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- Thread starter Kreeeee
- Start date
What sort of jobs are you hoping to be able to do, and how much do you want to spend? Unless you spend properly serious money, there is no one toolkit that will cover everything, so ideally you need to build up your own set of tools.
I'd suggest you start with:
A decent quality set of screwdrivers.
A socket set. 3/8" drive for most smaller jobs, 1/2" for heavier jobs e.g. removing wheel spindles. 1/4" drive sockets can useful for small fiddly jobs, but 3/8" will likely be your "go to" size on a bike.
A set of metric combination spanners
A set of metric allen keys
Long nose pliers
If you have minimal experience of working on cars or bikes then a torque wrench may also be a good idea.
Unfortunately by using Amazon you are missing out on the Halford Professional range which offer an excellent balance of price and quality, and a lot of the stuff on Amazon is cheap tat. In general avoid anything of "DIY" quality, this is usually means the cheapest and lowest quality stuff.
Of the stuff that Amazon sells, some decent brands are:
Bahco
Teng
Britool
Draper Expert (the cheap DIY range stuff is crap)
Kamasa (the stuff in the turquoise boxes or with turquoise handles is good, the other stuff is cheap generic crap)
Sealey (often overpriced for the level of quality, but reasonably good).
I'd suggest you start with:
A decent quality set of screwdrivers.
A socket set. 3/8" drive for most smaller jobs, 1/2" for heavier jobs e.g. removing wheel spindles. 1/4" drive sockets can useful for small fiddly jobs, but 3/8" will likely be your "go to" size on a bike.
A set of metric combination spanners
A set of metric allen keys
Long nose pliers
If you have minimal experience of working on cars or bikes then a torque wrench may also be a good idea.
Unfortunately by using Amazon you are missing out on the Halford Professional range which offer an excellent balance of price and quality, and a lot of the stuff on Amazon is cheap tat. In general avoid anything of "DIY" quality, this is usually means the cheapest and lowest quality stuff.
Of the stuff that Amazon sells, some decent brands are:
Bahco
Teng
Britool
Draper Expert (the cheap DIY range stuff is crap)
Kamasa (the stuff in the turquoise boxes or with turquoise handles is good, the other stuff is cheap generic crap)
Sealey (often overpriced for the level of quality, but reasonably good).
No massive jobs, just things like replacing chain and sprockets, sorting out fairing etc.
I wonder if I can get the Halfords stuff over here easily. It would still be a lot cheaper than local options...
Edit: I could get it delivered to my family in the UK and take it back next time I visit them.
Edit 2: Looking to spend up to £200 if on Amazon
I wonder if I can get the Halfords stuff over here easily. It would still be a lot cheaper than local options...
Edit: I could get it delivered to my family in the UK and take it back next time I visit them.
Edit 2: Looking to spend up to £200 if on Amazon
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I would try my best to get the big Halfords Pro set, it beats anything I've seen within that budget.
Actually, just remembered Bahco do some awesome tools & they are all over Amazon. Check out their S106 set (I just stuck Bahco into Amazon and that was the first bigger kit that came up, so there might be something better). Looks like it'd do most things. You might still need a bigger torque wrench for loosening the rear wheel for chain adjustment, but you can source that separately quite easily on Amazon (or surely locally?).
Edit: can you get a family member to buy the Halfords kit and send as gift, or is the value too high? S'pose you've got the issue of postage then, I'd imagine the big kit would be heavy.
Actually, just remembered Bahco do some awesome tools & they are all over Amazon. Check out their S106 set (I just stuck Bahco into Amazon and that was the first bigger kit that came up, so there might be something better). Looks like it'd do most things. You might still need a bigger torque wrench for loosening the rear wheel for chain adjustment, but you can source that separately quite easily on Amazon (or surely locally?).
Edit: can you get a family member to buy the Halfords kit and send as gift, or is the value too high? S'pose you've got the issue of postage then, I'd imagine the big kit would be heavy.
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I'm happy to buy individual bits locally if I have to, but the core tools would be ideal to get as a set.
I was just considering that exact set as it happens:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bahco-Socke...?ie=UTF8&qid=1434360516&sr=8-3&keywords=Bahco
I already have some tools but zero sockets/wrenches so they're by far the most important parts.
I was just considering that exact set as it happens:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bahco-Socke...?ie=UTF8&qid=1434360516&sr=8-3&keywords=Bahco
I already have some tools but zero sockets/wrenches so they're by far the most important parts.
That does look like your best bet if you want to go with Amazon. Bahco quality is really good, and at a glance, would cover everything you need for your bike, bar maybe stuff like spark plug pullers (which the Halfords set does come with).
None of the sets come with a nice big torque wrench, so you'd need to buy that separately if needed.
Edit: I would still try and obtain the Halfords kit if I was you. It's £125 at the moment and has every tool I've ever needed.
None of the sets come with a nice big torque wrench, so you'd need to buy that separately if needed.
Edit: I would still try and obtain the Halfords kit if I was you. It's £125 at the moment and has every tool I've ever needed.
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I use the Halfords Pro Set and have bought additional items to cover the rest.
The Pro set has all the sockets/allens/Torx I need further to which I bought:
10-50ish NM range torque wrench
15-100Nish NM range torque wrench (wheels etc) - I bought analogue ones. Digital ones are awesome but for infrequent use farrrrrr too expensive.
Spindle removal tool
Digital vernier calipers
Screwdriver set w/ pliers, snips etc
Then there is all the cheap misc stuff like funnels (oil and other fluids work), rags, tape. For electrical work I have various crimp tools, a multimeter, soldering iron etc. It has all largely been bought over a number of years as and when jobs I want to do pop up. Nothing worse than wanting to do a job and not having the tools to do it!
The garage now has an air compressor, low entry jack, mavity fed sprayers, jack stands and all sorts of other goodies in it!
The Pro set has all the sockets/allens/Torx I need further to which I bought:
10-50ish NM range torque wrench
15-100Nish NM range torque wrench (wheels etc) - I bought analogue ones. Digital ones are awesome but for infrequent use farrrrrr too expensive.
Spindle removal tool
Digital vernier calipers
Screwdriver set w/ pliers, snips etc
Then there is all the cheap misc stuff like funnels (oil and other fluids work), rags, tape. For electrical work I have various crimp tools, a multimeter, soldering iron etc. It has all largely been bought over a number of years as and when jobs I want to do pop up. Nothing worse than wanting to do a job and not having the tools to do it!
The garage now has an air compressor, low entry jack, mavity fed sprayers, jack stands and all sorts of other goodies in it!
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Soldato
- Joined
- 24 Mar 2011
- Posts
- 6,479
- Location
- Kent
I got a 120 piece set for £60, they're on offer at the moment, 50% off the whole range. The 200 piece is £150 at the moment.
Weight? ****ing heavy. My 120 piece set is heavy enough. the 170 or 200 will weigh a ton!
Go for the 200, looks like it has a very nice range of ratchet spanners, my set don't have these and there are times I've needed some, it's only £25 differenece.
Weight? ****ing heavy. My 120 piece set is heavy enough. the 170 or 200 will weigh a ton!
Go for the 200, looks like it has a very nice range of ratchet spanners, my set don't have these and there are times I've needed some, it's only £25 differenece.
That would be much appreciated.