Top 10 essential home workshop tools and how to use them
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00:00Not everybody can have access to a full bike shop spec'd workshop in their own home and if you were
00:12to have every single tool that's needed to work on bikes you're gonna need a pretty big space and
00:17more importantly a really big wallet. But there are some tools or types of tools that we feel are
00:23the essentials that everybody should have in their collection and with these you can pretty much strip
00:29down a bike or do any home maintenance jobs. So here's a rundown of those tools. Probably the
00:39number one tool or type of tool that everybody needs is the humble allen key or hex key. Now a
00:45good set of hex keys means that you can pretty much do any maintenance job on the bike. It is
00:52the most important type of bolt head that you find on bikes and so therefore you need to have
00:57certain sizes. Now most kits go from about a 2 millimeter up to an 8 or a 10 millimeter but the
01:04most important ones are 4, 5 and 6. You can buy them as separates so obviously you can have separate
01:10ones like this. These are really really easy to use in the workshop or you can buy them as part
01:15of a multi-tool and obviously everybody carries multi-tools so you'll see that you'll have these
01:20at all times. So those are the two types that you really should be looking at if you're going to do
01:27things at home then separates work better. If you want to do something when you're out and about or
01:32just have the convenience then a multi-tool with hex keys on there is an essential. Now torx keys
01:43are those funny star-shaped tools that you see that a lot more bikes are starting to use. They're
01:49a bit of a safer option if you're a bit ham-fisted when it comes to maintenance because they're less
01:53likely to round out and what you'll find is that more and more expensive components tend to come
01:59with this type of bolt. The most common size you find especially if you use disc brakes is a t25
02:04but often a kit will have everything from a t10 up to a t30 but t25 is the important one to make
02:12sure you've got in your collection. If you're planning on doing lots of maintenance jobs when
02:21it comes to looking at your cables then you'll know the importance of having a good set of cable
02:26cutters. So a good set of cable cutters will allow you to cut any type of cable perfectly straight
02:31and perfectly accurate allowing you to make sure that your gears and your brakes are going to be
02:37working spot-on. Most tend to be sprung loaded and what you'll find is they have very very sharp cut
02:43in edges. Some will have then a little tool that you can use to poke the hole back in the cable
02:49just in case it does get squashed a little bit but the main thing that they do is they
02:53cut perfectly straight and they shouldn't really squash your cables at all. Okay so this next one
03:03isn't technically a proper workshop tool but you cannot survive without one. You need to make sure
03:10you've got a really good track pump if you want to keep your tires inflated properly and as anybody
03:17has tried to pump up a normal road tire with a little hand pump you'll know how hard that can be.
03:22A good track pump will make an absolute doddle of the task. When you swap in tires and tubes around
03:33then you'll find sometimes that those tires are very very hard to get off and this is where a good
03:40tire lever comes in. Obviously if you can avoid using tire levers that's the best solution but
03:45if you can't if you've got a really really tight setup then good tire levers will help save your
03:51fingers and will help save your rims and your tires themselves. There's loads of good tire levers
03:57out there the important thing is that they're strong enough and stiff enough to be able to
04:01cope with taking the tires off but soft enough in terms of not being able to damage any delicate
04:08carbon rims or expensive tires. You can get different styles of tire levers and some have
04:14different widths so it depends on which style works best for yourself. These are two very very
04:20common styles and you'll see that they come in sets so if you're finding that the tire is really
04:25stubborn you might need to use more than one to do the job. One of the most important things to
04:35do on your bike when it comes to maintenance is to look after your chain because that is the one
04:41that can let you down more than anything else and also if you use the chain for longer than its life
04:46expectancy you can wear out those expensive chain rings and cassettes so the next two tools I will
04:52recommend are tools that will help you to keep on top of chain maintenance. Number one is a good
04:58chain checker. This is a very very simple tool that you use to measure how badly worn your chain
05:04is. They only cost a few pounds but can help save you hundreds of pounds if you use it regularly.
05:10You literally put it on top of your chain and you can see how much your chain is stretched and how
05:16much life is left. So a very very simple but effective and essential tool the chain checker.
05:23Then if you do need to change your chain you're gonna need one of these a chain tool and a chain
05:30tool will be the only way that you can cut your new chain down to the correct length and in most
05:38respects to be able to actually connect the chain properly. So you can buy chain tools in different
05:44sizes and different shapes if you're going to use one at home you want to go for a good workshop
05:49one this will make it a much easier job to do and can be used on several different types of chains
05:55from 6 speed, 7 speed, 8 speed, 9 speed, 10 speed, 11 speed to 12 speed. A good set of screwdrivers
06:06is going to help make gear maintenance a absolute doddle so you're going to need to have a good set
06:13of screwdrivers when it comes to adjusting your limit screws for example and obviously there's a
06:18few other different areas on your bike that you will require these you can get phillips screwdrivers
06:24and obviously the standard flat heads and there's also something called a JIS which is a Japanese
06:30industrial standard screwdriver which Shimano use for their rear derailleurs and for their
06:36front derailleurs but you don't necessarily need to have that just a very good set of crosshead
06:42and flathead screwdrivers. A decent set of pliers is then going to help you with those little fiddly
06:53jobs especially things like cable routing and when it comes to putting cable crimps on the ends of
06:59those cables as well you can get different types of pliers but our perfect ones to use for bikes
07:05are the needle nose pliers. This means you can really get into those tiny little hard to reach
07:10places and you can do all of those essential jobs. They can double up as cable cutters as well so if
07:17you've got cable ties or anything else that you want to be able to cut then a lot of them do have
07:21the facility to do that as well. And last but by no means least probably the set of tools that are
07:32the most specific in the entire list and those are the tools you require to take your cassette off
07:38and put a new cassette on. There's two tools that you need, you need a cassette tool and a chain
07:44whip. So these are ones we have here again they come in different styles this is Park Tool's
07:51version so rather than a normal type of chain whip this grips hold of the cassette on both sides
07:58and means that you can loosen it without the whole thing spinning. You'll then need one of
08:03these little tools here and an adjustable spanner to be able to actually do the job itself. This
08:10then is used if you want to put your new cassette back on. You can buy these with handles built in
08:16or as it is like this a very simple small effective tool that you use with a spanner set.
08:23So that is the only specific tools on the list really everything else is something that you can
08:30use for multiple types of jobs. So there you have it a simple rundown of the 10 most essential types
08:37of tools that every rider needs to have. Now if I've missed anything out or you think there's
08:43another tool that you think is an essential for everybody to have please put it in the comment
08:47section below and don't forget to like and subscribe and more importantly click on that
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