What Tools?

[Wanderer]

I'm soon to take delivery of a Raven Tour, after not having a bike for a few years, and thinking about gathering together the things I'll want to carry with me on the bike (day rides).  I'm undecided on tools:

What's the best way to carry a few tools for day rides: a multi tool (which one?) plus patch kit, tyre levers; or separate allen keys, chain tool, etc?

What's your preference, and why?

[Andre Jute]

Multitools that fold are awkward but the SKS Toolbox Race or Tour require the least extra bits to work with a Rohloff bike; I don't carry mine though.

On my Rohloff hubbed bike I carry:

Topeak Toolbar, 68g, looks like a toy but is a serious tool, fits one bit from inside at a time, carries more bits in holder on keyring at back if required (I don't), sides slide out to become tyre levers, highly recommended: http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/topeak-topeak-toolbar-compact-multi-function-tool-prod16114/
T20 bit, Witte, very high quality, fits Toolbar, kept inside it
8mm hex bit
Extension bar from another toolkit, necessary to use Toolbar to get at adjusters for Magura Hydraulic rim brakes

8x10mm open spanner, for emergency gearchange if cables break, for mudguard and BUMM light fixing nuts

Brooks saddle tension spanner, special from Brooks
1/2in socket for adjusting Brooks seatpost clamp
1/4in hex to 1/4in square drive to drive above with Topeak Toolbar

Small plastic pill tub to hold these loose pieces together

Spoke spanner

Park glueless patch kit, about the size of a postage stamp and not much thicker

Old style big coin for turning flat battery covers on HRM and bike computer

Electronic tyre pressure gauge

Kitchen tissue for stuff

Plastic bag for rubbish or heavy rain

20 Euro note for emergencies
Mobile phone, switched off, only switched on for emergencies

All this fits in a tiny bag, actually a small lady's leather coin purse which has been variously hung on tiewraps behind the saddle, tied to the seat tube, and now hangs unobtrusively from the rack toprail.

I don't need a chainbreaker as I use two quicklinks on my chains (my bike's wheelbase is so long, I need 126 links in the chain).

This will do everything on a modern bike, short of removing the crank.

I'm thinking of buying a Knog folding adjustable spanner to replace the 1/2in socket, its adaptor, and the 8x10 spanner. It will have an additional use as a pedal spanner, which I need because I replaced modern pedals with a hex socket on the inside with vintage Phillips pedals (to get more pedal under my foot) that don't have a hex socket.

Andre Jute

[julk]

The Thorn Rohloff bikes are boringly reliable.
I carry an assortment of tools similar to Andre, but I have never had to use them in anger in 4 years.
I keep in repair practice on my sons derailleur bikes

I have had to use a spare tube or puncture repair outfit plus a pump which I carry and not always for me.
Julian.

[Wanderer]

Thanks for your very comprehensive reply Andre, and thanks Julian.  Certainly gives me something to think about.  Boringly reliable I can cope with: that's just what I want!

Years ago I had what I think must have been one of the first folding hex key type of bike multi tool, from Kona (still got it, actually). As well as the allen keys it has three sockets that fit on a square drive key.  That was replaced by a Cool Tool when that came out (remember them?), and then I went to separate Allen keys and a very minimalist chain tool that used an allen key slotted in to hold it and another, of a different size, to drive the pin.

But now it seems there is a bewildering array of multi tools available, many of which look very good.  I know they can be a bit cumbersome to use, but they do have the advantage of being compact, simple to pack, and they keep all the tools together so you can be sure you haven't left one behind.

The SKS toolboxes look interesting; I hadn't come across them.

Hmmm, food for thought.

[Andre Jute]

I'm a tool fondler, y'know. Not that I'm so handy, especially compared to some of the fellows here. I just like having exactly the right tool. That's how I know which SKS folding tool is right for a Rohloff bike even though I have another, preferred tool already.

I have a wheelie pilot's aluminium case toolbox in full of tools for servicing my bikes but they're rarely used on my Rohloff bike because the travelling toolkit does everything required for routine servicing. And, I suspect, when something breaks on a well-treated Rohloff, as mine is, it is usually a return-to-base job.

Like Julian, there was a time I carried a spare tube, but I've never used it, though I've given several away to other riders who flatted on the road. But after five or six years' experience with Kevlar or Aramid belted tyres without a single flat, I don't bother with the spare tube, not even to give away because nobody else uses 60mm tyres and tubes such as I like for the potholed lanes in my hills.

Andre Jute

[Wanderer]

So you don't carry a chain tool?  Nearly everyone seems to say "you must carry a chain tool".  Is it really needed / useful?  I always used to carry one, but never used it while out on the bike.

I'm thinking of carrying:

• Puncture repair kit
• Set of three plastic tyre levers in a clip (don't know who made these; says 'Sport' on the clip)
• Spokey
• Small adjustable spanner (maybe: will I have anything to use it on?)
• Leatherman knifeless Fuse

And then one or other of:

• Leatherman bit driver for use with Fuse, and a range of bits (maybe a chain tool)
• Topeak Toolbar and a range of bits (chain tool?)
• Separate allen keys and T20 key (guess )
• Thorn multi tool (includes T20)
• SKS Toolbox (inc T20)
• or … ?

[julk]

I carry some reusable zip ties
Reusable zip tie

I think this is one of the most versatile multitools
Topeak Rocket
You can substitute different bits eg Torx20 (Rohloff size) for the Torx25 (disk brake) and the ratchet lets you work easily on bolts with restricted access for moving an allen key.
It is available with or without the chain tool.

If you are going to carry a puncture repair outfit then that should include a pump.
Topeak again for my favourite.

