- Every mountain biker should have
a set of tools to do some basic maintenance
on their bike to make sure it stays on the trails.
So, even at the basic level,
what you need to be able to do at home is
run an Allen key over the bike and just
give it a general once-over for safety,
be able to change the inner and outer gear cables
just to keep your bike working in bad conditions,
and changing a puncture and replacing the tyres.
And to do those jobs, all you really need
is a pump, some tyre levers, a decent little multitool,
preferably with a chain tool on it,
or a separate chain tool, and a set of cable cutters.
However, if you do like tinkering, and you wanna
get a bit more involved,
here are 10 tools that really will make your life easier.
First up, cone spanners.
If you're going to be doing any sort of hub service
on your bike, it's fairly likely that unless
your bike is spanking new, you're going to need
some cone spanners to remove the hub axle system
off the bike.
Even if your bike doesn't have regular cup-and-cone
bearings, you're gonna still need these to remove
the end caps on the axle, to get access to the
cartridge bearings.
Cone spanners are available in a variety of sizes,
so it's a good idea to keep a few of them
in your selection.
They don't cost an awful lot of money,
but they will always come in handy
when you least think you're gonna need them.
The thing that's so unique about a cone spanner
is the actual physical size.
They're only about 3mm thick,
so in the old days you used to be able to sort
of use them against each other for locknuts,
but today, it's more about just doing wheel axles with them.
So make sure you keep some of those in your toolkit.
Next up is the chain checker.
So your transmissions obviously wears out a lot
when you're using your bike, especially if you ride
in muddy and wet conditions.
Now, if your replace your chain on a more regular basis
than the cassette, you'd often get two or three chains
to one cassette.
So obviously, that's going to save you a lot of money.
But you need to monitor the wear on you chain.
So using a chain checker,
you put the two pins into the chain,
and looking at the scale at the top,
you can see how worn it is.
So with a 10-speed chain, anything up to .75
is what you're looking for,
and then you wanna replace it.
With 11 and 12, it's more like .5
So a simple device, you can get these ones
that have got an adjustable sort of pivoting pin on the end,
and you get more simple ones, but they're a really good
bit of kit.
Keep one of those in your toolkit.
Next up, chain pliers.
So they might seem like more of a specialist tool,
but actually, they're very useful for simply removing
the master link on a chain.
Simply insert them, pull the two links together,
split the chain.
Why is that useful?
Well, for maintaining the chain itself,
de-greasing it, cleaning it, and also if you're
just regularly changing a chain if you're
doing a lot of miles.
Of course when you're re-joining a chain,
make sure you're doing it properly with the correct
joining pin, or master link.
Next up, a Torx multi-tool.
So traditionally on mountain bikes,
the T25 would commonly be used to hold in your disc
to the wheels.
But, as we've seen on more increasing places on the bike
like the rear mech, or even the pivot bolt for holding
the brake lever onto your brakes,
you're seeing more and more Torx solutions coming in.
And why is that important?
Well, for the smaller bolts especially,
we're talking 3mm or under that.
They're very easy to round out.
But with a Torx key, you get a much better purchase.
Obviously these things are small,
so having a multitool with all the sizes on there,
that's a no-brainer.
Next up, a cassette tool, and a chain whip.
Why do you need these?
Simply for removing the cassette off the bike.
So assuming you're going to use those cone spanners
and the chain-related stuff,
you're gonna need these to remove the rest
of your transmission as well.
So the actual cassette tool slides into the cassette,
and you hold the cassette still with the chain whip,
and use either an adjustable spanner,
or you can place this in a vice and turn the wheel
against it to remove the cassette.
Very useful tool, buy once, never need to buy it again.
Will always be there.
Just make sure you take into account the speed
transmission you have.
These are available with up to 12-speed,
or with a lot wider chain for a lower selection of gears.
Next up, a bottom bracket removal tool.
So removing a bottom bracket is important,
because that's one of the first things that you're
likely to knacker out on your bike.
Because it suffers the rotation the whole time,
or just directly in the line of fire
from the front wheel, and removing it
and replacing it is an easy job you can do at home
with minimal tools.
So this particular one has a full-enclosed style
device, not the crescent-style one,
so it's got really good grip on there,
and it's actually also got a little wheel on here.
So this wheel is for use with the Shimano cranks,
we've got the little cap to pre-load on there.
So you can just pre-load that,
wick it up with a key, and you're good to go.
So make sure you get the one that suits your bike
and the style of bottom bracket that's in there.
Never need another one.
Next up, a smaller tool.
A valve core remover.
These are really useful for obviously replacing
the valve core, but also in a situation
where you're setting up your bike tubeless,
it's really good to actually take the valve out
and inject the tube of solution in there as well.
It's a really simple little tool,
valve cores do bend from time to time,
perhaps you're out on the trail and you're in a hurry
with a mini-pump, trying to fettle some air back in there,
so worth carrying with your on a trail as well,
in addition with a couple of valves.
Keep that in your toolkit at home with all your
tubeless stuff.
Next up, a compressor pump.
Gone are the days of struggling trying to setup
tubeless tyres with a regular pump,
or having to waste CO2 cartridges,
get yourself one of these.
This one's made by Topeak, but there are
various different options out there on the market.
Principally, they're all the same.
So you have a track pump built into the unit,
and you have a secondary chamber which you charge up
just by turning a knob or twisting a dial,
charge that up,
and you can release all that pressure into one hit,
which seeks your tyre and inflates it in one hit.
Once you've tried one of these,
you will never go back.
They are so good.
Next up is one of my favourites,
it's the internal cable routing kit.
Now if you've ever struggled fitting any kind of
internal cable, whether it's just your seat post's
sort of dropper cable, or a fully gear-length housing,
then you'll know that it's one of the most
frustrating jobs to do if it goes wrong.
In which case, get one of these.
It'll make your life a lot easier.
Essentially, it's three cables, inner cables that is,
with different fittings on the end to attach
the different style cables.
Some are screw-barbed ones,
some are magnetic, and some have got a sheath style to them.
And you simply chase them through with this incredibly
powerful magnet, join them up to the cable you're pulling,
pull it straight back through.
Absolutely brilliant bit of kit.
Okay, so it's not the cheapest thing in the world,
but buy it once, and you've got it in your toolkit forever.
Last but not least is some kind of torq wrench.
Now, you don't necessarily need to have a full-size torq
wrench and bit setup.
You can get away with one of these.
Now this is absolutely brilliant, it's by Park,
comes with a number of bits, and they store
within the handle, and it's got Torq settings built into it.
So this is what you need to do your major controls.
So your bar, your stem, your stem clamp,
your brake lever control setup.
Any of those delicate ones.
Means you don't need a full setup with the Torq wrench,
and it means your can make sure you're not gonna
break anything on your bike.
Really useful to have,
especially if you've got some lightweight or expensive
components on there.
Hopefully some of those tools are gonna be
really useful to you, and I'd love to know
what tools you can't live without.
Let us know in the comments below.
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And for video on maintaining Shimano gears,
click down here.
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click over here.
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