It was stated on a fairly recent thread that many bike shop mechanics bought their own tools. I was just wondering how many of you actually did this and what tools (and brands/models) you’d invested in.

A lot of pro mechanics (as in team ones) certainly do, bit weird in the LBS!

Mine are all supplied by the shop..I do have a lot of my own stuff…Most of it is Park tools

Just repeating what I read here….

mine were all supplied by shop, mostly snap on.

Just repeating what I read here….

Aye, don’t doubt it, just weird, not heard of that at all.

For reference we’ve got Park, Pedros and Shimano tools, with Bahco allen keys, screwdrivers etc.

Ours are all park (99% anyway) owned by the shop and replaced when we break stuff! but the manager of the shop that was here before us made everyone have their own set of tools bought themselves which does seem a bit odd, but makes a bit more sense once you know the manager left and set up his own shop leaving the owners with no choice but to sell…

I had my own screwdrivers and allen keys as there never there when you need them, but that was buy choice, the shop supplied the rest.

I always buy my own, that way I get to use what I want, have no qualms about locking them away when i’m off, and return to a full tool box safe in the knowledge that nobody has beaten my screwdrivers with a lump hammer,tried unscrewing square-taper BBs with my circlip pliers (seriously, caught somebody about to attempt this, pre lock days), or just left them out on the shop floor.

All the tools I use (mostly Park) are supplied by the shop. I wasn’t aware anyone in the bike trade bought their own (except the ones who do stuff out of hours to pay the bills). Does anyone in the trade have their local Snap On man turning up regularly?

Supplied by the shop, except for the odd thing where, the same as any mechanic you have your own preferred way of doing certain things & sometimes that means a tool or two different to the norm, so I have some of my own there as well.
Over the years I’ve collected pretty much a full pro workshop’s worth, but that’s just me & certainly not the norm IME.

You may buy your own tools, but the golden rule is that you don’t bring your own tools into work….unless you have a secure locker so you can protect your tools whilst not being used

Some of the chain stores I worked in, the mechanics locked up the company provided tools of their bench, because the sales staff and/or other mechanics could not be trusted to not ‘borrow’ said tools when that mechanic was not on duty

In my current store I have 30 of my own tools under lock and key, including a full suite of Di2 tools, bearing pullers and specialist hub tools

Most car mechanics, chippies, plumbers, sparks, etc, etc have their own tools. Why would bike mechs not have them?

@sub….

Because bike shops are weird places where other staff whether sales or tech cannot be trusted!

Of course. They can earn shit all, generate ALL the meaningful margin in the store. Put up with all the crap AND provide several thousand pounds of their own kit too.

They should be thankful they never have to buy their own jaffa cakes though eh.

Park are good of course – I’m still using the same trispoke Allen key I bought about 20 years ago. Pedros also good, Bondhus for folding Allen key sets, Halfords for spanners.

I buy all my own tools, but I’m a one-man business 😉

I work in a bike shop and provide my own hex keys and a few specialist tools (hub tools and mech hanger straighteners mainly).

Shop supplies everything where I am.
Very mixed band wise ,
Bondus for hex keys
Allen for Allen key sockets
Topeak for digital torque wrenches
A fair amount of park and genuine shinmano
Lots of pliers and screw drives from lidle( all rather good and cheap)

But I like shiny things so have loads of stuff of my own by choice
And mostly snap on and some genuine campy bits I wanted