Go Back  Bike Forums > Bike Forums > Touring
Reload this Page >

Tool time

Search
Notices
Touring Have a dream to ride a bike across your state, across the country, or around the world? Self-contained or fully supported? Trade ideas, adventures, and more in our bicycle touring forum.

Tool time

Thread Tools
 
Search this Thread
 
Old 04-12-10 | 10:56 AM
  #1  
Thread Starter
Member
 
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 33
Likes: 0
From: New York, NY

Bikes: Jamis Aurora 2009, Cannondale CAAD 9 2010

Tool time

I am looking to buy a few tools for bicycle repair for my tour.

Can you make a few suggestions on the must haves? Also if you could recommend any "kits"ie all-in-one packages with all the tools in them that would be much appreciated. Im assuming that to be a little cheaper than buying things individually.
lembeh is offline  
Reply
Old 04-12-10 | 11:23 AM
  #2  
Bike touring webrarian
20 Anniversary
 
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 2,086
Likes: 112
From: San Francisco, CA

Bikes: I tour on a Waterford Adventurecycle. It is a fabulous touring bike.

This page has 5 links to information about tools to take on tour.

Other than the link to survival knives, you should find the other 4 of interest to you.

Ray
raybo is offline  
Reply
Old 04-12-10 | 02:22 PM
  #3  
bktourer1's Avatar
Senior Member
15 Anniversary
 
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 1,032
Likes: 71
From: Western Ma.

Bikes: Diamondback "parkway" Spec. "expedition

A topeak "alien" a $10 version of a "leatherman" tool
bktourer1 is offline  
Reply
Old 04-12-10 | 02:34 PM
  #4  
Cyclebum's Avatar
Senior Member
 
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 2,766
Likes: 1
From: NE Tx

Bikes: Tour Easy, Linear USS, Lightening Thunderbolt, custom DF, Raleigh hybrid, Felt time trial

No disrespect meant, but just make sure you know how to use whatever tools you take. For instance, a spoke wrench is a neat little gadget, but pretty worthless if you don't have some rudimentary knowledge about changing a broken spoke/truing a wheel.

Also, carefully weigh the potential for needing a specialized tool vs likely access to a bike shop for more esoteric failures/adjustments.

Consider taking a temporary Fiber Fix spoke, and an extra tire tool or two in case one breaks.
Cyclebum is offline  
Reply
Old 04-12-10 | 03:55 PM
  #5  
Senior Member
 
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 3,275
Likes: 1
allan keys from the largest to the smallest /swiss army knife/leatherman/,couple spanners.
chain breaker ,and just in case you need to replace a brake or gear cable bring a pair of wire cutters.
as the man said, better to be looking at it than to be looking for it.
antokelly is offline  
Reply
Old 04-12-10 | 04:59 PM
  #6  
Banned
 
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 5,115
Likes: 4
It is a process.

- Think through all the things that could go wrong that you would be willing/able to fix on the road. Just get the bike out and go part by part. Tires = road morph, quick stick, tire patches... Just do the whole bike. There aren't that many things bikes are pretty simple.

- Then figure out what tools are required to do the stuff you would be willing to do on your specific bike, not mine. Go bolt by bolt. This is where the uber custom touring bike could be built to do everything with a handful of allen keys etc... while it might take two wrenches and a third hand tool just to tighten the brakes on someone elses bike.

- look at your likely tools and figure out ways of doing stuff that may be more dual purpose, for instance could you weld something to something and create a hypercracker that is also a pedal wrench? A simple example is one cone wrench and one small adj wrench, if it will handle more stuff on the bike, like one side of a brake adjust. But only if the adj wrench is light enough. Don't buy kits or multi-purpose tools half of which don't fit anything on your bike or aren't matched to the torque required for the actual bolt. An 8mm wrench with a 2 inch handle is not going to get you too far.

- anything you can't fix or won't carry the tools for because the cost benefit isn't there, either maintain now, or have serviced.

- Generally peruse places like this for the likely horrible problems like driveside spokes, and either gear up or build for the ages, or both...
NoReg is offline  
Reply
Related Topics
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
Obeast
Bicycle Mechanics
17
04-07-18 07:47 AM
nightshade18
Road Cycling
5
10-20-15 05:25 AM
bigredkevbot
Touring
16
09-18-15 10:33 AM
Leukybear
Bicycle Mechanics
18
12-30-14 03:36 PM
graytotoro
Bicycle Mechanics
21
08-13-12 10:07 AM

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off



Contact Us - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

Copyright © 2026 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.