Sooo I am realizing I have like no special bike tools to replace or fix anything on my mtb. I have a Norco fluid fs4. I guess my question is can I get away with the standard tools?? I use to be a mechanic for a bit but everything I have is 1/2 or 3/4 drives. Like replacing a cassette I don’t have that cassette tool. Can I get away with your standard toolsets or do you need to purchase these special items.
by Famous_asf
9 Comments
personally I run off aliexpress and hope
Berm peak did some fire videos on cheap AliExpress tools
You can try and be creative but then again many special tools like cassette removal tool/socket are cheap, you can buy the cheapest ones and they will work. In my limited experience you can do lotta stuff by just using allen wrenches and a slip joint plier.
I just pick up tools as I need them, like a cassette tool and BB tools, usually looking for stuff that uses my existing ratchets and big torque wrenches if I can find them. I have the mid-size Topeak bit driver torque wrench for most bike stuff, along with an allen key set from the hardware store. The items you have in the pic seem like overkill (for me at least). If I were in the garage a lot I’d consider those, but as I just work on bike when I need to I’m good with a $75 torque wrench and stuff as I need it.
For a FS bike, you’ll probably need a bearing press eventually if you’re going to do that service. I need to start thinking about one too.
Those items are way too expensive for basic home use. You can get a torque wrench for under $100 and even that isn’t really necessary as long as you use some restraint when tightening bolts.
I wouldn’t bother will a “kit”, as it probably contains a bunch of stuff you aren’t going to use. Buy what you need as you need it to do a job.
I’ve been fixing up my bike for a couple decades and my tools consist of a set of hex keys, a cable cutter, cassette tool, bottom bracket tool, pedal wrench, chain tool, and a few other things that I’m probably forgetting. I got each tool as I needed it because buying them all at once doesn’t really make sense. You don’t even necessarily know which bottom bracket tool you will need or might not ever need a set of cable cutters if you have hydraulic brakes and electronic shifting.
Buy cheap and if you use it enough that it breaks, then you can splurge on the more expensive version. You shouldn’t need to be spending $190 on a torque wrench for home use, for example. (Edit: Exception to “buy cheap” *is* torque wrenches – buy something decent and ideally not bike-branded since bike specific tools always have a markup. $190 is silly expensive though)
> Like replacing a cassette I don’t have that cassette tool.
Replacing cassettes, pulling square taper cranks, replacing chains are all things where you *need* the right tools. But you don’t need to spend tonnes on the Park Tool version, cheap versions on Amazon or aliexpress are usually good enough.
I also wouldn’t buy a kit that has a bunch of tools unless you know you’re actually going to be using each/most tools in it. I have quite an extensive tool collection at this point but I bought things as I needed them and I don’t regret doing it that way at all.
Honestly I’d just buy what you need from a good brand. Everyone here is recommending against parktool or similar-but if you have ever professionally used tools you’ll know that a nicer tool is simply better. Yes, it’s more expensive than ali but it’s nice and you’ll have less of a chance of damaging your bike if you’re using good tools. I would say only buy a tool when you need it though. Don’t buy everything you think you might need all at once as there’s sure to be stuff you never even look at if you do.
You should be able to get everything you need for less than that torque wrench. There’s LOTS of adequate options on amazon when you need a specific specialty tool. Otherwise, head down to Harbor Freight and get the tools you need. Harbor Freight hand tools (Pittsburgh and Icon, the Quinn may or may not) come with a lifetime warranty, no questions asked.
Primeau velo?
I bought a basic kit with everything for like 30e and bought all extra tools that I needed along the way. I can do about everything on my bike and I spent like 150e on tools.