9 Essential Tools For Home Cycle Maintenance
9 Essential Tools For Home Cycle Maintenance
Here’s Jon with his top 9 tools for home maintenance. What are the tools that you couldn’t live without?
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Firstly, I cannot recommend enough having a good workstand to use when maintaining your bike. You want it to be sturdy and stable but not something you can trip over. I’ve seen it done. But why a workstand, well, for a start it really does make your life easy when you’ve got to work on a bike. I’ve seen people try and fix a bike upside down, and it’s not easy, I always say you don’t ride a bike upside down, so don’t fix it upside down. As well as things may not appear as logical when the bike is not in the correct orientation.
Personally I like to use a tripod style stand as the bike is nice and supported and I can spin the bike around with ease which is really handy when working on a bike. But there are lots of other options out there to suit all budgets. From an inner tube hanging from the ceiling, to this monster sturdy stand from Park Tool.
Get yourself a good quality set, there are loads of different varieties available. My preference are some like these, with a ball end so if you have to access the six sided sockets at an angle, you can. Some come like this, and others with what’s known as a T-Handle for a bit more comfort when working on a bike day in day out. If you don’t fancy these or don’t have the money, get a good quality multi-allen key set like this, I know for myself and Doddy from GMBN, we use these an awful lot. Normally because they’re closest to us in our home workshops, and actually fit the hand really well.
As for sizes, essentially you will need a 4/5/6mm as they are the most common sizes, but if possible, get a full range from 2mm up to 10 or maybe 12mm.
These keys are similar to a hex wrench in that they have a six sided contact, but, that’s really where it ends. Torx keys can generally have a higher torque put through them as the contact point between the tool and the bolt or socket are closer and work better together. For smaller fittings, this is very helpful. As it’s quite common for a poor fitting allen key and soft headed tool to basically round off, making adjustment a considerable pain. Hence the likely introduction of them into the cycle industry where we use lots of small fittings.
It is possible to use an undersized torx key on these sockets, and that is where problems may occur. Pay close attention to using the correct size as it’s easy to crush or distort a bolt head on small components.
Of course, if you don’t have or don’t intend to have any TORX fittings on your bike, you don’t need to worry about anything I’ve just said. But, it’s slowly being introduced more and more to our components, so I predict in the end you will have to give in!
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Tape measure is high on my list.
The most important tool I have is my brain. Lots of research, watch videos, etc. before I try anything so I know what I’m getting into, what tools I need, and when I should let my LBS mechanic handle the job. The best part is that this tool is free and saves me time, hassle, and money in the long run.
You definitly forgot the most useful tool : the pizza slicer that hangs behind you Jon, 10cm above the top tube of the Canyon 😉
Fkn LOVE my park tools grease gun
Number 10: Find a good bike mechanic who can undo all the mistakes you have made.
One big park tool ad…..
Again what the hell is this doing on a Tech Cannel The relevance to TECH ..Absolutely none !!!
The Conti tyre levers came free with inner tubes.
a cheater bar (remove stuck pedals)….cable/zip ties (keeps stuff together)…double sides tape (speed/cadance senor fitting before making sercure)….insulation tape and tipp ex (mark seat post hight ect)….paper clip (to open cable housing, cheap)
Whats the one thing you always take to the bike shop? I never true/tension wheels, nearly everything else i do myself, sometimes a full recable on a bike with internal routing, no ones got time for that surely.
Magnetic bowls for holding all the little parts.
I like a good long pedal wrench myself, as I often change between road and mountain bike pedals on my cross bike. I’d spend the money on the pro level tools straight off for pedals, chain whip, cassette and bottom bracket. Leverage makes your life easy. Don’t get cheap ones first. I bought a small torque wrench recently and the large one will be on my Christmas list!
Very good video. The essential tools brought a question to mind and hopefully you can answer or do a brief show on the topic. So getting a new bike is not always an option but upgrades can be. Can an old Dura Ace 9 speed be converted to a modern 11 speed using the same wheels and derailer (limiting cassette to 28 of course). Can this be done by just replacing the hub and cassette? Is a new shifter required? If yes can the new cassette be used with old crankset? Visa versa if the a new crankset is used and an older cassette be used? just curious. Tinkering in the garage.
Moantain bikers- shock pump
Don’t forget a pressure gauge, old pump gauges are not always accurate.
