the tools in that kit individually but you most likely don't need all the tools in the kit and may never need them. I'm in the "buy when you need" camp myself and have put together a pretty good tool kit over the past few years. Most of the items were bought either at Performance Bike Store when they had a really good sale or I'll add a tool now and then to an online order as I'm already paying the S+H.

The SK-1 does come with cone wrenches... then again, the one on the Park site doesn't show a chain cleaner, and I think I also saw a version that came with it - maybe this kit has been changed.

I think it's a very nice little kit - just the right balance between being prepared and having too much. I'd get one if I were starting over.