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8 hours ago, Teamsloan said:

Side cutting fingernail clippers or cuticle nippers like this are perfect for trimming things like the ends of zip-ties, or the corners off the shoulder blocks on your son's rear tire so that he can fit 2.4's...sorry that may be an extreme case 😛

yes! being able to cut zip ties flush is critical. a sharp, pointy zip tie end will slice you. I keep these little flush cutters around just for that job, but I like the cuticle clipper idea even better. the tool you're using looks sturdier, actually.

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On 7/29/2020 at 3:10 PM, Kobra Kai MTB Guy said:

After being told there's an 8 1/2 week wait on repairs at Peddler's (good for them, but it's a little upsetting given the loyalty I've had to them), I finally decided to start doing repairs myself.  I'm relatively handy when it comes to working with wood and around the house, but a novice as it relates to mechanical issues.  I came up with the below list of tools that I'll need.  I'm planning to do basically every repair if I'm going to drop this kind of investment in tools.  Can you guys take a look and let me know if/what I'm missing?  If there's anything here you don't think is necessary, I'd be happy to know that too.

 

Wheel truing stand

Bike stand

Chain whip

Grease

Carbon paste

Digital caliper

Brake bleed kit

Lockring remover

Screw drivers, allen keys, wrenches etc (already have)

 

if you get a truing stand then you will also need spoke wrenches, a spoke tension meter is handy

small and large torque wrenches

pedal wrench or larger allen keys than typically come in most sets (e.g. 8mm)

Chain breaker, I also use quicklinks and have a quick link tool and spare quick links

there is also a tool to measure chain wear

for shimano cranks there is a small plastic tool that is used to remove the bolt that holds the cranks together (crank arm installation tool)

Bottom bracket tool - there are a couple of sizes. My park bottom bracket tool has the crank arm install tool on one side

For brake bleeds and shimano brakes you need a 7mm allen which doesnt seem come in most sets, make sure the kit has the funnel. I use it a lot

I use a hayes disc brake tool which has two very thin sheets that go between the rotor and the brake pads to align calipers. There is a park rotor tool for bending the rotor

derailleur hanger alignment tool, spare derailleur hanger

mineral oil for shimano brakes

very large socket for the fork nuts (e.g. 24mm, 26mm)

Air compressor for seating tubeless tires. I keep spare stans valves.  I also use a basketball pin inflator to remove grips. You blow compressed air under the grip and the grips come right off/slide right on. I have a presta valve connector for my compressor

I use a little presta core tool for removing the core out of presta valves. I use a stans syringe that has a presta screw at the end to inject sealant

cable/cable housing cutter. I like the park one

1mm allen head - this is used for example on the barrel nut of a ks lev dropper bost

a set of picks for pulling retaining springs

vice soft jaws for when you cant get hub endcaps and the freehub body to come off

I have a special clamp for the brake hose to make it easy to tap the brass barb fitting on the end

regular grease

fork oil

I have dt swiss grease for dt swiss hubs

Some different grease for i9 torch hubs

slick honey

rock and roll gold for the chain

I make my own sealant

pedros tire levers

alcohol for cleaning rotors and brake pads.

generic degreaser (e.g. simple green)

lots of shop towels

nitrile gloves

I use cloths, but the oil comes off in the washer which is bad.

spotlight to see what you are doing

 

There are additional things that are pretty rarely used:

various presses for headsets and press fit bottom brackets

For crown race I just use 1.5 inch PVC and a cap so I can hit it with a hammer

 

 

Edited by crazyt
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Extra pair of reading glasses if you are an old man like me.

Cable cutters for shift cables, a sharp utility knife for brake cables.

A rubber mallet.

Extra spokes. The biggest pain in the ass is breaking a spoke and needing to go all the way to the shop to pick up one.

Rim tape.

Valve core stem remover. I have a Stan's remover, ~3-4" long that is great.

A spanner for crank bolts.

An Icepick. I use this when I am trying to clean dirt out of things, like cleat bolts.

A speaker so you can have music. Seriously, this helps you relax and stay focused.

A bottle opener.

 

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Oh, and the most important tool for me is an Amazon Prime membership. The secret is that you do not need to buy every single tool right now. What you DO need is the ability to have what you need delivered in 24-48 hours consistently. Get the basics then be willing to overpay a tiny bit to get stuff delivered as you need it. There is no need to put out the money today for something you may need once a year. But the stuff you will use every week now to get set up and then worry about all the specialty tools as needed. This is especially true for the folks that only get to ride on the weekends. Knowing you can order something on Sunday night, have it in your hands on Tuesday and be back in business for Saturday morning is great.

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7 hours ago, AustinBike said:

Oh, and the most important tool for me is an Amazon Prime membership. The secret is that you do not need to buy every single tool right now. What you DO need is the ability to have what you need delivered in 24-48 hours consistently. Get the basics then be willing to overpay a tiny bit to get stuff delivered as you need it. There is no need to put out the money today for something you may need once a year. But the stuff you will use every week now to get set up and then worry about all the specialty tools as needed. This is especially true for the folks that only get to ride on the weekends. Knowing you can order something on Sunday night, have it in your hands on Tuesday and be back in business for Saturday morning is great.

And if you find that you need a tool you don't have, just borrow it from AustinBike!  He has a great "loaner" program...

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Ill add that I put up some pegboard and have my tools nicely spaced out. That is really helpful. 