Thin cone wrenches
Is that a pizza cutter on the wall? I mean, a bottle opener I understand, but a pizza cutter!! Hope you have a supply of nitrile gloves so your mitts are clean when the deliveroo guy arrives! 😋
Not to mention the trusty bit of wood to rest against a stubborn part that requires a good wallop with a hammer. Old school but works a treat!
What’s the best way to rest my bike when I take the rear wheel out to clean the wheel?
It is also useful from time to time, to check the calibration of your torque wrenches. They may also need calibrating out of the box.
My bike work stand is the cane I used after breaking my back. I wedge it under a planter box on the garden wall of my terrace and the hook of the cane supports my bike seat perfectly – although not terribly stable when I’m trying to turn the pedals and shift at the same time. Nonetheless, just another advantage of breaking my back!
That bike, that color. Canyon is killing it.
would be nice to see tools /stands for carbon fiber bike.
A pedal wrench.
Certainly is science behind winding off a torque wrench after use. If left in a state of tension the readings will drift over time, causing it to require more adjustment when calibrated. Most home users will never send a wrench for calibration so it’s even more important to wind off the wrench when you’ve finished with it.
I recommend some cheap makeup removal wipes so you can quickly clean your hands or have some good mechanic gloves. Also a chair to sit on when working on the bike to save your back.
Why do derailleur limit screws still use phillips head screwdriver instead of allen or torx bolts?
A bike stand cost me $200 and thought “will i use it? OMG i used it a ton! Worth every penny! A socket set of allen and torx bits is better 1/4” drive and you can get much better leverage and save your hands. And can’t stress enough TORQUE WRENCH!!! is vital
A good pick set can come in handy for lifting bearing seals for cleaning and also opening up freshly cut cables.
I personally prefer a 12v inflator
you missed one: MONEY
I hate those Conti levers, I’ve snapped the ends off two or three of them. Maybe I’m doing it wrong but when a tyre is stubborn, that’s how it is. I can’t change how tight the bead is. So they’re bad from my experience. I much prefer thinner (horizontally), thicker (vertically) levers with a nice strong scoop on the end. Those have always worked in my experience and I have never broken a single one. Only the Conti ones which have weak ends.
To avoid stripping bolts, go for quality hex tools like PB Swiss Tools, don’t go cheap cause the manufacturing tolerances is what you’re paying for. And a high quality hex tool will last you a loooong time
You definitely need a kettle. Any maintenance job is better done with the lubrication of a cup of tea inside you. Apart from that, I think you have all bases covered.
The last time I tried to simply clean my bike, I got dirt into the freehub which left a nasty-sound grind every time the wheel spun freely. This was just with a bucket, soapy water and sponge – no hose or pressure cleaner. Now I’m too paranoid to do any maintenance at all for fear of wreaking something else.
Those Park Tool torque wrenches straight up have “always store at zero torque setting” in the instruction manual. They also sell the ATD-1 torque wrench that has several preset torques, comes with several different bits, clicks through, and fits into the saddle bag easily. Very useful if you need to tune your saddle position etc.
The last time/ first time I had to cut outers I only had an anglegrinder at hand. you don’t need cablecutters lol
Had to try a few times to get a perfect cut though.
Other than my track pump, my most important tool is my credit card. 😏
Stop saying basically! You could play a drinking game to this video, basically….
I have a wrench for tensioning cables….it’s like having a 3rd hand!👍
Good hand cleaner is a must.
Adjustable spanners are the work of the devil. Ring spanners FTW.
What is the brand of that track pump
A small portable bike repair tool can fix it.
https://imaginegoodbuy.com/collections/sports-entertaintment/products/portable-steel-multifunction-bicycle-tool-maintenance-ferramenta-bike-repair-tool-wrench-11-in-1-pro-road-mtb-cycling-bike-tools
You also need sets of open ended wrenches 7mm-19 mm because we all know how wal mart specials are built. Youre not always going to work on carbon fiber road bikes mate,
i use a leather hammer, works wonders
Hi guys. Good video. Can you tell what is the air pump that you show in this video? Thank you.
Half a dozen reusuable cable ties are also essential when removing and especially fitting new tyres. The cable ties are vital in keeping the tyre beads inside the wheel well. Done properly you shouldn’t need to use tyre levers as the tyre should just pop over the wheel rim and eliminating the risk of pinching inner tubes
I work on my bike upside down, if one can’t figure things out, just because orientation, just sit down and think. This is the way of the cheap. (‘cuz the tools took all the money)
Jon, nice video…how about a spoke wrench? ya know…truing a wheel is sometimes necessary.
“Cross head one” 😂