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With my first tri-season done, I am starting to look into the fourth event in triathlon: maintaining and repairing your bike. This coincides with the Christmas season. Since my in-laws are all mechincal and automotive engineers, they believe that tools are the right gift for any time, especially Christmas. Much better than non-athletes buying wrokout clothes for you.
So, what tools do you think are useful/essential/practical for maintaining your bike? Why? Where would you buy them? I've heard that there is a good triathlon shop on the other side of Dearborn, Michigan from my in-laws, but aren't sure if they sell bike tools there.
Almost any shop will sell tools.
My list: Set of allen wrenches (individual ones), good chain tool, chainwhip, cassette tool, screw drivers, Zinn maintenance book, whichever open end wrench you need to adjust your brake centering, pedal wrench, good cable / housing cutter.
Styrrell
Unless you're using single-pivot brakes you don't need to worry about a wrench to center them. You do, however, need a bottom bracket tool which was not listed.
hello,
My brakes use a wrench, wasn't sure about dual pivots. No big deal but I purposely left off the BB tool. Most causual mechanics will never need one.
Styrrell
Its a bit more expensive, but if you have a bike with gobs of carbon...think seriously about the smaller Park torque wrench and a set of metric allen drive bits. There is no surer way to either piss yourself off or cause carbon parts to fail than to over-torque them. Of course under-tightening them is nearly as bad.
Think seriously about a crank puller and a BB tool (seconding the BB tool recommendation). Modern sealed cartridge bearing BBs are user friendly in terms of servicing them.
I've got most of what the others have listed, but the one thing I haven't seen listed that I use more than all the rest - a good bike stand.
I've got the basic spin doctor model from performance. If I had to do it again it might have been worth spend the money on a higher model but either way it's still the best tool purchase yet.
Jim
The Park roll-up kit is an excelllent set to take with you everywhere. There is a cheaper knock-off that is also good for about half the money.
A stand is alays good, too. I've been working without a stand for a few years now, and it is about the only thing that I really, really need. It's hard to work on a bike upside down when you have aero bars.
Also, you need a Park BO-1.
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Get an indoor trainer, which doubles as a stand (and provides decent resistance for testing shifting)
Then go to nashbar (or you local LBS) and get a $200 toolkit for $40. They will have everything you need including all the wrenches, hexes and also bottom braket tools, lockring removers, freerhub wrenches, and chainwhips.
Then get a good book. Zinn and the Art of Road Bike Maintenence is great. $14 on amazon. It'll teach you how to overhaul your bike, or do minor repairs, and is pretty thorough.
That ought to do it.
I use my mag trainer as a bike stand (I no loger ride on it since I bought a good rain coat instead) and the only hassle is for rear derailer "issues" with access, but that's no biggie.
TriDork
"Happiness is a myth. All you can hope for is to get laid once in a while, drunk once in a while and to eat chocolate every day"
Well, I have a CT, which is fine for stuff that doesn't involve removing the cassette, chain or chainrings. I just find that for drivetrain maintenance, I prefer to have the bike upside down and away from stuff that I don't want to get all nasty.
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Chain and Cassette maintenance? I thought we all just bought new bikes when the lube dried out? :-)
TriDork
"Happiness is a myth. All you can hope for is to get laid once in a while, drunk once in a while and to eat chocolate every day"
That is too funny.
I'm one of those curmudgeons who still thinks that a single bike can be used for (you may want to sit down) casual riding, centuries, training, Olympic distance triathlons, Half Ironman distance triathlons, and even Ironman distance triathlons.
I am, how do you say, oh yes, god-damned cheap.
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lube? KY warming liquid has many uuses when your wife gives you the cold shoulder. I suppose it could even be used for chain lube.
Or maybe I'm just yanking your chain? :-)
TriDork
"Happiness is a myth. All you can hope for is to get laid once in a while, drunk once in a while and to eat chocolate every day"
SRAM or Whipperman easy-to-remove chain. There is no surer way to get incredibly prissy about your bike than *knowing* that you're able to scrub down your chain between rides. Then you'll realize that you're putting a clean chain on a dirty cassette and chainrings, so you'll find yourself taking those off and cleaning them between every ride, too.
You'll need a cassette removal tool, and a chainwhip helps also. You might want to get one of those dinky little tools to help remove chainring bolts. I don't have one yet but I know I could halve my cleaning time if I got one, because I struggle mightily to get the chainrings on and off.
You'll also need some bio-friendly degreaser and good chain lube.
Your bike will purr like a kitten, and you will relish the sound -- and resent every little speck of grease or dirt that gets on your powertrain.
Lee Silverman
JackRabbit Sports
Park Slope, Brooklyn
How about a chain bath?
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Cheers,
Brad