Essential Bike Tools

Your bicycle can only function well when all the parts are working together as designed. Once they come to a point of breaking apart, then the integrity of the bike will suffer and your safety will be put at risk. Thus, it is of utmost importance to acquire a collection of the basic bike tools in order to keep your bike safe to ride. There are brands that offer affordable tools for cyclists who are on a limited budget, but Park tools are known to be the best brand for quality tools. The following are the basic bicycle tools that every cyclist should know.

What You Should Have in Your Basic Bike Toolkit

Bicycle pump

Pumps up tires
Floor pumps save time and energy

Pliers

Bull-nose pliers
Needle-nose pliers

Screwdrivers

Phillips and Flathead

Shock pumps

Necessary only for bikes with air-sprung suspension forks or rear shocks

Tire levers

Used for punctured tires or for tire replacements to get a tire off and back onto the wheel rim

Wrenches

Metric Allen wrenches: best buy in sets of recommended sizes ranges from 1mm, 1.5mm, 2mm, 2.5mm, 3mm, 4mm, 5mm, 6mm, 8mm and used in modern quality bikes to connect Allen headed bolts as well as fix loose parts
Metric open-ended wrenches: also best in sets of recommended sizes ranging from 6mm to 17mm and usually used for cheaper bikes which still have nut and/or bolt fixings
Spoke wrench: for tightening wheel spokes that work loose. Spoke nipples vary in size and it is important to use the right wrench but it is possible to buy spoke multi-tools with a range of sizes
Threaded Headset Wrenches: used in maintaining or replacing a threaded headset
Small adjustable wrench
15 mm pedal wrench: to keep pedals firmly attached to the bike