Another useful resource, not just on fixing things but things like compatibility of different groupsets & gear ratios etc.
https://www.sheldonbrown.com/
3 Likes
I have a similar tool kit (2 in fact - I keep one in the motorhome) bought from Lidl.
ome point to note - generic toolkits are Shimano based, so if you have Campag kit (like me) you need a different cassette removal tool
3 Likes
Thanks - i’m standard Shimano, so should make things easier.
I do like the idea of getting one of these kits though. All in one place as well then. My birthday is on Monday or Tuesday or something, so may pass on to Mrs GB.
1 Like
The kits always end up with some obscure and useless bottom bracket tool or crank puller from the 1970’s that you will never use, but otherwise are good!
1 Like
I’ve had this Planet X Jobsworth tool set for 6 years. It cost 79.99. Has almost everything you need to fully build a bike (exception is a set of Allen keys). Over the years I have invested in better and more specialist tools, however. This set still gets a ton of use.
I would also invest in a quick link remover (get the one that also helps put the link back in). Torx are being used more and more, which us a PIA as its additional tools
4 Likes
Pedal wrench? Surely just an allen key on the spindle these days. As far as BB tools; most modern frames have press-fit; which is a PITA imho, and one of the few things I just get done at the LBS.
I would LOVE for manufacturers to just go back to threaded BB. Granted, the various stds mean you might need more than one tool.
1 Like
I’ve got a Campag one thrown in that box somewhere
I think easier with a wrench, and not all pedals have an allen key, but sure!
Don’t buy a bike without threaded bottom bracket.
1 Like
Have those cone spanners ever come out?
1 Like
There are so many advantages of Threaded BB: Frame life, ease of maintanance, BB life, lack of creaking just to name a few
What’s the advantage of press fit? Weight saving, perhaps a bit of stiffness… however, as Specialized demonstrate on the SL7, you can have a light stiff frame with a threaded BB.
The 4 at the top… errr no. the 15mm Pedal Wrench at the bottom does get a little use.
However, I do own a decent set of Halfords spanners, which do get used.
1 Like
I have a lot of tools because I have been running Campag for over 25 years (despite what you read, they don’t need too many specialist tools) and now have Shimano and SRAM added to the stable (as well as a mix of disc and rim).
I’m pottering later so I’ll take some pics, it would be easier. In general, i would say Park Tool are ok for bike specific tools but you can better/cheaper for other stuff. If you want a safe bet bike specific wise Park are ok as a ‘banker’ without spending hours researching. (Pedros and Junior are good enough but can be hard to source. I steer clear of Ice Tools and Lifeline personally)
Just about every bottom bracket type catered for here 
Cotterless, square tapered, threaded…
Mallet is to whack the cranks out with.
Pedal spanner is for when pedals didn’t used to have an 8mm Allen key.
Wire cutters for when you recables.
Probably less than £100 of tools there and I’ve built bikes from scratch plenty of times.
Most used?
Allen key set.
Then chain whip and cassette lock ring, followed by bottom bracket tools.
If I’m racing, I’ll take off my whole drivetrain and give it a once over and stick it back on nice and clean.
Like @Matthew_Spooner says, I now need a set of Torx keys as Shimano have moved over to them on the chainrings 
I’ve a few on my Parktools IB3, but no proper ones.
1 Like
I’m not touching bottom brackets, and i highly doubt i could totally strip off a drivetrain! Start small though .
You can!!!
Parktools videos show you all you need to know.
Back in my day, there were no YouTube tutorials, all learned from documents 
A member of our cycle club is a professional mobile mechanic. It always baffles me when people get him to go round to put a new cassette on their new wheels and “fit the wheels”
(Because the rims might be wider, brakes need adjusting, larger tyres, mudguard clearance fettling etc)
Truly bizarre!!!
I’m scared of internal cabling, I stripped by BMC in autumn 2019 when it was six months old and put it back together all clean and sparkling. But that’s when I knew all the internal routing stuff was A-OK.
My PX TT bike needed a few new holes drilling into it (by the bike shop!) to recable.
I’m going to give that a go this winter/spring. Just to see if I can do that.
Have to say, the Park Tools vids are really good and even their page with written instructions is really useful.
I totally stripped and serviced my bike over the summer lockdown. What with buying tools I didn’t have and replacement parts cost me way more than an LBS service, and took me way longer. But I can now do most jobs if I have to, and that was the point.
What I bought:
Torque Wrench Set
Bottom Bracket tool
Crack removal tool
Cheap Chain link set although I bought some decent chain links to go with.
Already had
bike stand would say you will need something to hold the bike unless you can train mini-GB
Spanners, allen keys, wire cutters.
Grease
Ended up getting a chain wip tool and cassette tool despite being 99% certain I already have these somewhere in the garage. So maybe I should recommend some kind of storage system?
Most nerve racking job was replacing internal cables. Was really worried what I was going to do if this went wrong. Turned out being simple enough, so now I’ve done it once, will be confident again.
Next problem was the bottom bracket. The bike is 12 years old and trying to confirm the correct bottom bracket type from pictures on the internet turned out to be beyond me. Bought the wrong one. Then it was just fiddly stuff. Replaced the handle bar tape, hardest bit was getting the bar end plugs back in. Got a load of M5 bolts from screwfix and replaced all the rusty ones around the headset and saddle.
Biggest problem I have normally is it’s too damn cold to do any fiddly jobs in the winter. My fingers just don’t work. So jobs in the winter tend to get neglected, and then I’d rather spend the time riding in the summer than fettling. So while I am now more confident to tackle most jobs, not sure I would do the full service thing again, just individual items as and when they arise.
4 Likes
The biggest thing you save doing it yourself is time. The whole LBS ‘drop off and eave for a week’ is a ball ache not worth having (plus I know more about wrenching Campag than 90% of LBS’)
I can think that’s a tad simplistic. Maybe as someone that these things come naturally to, or someone that has the desire and capacity to take on the tasks. Just like, say, me saying that learning a new language is easy as i’m naturally good at languages. But i get your point.
There are many tasks, not just bike but definitely fine motor skill based, that despite how slowly and steadily i go and how much research i do and how much i understand it conceptually i just can’t do it. I can’t even wrap a present tidily, i can’t plait my daughters hair etc. not for want of trying, i just can’t seem to get my hands to do what they need to do. Blows my mind.
1 Like
Well around here you get charged a storage fee if you try to leave your bike with them before or after a service, so you don’t have that problem, but if you need a broken cable fixed you could be waiting a week for an appointment.
Given what I have just said above, it would make sense for me to get my bike serviced at some point over the winter at the LBS, so I just have to do any emergency or simple maintenance work hopefully when it’s warmer.