my mate's a newly forged mtber, picking up his first proper bike on thursday. i don't think he knows how to fix a puncture, let alone anything more than that, bless him. i have explained that he'll need some tools. what do you guys reckon would be the absolute essentials?

i'm thinking so far – full set of allen keys, puncture patches, spare tubes, tyre levers, adjustable spanner.

Torx T25, Loctite 243, Copper grease, pointy nose pliers and a chain tool.

They may not be tools but…

A pump
muc off
chain cleaner
chain lube

The last 3 are essential otherwise you'll be cleaning their bikes! Or am I just a push over!?

good call on the pump – it's amazing what you overlook when you're starting from nothing!

Hammer

chain splitter

Is this the pal you as trying to source a cheap bike for? Just wondered what you found him.

Most useful tool yet. Tried others, nothing comes close.

Hammer
Adjustable spanner
Hacksaw
Imperial allen keys

tinsy – Member

Is this the pal you as trying to source a cheap bike for? Just wondered what you found him.

yeah it is – i monitored the classifieds and the bay for a bit, but time was ticking away. someone alerted me to this: http://www.merlincycles.co.uk/custom-mountain-bikes/commencal-mountain-bikes/commencal-normal-disc-2009.html

although a 2nd hand bargain would be most welcome, that's a good price for what it is and gets something sorted while the weather's nice.

yup, cant beat that deal… hydro brakes and 9 speed at that price is hard to believe.

yeah that's what i figured. the spec's not that far off the orange g3 my gf's dad just bought for £750

HA HA HA aP, very funny!

Cold chisels, and an iron drain cover…. you could buy cable cutters but I find this does just as well…

2nd the imperial allen keys they must be much harder than the metric ones as they always round out the bolts…

For beginners a decent multitool, tyre levers and a pump is all they're likely to need.

Probably won't need the adjustable, the only thing I use one for is a cassette remover tool. Get some Slime as that'll cut the number of punctures anyway. I bought a 12 pack of inner tubes at the same time I bought Slime, the inner tubes are still littering my shed four years later, I've only used a couple and thats running four bikes between two people.

What needs an adjustable spanner?

multitool with chain tool, t25, and screwdrivers, thats 99.9% of bike jobs sorted. Puncture kit and pump, and spare tubes, mars bar, thats the camelback essentials sorted.

tire levers are for people without mad tire removal skilz

Cables can be cut with a cigaret lighter, a hammer and a screwdriver if your clever enough 🙂 Failing that, cutters and pliars.

Then i'd say, cassette removal tools (spanner, whip and cracker)

Then Chainset removal tools and hub bearing service tools.

Brake bleeding kit

Thats maintenance sorted, next up is bike building and nice to have stuff. So a bike stand, workbench, vice, hammers, headset press, a good file, and workshop tools to replace the multitool.

yeah i don't know why i had the adjustable spanner in mind. think it was cos i had to fix a puncture on the non-quick release pomp the other day so i had spanners on the brain!

doesn't sound like he'll be going very far or know how to use any tools just yet so I wouldn't bother making him buy any until he does. (or cycle specific clothing)

if I go out locally, I take one tiny folding multitool, with allenkeys, torx & screwdriver. if I puncture, I'll just walk the flat & uphill bits(nothing new there) and freewheel the downs on the flat tyre.