[Wanderer]

Extension bar from another toolkit

You found an extension for ¼" hex bits?  Where, pray tell?

I'm thinking of buying a Knog folding adjustable spanner

I'm curious about that tool.  I can see that it's very clever, but is it really usable as a serious tool?

[Wanderer]

Topeak Rocket

Yes, I'd wondered about that.  I'll bear it in mind.

If you are going to carry a puncture repair outfit then that should include a pump.

Oh yes; I'm getting a Zéfal HPX pump with the bike: I wan't really thinking of the pump as part of the tool kit.

[Andre Jute]

You found an extension for ¼" hex bits?  Where, pray tell?

Most of the small toolsets with bits you can buy have 1/4in hex drive rather than 6mm. The one I carry on the road came out of a discarded toolkit. I have another that came in a super-quality box of German bits from Lidl for under a tenner, in fact the latter box has all kinds of drive adapters for sizes I never heard of including precision 6mm and 6.3mm.

About the Knog folding adjustable spanner:
quote author=Wanderer link=topic=3020.msg13672#msg13672 date=1289938990]
I'm curious about that tool.  I can see that it's very clever, but is it really usable as a serious tool?
[/quote]

I don't know. I don't have one. But it might, if it works, replace the following:

1/2 in socket for Brook saddle clamp nut
6mm hex to 1/4in sq adaptor to drive above with Toolbar
8x10mm open spanner

and perform an additional function:

I replaced my eminently pleasing VP-191 pedals with wider vintage Phillips pedals. The VP have a hex socket in the back for tightening on the road, the Phillips require a pedal spanner. The Knog is said to open to 15mm, so it would do as an emergency pedal spanner -- but it weighs almost as much as my entire toolkit, not just the items it will replace. And I'm not sure the Knog will reach all the places my small, flat 8x10 spanner goes, for instance the nut holding the mudguard to a crossbrace between the chainstays, or the awkward nuts holding the BUMM rear light to the fitting on the Tubus Cosmo rack (bolt it up before you fit the rack!), nor the front lampstand fixing bolt which is very close to the mudguard. It seems from the photographs possibly too thick in the flat direction and too fat in the sideways direction. Expensive thing to buy and chuck when it turns out useless... You fellows in the UK might be able to see one in a local shop and be allowed to take it to your bike to see if it fits, but I live deep in the Irish countryside.

Maybe if I were touring Africa, the Knog would be brill for turning crank and BB tools, and earn it's keep.

Tip: if you can't find a bicycle-specific 8x10 spanner (I paid twenty quid for a Draper bicycle kit to get that one spanner; this new old stock kit included tools I still haven't discovered the purpose of!) and don't like the tacky flat-metal Park one, buy a good quality angled-end brake-spanner from a motor factor and grind it flat along its entire length. The motor factor jobbo has the added advantage of not slipping off the nut once it is on.

***

If your question about the chainsplitter is addressed to me, or to me as well: I have quicklinks on my chain but have never required to split the chain on the road, so I stopped carrying the chainsplitter. I have a pair of quicklink pliers in my big toolbox but they're too hefty to travel with. I can't envisage a situation where I would need to take the chain off (it's fully enclosed in a Hebie Chainglider anyway, nothing to wear it). If I were riding Cairo to Cape Town, maybe, to shorten the chain when I ran out of slider or EBB adjustment.

Andre Jute

[Wanderer]

Do you really need to carry a pedal spanner?  I've never had a pedal become loose; in fact, I've never heard of pedals becoming loose.

[Erudin]

Topeak Rocket Ratchet, and chain tool for it
Topeak Shuttle tyre levers
Allen Keys, 4/5/6/8mm
8mm socket wrench
Park spoke key
Spare tube
Rema puncture kit with some chain links and KMC missing links
Gas inflator
Zip ties and toe strap
Latex gloves
Zefal HPX Classic pump

[Wanderer]

Interesting selection of tools Erudin.  What do you think of the add on chain tool for the Rocket Rachet RX?  Is it a good solution, or would you be better off with a good separate chain tool?

[PH]

I'm surprised some people don't have a chain tool in the toolbox.  I've needed mine twice on the Raven and helped someone else with it on another occasion.
First time I needed it I rode 10 miles with a clicking that I thought was something else.  Checked the following morning and there was a side plate completely missing.  No explanation or reason, it was nowhere near the quick link join so not damaged on fitting and the chain was only a couple of thousand miles old.
Second time, picked up a piece of wood on a trail, went round the sprocket and twisted a chain link. OK, there was a fair bit of user error in this one!
Also note - with an EBB, the chain won't fit if you remove links, I keep a short length of chain with the tool.

I also carry a couple of terminal electrical connectors, these can bu used to join any two cables, I used one to fix a shifter cable when the bayonet fitting broke.
I carry a Kevlar spoke all the time and a spoke key and spokes only on tours.
And lastly something sharp to remove thorns/glass or anything else that has caused a deflation.  I have a pair of sturdy tweezers that do the job brilliantly, if I could find any more I'd buy another couple of pairs.

[Erudin]

Interesting selection of tools Erudin.  What do you think of the add on chain tool for the Rocket Rachet RX?  Is it a good solution, or would you be better off with a good separate chain tool?

I have tried it out and it works, use a BBB Nautilus II Chain Tool at home which is better as it adjusts to the chain so less risk of breaking the jaws. 

...
And lastly something sharp to remove thorns/glass or anything else that has caused a deflation.  I have a pair of sturdy tweezers that do the job brilliantly, if I could find any more I'd buy another couple of pairs.

I must pack something like that, had a thorn stick in my tyre on the Dartmoor Devil Audax, luckily was was able to borrow some pliers from a farm to get it out