10 Essential Cycling Tools

Cycling Weekly

9 months ago

Top 10 essential home workshop tools and how to use them

Transcript

00:00Not everybody can have access to a full bike shop spec'd workshop in their own home,

00:11and if you were to have every single tool that's needed to work on bikes,

00:15you're going to need a pretty big space and more importantly a really big wallet.

00:20But there are some tools or types of tools that we feel are the essentials that everybody should

00:25have in their collection, and with these you can pretty much strip down a bike or

00:29do any home maintenance jobs. So here's a rundown of those tools.

00:33Probably the number one tool or type of tool that everybody needs is the humble

00:43allen key or hex key. Now a good set of hex keys means that you can pretty much

00:49do any maintenance job on the bike. It is the most important type of bolt head that

00:54you find on bikes and so therefore you need to have certain sizes. Now most kits go from

01:01about a 2mm up to an 8 or a 10mm, but the most important ones are 4, 5 and 6.

01:06You can buy them as separates, so obviously you can have separate ones like this. These

01:10are really really easy to use in the workshop, or you can buy them as part of a multi-tool.

01:16And obviously everybody carries multi-tools, so you'll see that you'll have these at all times.

01:21So those are the two types that you really should be looking at. If you're going to do

01:27things at home, then separates work better. If you want to do something when you're out and

01:31about or just have the convenience, then a multi-tool with hex keys on there is an essential.

01:36Now torx keys are those funny star-shaped tools that you see that a lot more bikes

01:47are starting to use. They're a bit of a safer option if you're a bit ham-fisted when it comes

01:52to maintenance because they're less likely to round out. And what you'll find is that more

01:56and more expensive components tend to come with this type of bolt. The most common size that you

02:02find, especially if you use disc brakes, is a T25, but often a kit will have everything from a T10

02:07up to a T30. But T25 is the important one to make sure you've got in your collection.

02:18If you're planning on doing lots of maintenance jobs when it comes to looking at your cables,

02:22then you'll know the importance of having a good set of cable cutters. So a good set of cable

02:28cutters will allow you to cut any type of cable perfectly straight and perfectly accurate,

02:33allowing you to make sure that your gears and your brakes are going to be working spot-on.

02:38Most tend to be sprung loaded and what you'll find is they have very, very sharp cutting edges. Some

02:45will have then a little tool that you can use to poke the hole back in the cable just in case it

02:50does get squashed a little bit. But the main thing that they do is they cut perfectly straight and

02:55they shouldn't really squash your cables at all. Okay, so this next one isn't technically a proper

03:06workshop tool, but you cannot survive without one. You need to make sure you've got a really

03:11good track pump if you want to keep your tyres inflated properly. And as anybody has tried to

03:18pump up a normal road tyre with a little hand pump, you'll know how hard that can be. A good

03:23track pump will make an absolute doddle of the task. When you're swapping tyres and tubes around,

03:33then you'll find sometimes that those tyres are very, very hard to get off. And this is where a

03:39good tyre lever comes in. Obviously, if you can avoid using tyre levers, that's the best solution.

03:45But if you can't, if you've got a really, really tight setup, then good tyre levers will help save

03:51your fingers and will help save your rims and your tyres themselves. There's loads of good tyre levers

03:57out there. The important thing is that they're strong enough and stiff enough to be able to cope

04:01with taking the tyres off, but soft enough in terms of not being able to damage any delicate carbon

04:08rims or expensive tyres. You can get different styles of tyre levers and some have different

04:14widths. So it depends on which style works best for yourself. These are two very, very common

04:20styles and you'll see that they come in sets. So if you're finding that the tyre is really stubborn,

04:26you might need to use more than one to do the job. One of the most important things to do on your bike

04:36when it comes to maintenance is to look after your chain because that is the one bit that can let you

04:41down more than anything else. And also, if you use a chain for longer than its life expectancy,

04:47you can wear out those expensive chain rings and cassettes. So the next two tools I will recommend

04:53are tools that will help you to keep on top of chain maintenance. Number one is a good chain

04:59checker. This is a very, very simple tool that you use to measure how badly worn your chain is.

05:05They only cost a few pounds but can help save you hundreds of pounds if you use it regularly. You

05:11literally put it on top of your chain and you can see how much your chain is stretched and how much

05:16life is left. So a very, very simple but effective and essential tool, the chain checker. Then if you

05:25do need to change your chain, you're going to need one of these, a chain tool. And a chain tool

05:31will be the only way that you can cut your new chain down to the correct length and in most

05:38respects to be able to actually connect the chain properly. So you can buy chain tools in different

05:44sizes and different shapes. If you're going to use one at home, you want to go for a good workshop

05:49one. This will make it a much easier job to do and can be used on several different types of chains

05:55from 6-speed, 7-speed, 8-speed, 9-speed, 10-speed, 11-speed to 12-speed.

06:04A good set of screwdrivers is going to help make gear maintenance a absolute doddle. So you're

06:11going to need to have a good set of screwdrivers when it comes to adjusting your limit screws,

06:15for example. And obviously there's a few other different areas on your bike that you will require

06:21these. You can get Phillips screwdrivers and obviously the standard flatheads. And there's

06:28also something called a JIS, which is a Japanese industrial standard screwdriver, which Shimano

06:33use for their rear derailleurs and for their front derailleurs. But you don't necessarily

06:38need to have that. Just a very good set of crosshead and flathead screwdrivers.

06:44A decent set of pliers is then going to help you with those little fiddly jobs, especially things

06:50like cable routing. And when it comes to putting cable crimps on the ends of those cables as well.

06:56You can get different types of pliers, but our perfect ones to use for bikes are the needle

07:01nose pliers. This means you can really get into those tiny little hard to reach places

07:06and you can do all of those essential jobs. So let's get started.

07:10And last but by no means least, probably the set of tools that are the most specific in the

07:18entire list. And those are the tools you require to take your cassette off and put a new cassette

07:24on. So first you need to get an old cassette off and then you need to get a new cassette on.

07:30And you can do that by using the needle nose pliers. And the needle nose pliers are the

07:34those are the tools you're required to take your cassette off and put a new

07:39cassette on. There's two tools that you need, you need a cassette tool and a

07:44chain whip. So these are ones we have here, again they come in different styles

07:50this is Park Tools version so rather than a normal type of chain whip this

07:55grips hold of the cassette on both sides and means that you can loosen it without

08:00the whole thing spinning. You will then need one of these little tools here and

08:04an adjustable spanner to be able to actually do the job itself. This then is

08:10used if you want to put your new cassette back on. You can buy these with

08:15handles built in or as it is like this a very simple small effective tool that

08:20you use with a spanner set. So that is the only specific tools on the list

08:27really, everything else is something that you can use for multiple types of

08:32jobs. So there you have it a simple rundown of the 10 most essential types

08:38of tools that every rider needs to have. Now if I've missed anything out or you

08:42think there's another tool that you think is an essential for everybody to

08:46have please put it in the comment section below and don't forget to Like

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08:54with our latest releases. But until then we'll see you soon.

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