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