I also have at least 8 sets of allen wrenches in various forms (t handle, L, socket head, screw driver head, on spare bike tools, etc), because you can never find them when you need them.

I keep a complete tool set (sockets, hammer, bits, crescent etc) in my bike area and the tools are never allowed to leave that area. I have a toolset for indoors and a toolset in my main work bench.

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Yeah, I have 2 workbenches, a big one that was here when we bought the house and a smaller one in my bike workshop. The bike WB has 2 tool drawers. I specifically put all of the bike-related tools in one drawer and all of the more general tools in the other. So if I need to get a chain whip its in the left drawer and the adjustable wrench will be in the right.

The main workbench has toolboxes on it and I've ended up duplicating a lot of tools so that I don't have to go back and forth.

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I tried to deepen the "dimple" between my chainstays to allow some room for tires and trail debris on my CX bike. right now, a 35mm tire fits in there with about 3mm of room on each side, so the slightest bit of mud picks up some rocks and my bike grinds to a halt until I scrape all the crap out. I have started carrying a spare toothbrush so I can clean it when the time comes. I don't, of course, go looking for mud, but I am most likely to ride this bike right after a rain when the trails are muddy and I don't want to ride my mtb on roads and gravel bike paths because I get bored with that fast. inevitably, I find some mud somewhere.

it also means that I am limited to 35mm tire, which is sufficient most of the time but it sure would be nice to get 40 or so in there. anyways, I tried to crimp the steel tube using a c-clamp, a freewheel removal tool, and a curved brace on the outside of the tube lined with a piece of scrap tire to avoid gouging the hell out of the tube. I went slow to avoid damaging the tube. this was the result:

c-clamp.jpg.a98d0fb5b5f3c1ff9a46df8222f5d4ec.jpg

chromoly bicycle tubes are strong, apparently.

Edited by mack_turtle
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yes. I have a lot of HF tools and they usually work fine for my needs. it's not worth the $3 it cost to bother returning it now. I have my doubts that the identical one from any other store that costs $2 more is going to hold up much better. HF happened to be near my route home yesterday so I grabbed this one.

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I remember reading on the garage journal forums the significant differences between the HF clamps and the name brand ones. Your experience with the HF clamp does not appear to be unique.

That said, yeah working cold chromoly especially at that part of the chainstay is probably going to require some heat. :P


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I am a firm believer in HF for those "single use" tools. I had a screwed up bottom bracket that I needed to remove and went to HF and bought a pipe wrench for a few bucks. Did the job. If I got to 55 years on this earth and never needed a pipe wrench before now, I think an HF tool is fine because at this rate, I won't need one until I hit 110.

That being said I had to replace my vise grips and even though I had a 45 year old pair of cheap Taiwanese knock offs (huge sentimental value, now in the hands of that tool thief bonewipe...) they were replaced with the real deal, branded tools, because I use them a lot.

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I planned to use this tool once and it didn't even make it that far. however, the fact that I broke the tool doing this might be an indication that the job's fate was sealed from the start. I should leave it alone and just get used to getting my bike un-stuck with this tool instead:

1587654201_ScreenShot2020-08-05at11_31_47AM.thumb.png.8b60299e4c7a44f66c35ceaa52a437ca.png

Yes, that's on my bike now. I need a name for it. how about "The Compromise." I only know one person who could convince me that, instead of buying a bicycle that fits me and suits my needs, I should zip tie an old toothbrush to my bike instead.

Edited by mack_turtle
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56 minutes ago, mack_turtle said:

I planned to use this tool once and it didn't even make it that far. however, the fact that I broke the tool doing this might be an indication that the job's fate was sealed from the start. I should leave it alone and just get used to getting my bike un-stuck with this tool instead:

1587654201_ScreenShot2020-08-05at11_31_47AM.thumb.png.8b60299e4c7a44f66c35ceaa52a437ca.png

Yes, that's on my bike now. I need a name for it. how about "The Compromise." I only know one person who could convince me that, instead of buying a bicycle that fits me and suits my needs, I should zip tie an old toothbrush to my bike instead.

Send this to GCN hack or bodge.  I predict bodge.

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I planned to use this tool once and it didn't even make it that far. however, the fact that I broke the tool doing this might be an indication that the job's fate was sealed from the start. I should leave it alone and just get used to getting my bike un-stuck with this tool instead:
1587654201_ScreenShot2020-08-05at11_31_47AM.thumb.png.8b60299e4c7a44f66c35ceaa52a437ca.png
Yes, that's on my bike now. I need a name for it. how about "The Compromise." I only know one person who could convince me that, instead of buying a bicycle that fits me and suits my needs, I should zip tie an old toothbrush to my bike instead.
Wait. Why? I don't get it

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it's there so I can grab it and dig out the grime that gets stuck between my chainstay and my tire, which has a gap of about 3mm.  it does not do anything in that spot, that was just the tidiest place to store it. it's also a good "conversation starter."

I've tried different tire sizes and stuff and this is the smallest tire I can stand on the terrain and also the largest tire that can possibly fit.

Edited by mack_turtle
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9 minutes ago, taco_junkie said:

Also if you eat broccoli on a rest stop and get some stuck in your teeth...

it's a "multitool".

full disclosure: I got the idea to use a toothbrush in this application from my personal hero, Alexandera Houchin. so there's precedent for it.

Edited by mack_turtle
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