Top 10 essential home workshop tools and how to use them.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 Not everybody can have access to a full bike shop
00:09 spec'd workshop in their own home.
00:11 And if you were to have every single tool
00:14 that's needed to work on bikes,
00:16 you're gonna need a pretty big space
00:18 and more importantly, a really big wallet.
00:20 But there are some tools or types of tools
00:22 that we feel are the essentials
00:25 that everybody should have in their collection.
00:27 And with these, you can pretty much strip down a bike
00:29 or do any home maintenance jobs.
00:31 So here's a rundown of those tools.
00:33 (upbeat music)
00:36 Probably the number one tool or type of tool
00:41 that everybody needs is the humble Allen key or hex key.
00:45 Now a good set of hex keys means that you can pretty much
00:49 do any maintenance job on the bike.
00:52 It is the most important type of bolt head
00:54 that you find on bikes.
00:55 And so therefore you need to have certain sizes.
00:59 Now, most kits go from about a two millimeter
01:02 up to an eight or a 10 millimeter,
01:04 but the most important ones are four, five and six.
01:07 You can buy them as separates.
01:08 So obviously you can have separate ones like this.
01:10 These are really, really easy to use in the workshop
01:13 or you can buy them as part of a multi-tool.
01:16 And obviously everybody carries multi-tools.
01:19 So you'll see that you'll have these at all times.
01:21 So those are the two types
01:24 that you really should be looking at.
01:26 If you're gonna do things at home,
01:27 then separates work better.
01:29 If you want to do something where you're out and about
01:32 or just have the convenience,
01:33 then the multi-tool with hex keys on there is an essential.
01:37 (upbeat music)
01:39 Now Torx keys are those funny star-shaped tools
01:46 that you see that a lot more bikes are starting to use.
01:49 They're a bit of a safer option if you're a bit ham-fisted
01:51 when it comes to maintenance
01:52 because they're less likely to round out.
01:55 And what you'll find is that more and more
01:57 expensive components tend to come with this type of bolt.
02:00 The most common size that you find,
02:02 especially if you use disc brakes, is a T25.
02:05 But often a kit will have everything from a T10 up to a T30.
02:09 But T25 is the important one
02:12 to make sure you've got in your collection.
02:14 (upbeat music)
02:16 If you're planning on doing lots of maintenance jobs
02:21 when it comes to looking at your cables,
02:23 then you'll know the importance
02:24 of having a good set of cable cutters.
02:26 So a good set of cable cutters
02:28 will allow you to cut any type of cable
02:31 perfectly straight and perfectly accurate,
02:33 allowing you to make sure that your gears and your brakes
02:36 are going to be working spot on.
02:38 Most tend to be sprung loaded,
02:40 and what you'll find is they have
02:42 very, very sharp cut-in edges.
02:44 Some will have then a little tool that you can use
02:47 to poke the hole back in the cable,
02:49 just in case it does get squashed a little bit.
02:52 But the main thing that they do
02:53 is they cut perfectly straight,
02:55 and they shouldn't really squash your cables at all.
02:57 (upbeat music)
03:00 Okay, so this next one isn't technically
03:05 a proper workshop tool, but you cannot survive without one.
03:09 You need to make sure you've got a really good track pump
03:12 if you want to keep your tires inflated properly.
03:16 And as anybody has tried to pump up a normal road tire
03:19 with a little hand pump,
03:21 you'll know how hard that can be.
03:22 A good track pump will make an absolute doddle of the task.
03:26 (upbeat music)
03:29 When you're swapping tires and tubes around,
03:34 then you'll find sometimes that those tires
03:36 are very, very hard to get off.
03:38 And this is where a good tire lever comes in.
03:41 Obviously, if you can avoid using tire levers,
03:43 that's the best solution, but if you can't,
03:46 if you've got a really, really tight setup,
03:48 then good tire levers will help save your fingers
03:52 and will help save your rims and your tires themselves.
03:56 There's loads of good tire levers out there.
03:58 The important thing is that they're strong enough
04:00 and stiff enough to be able to cope
04:02 with taking the tires off, but soft enough
04:05 in terms of not being able to damage
04:07 any delicate carbon rims or expensive tires.
04:11 You can get different styles of tire levers,
04:13 and some have different widths.
04:15 So it depends on which style works best for yourself.
04:19 These are two very, very common styles,
04:21 and you'll see that they come in sets.
04:23 So if you're finding that the tire's really stubborn,
04:26 you might need to use more than one to do the job.
04:29 (upbeat music)
04:31 One of the most important things to do on your bike
04:36 when it comes to maintenance is to look after your chain,
04:39 because that is the one bit that can let you down
04:42 more than anything else.
04:43 And also, if you use a chain for longer
04:45 than its life expectancy, you can wear out
04:48 those expensive chain rings and cassettes.
04:50 So the next two tools I will recommend
04:53 are tools that will help you to keep on top
04:55 of chain maintenance.
04:57 Number one is a good chain checker.
05:00 This is a very, very simple tool that you use
05:02 to measure how badly worn your chain is.
05:05 They only cost a few pounds, but can help save you
05:08 hundreds of pounds if you use it regularly.
05:11 You literally put it on top of your chain,
05:13 and you can see how much your chain is stretched
05:16 and how much life is left.
05:18 So a very, very simple but effective and essential tool,
05:22 the chain checker.
05:24 Then, if you do need to change your chain,
05:26 you're gonna need one of these, a chain tool.
05:30 And a chain tool will be the only way
05:33 that you can cut your new chain down to the correct length,
05:37 and in most respects, to be able to actually connect
05:40 the chain properly.
05:42 So you can buy chain tools in different sizes
05:45 and different shapes.
05:46 If you're going to use one at home,
05:47 you wanna go for a good workshop one.
05:49 This will make it a much easier job to do,
05:52 and can be used on several different types of chains,
05:55 from six speed, seven speed, eight speed, nine speed,
05:58 10 speed, 11 speed, to 12 speed.
06:00 (upbeat music)
06:02 A good set of screwdrivers is gonna help make
06:07 gear maintenance a absolute doddle.
06:10 So you're gonna need to have a good set of screwdrivers
06:14 when it comes to adjusting your limit screws, for example.
06:17 And obviously, there's a few other different areas
06:19 on your bike that you will require these.
06:22 You can get Phillips screwdrivers
06:24 and obviously the standard flatheads,
06:27 and there's also something called a JIS,
06:29 which is a Japanese industrial standard screwdriver,
06:32 which Shimano use for their rear derailleurs
06:35 and for their front derailleurs.
06:37 But you don't necessarily need to have that,
06:39 just a very good set of crosshead and flathead screwdrivers.
06:44 (upbeat music)
06:47 A decent set of pliers is then going to help you
06:52 with those little fiddly jobs,
06:54 especially things like cable routing,
06:56 and when it comes to putting cable crimps
06:58 on the ends of those cables as well.
07:01 You can get different types of pliers,
07:02 but our perfect ones to use for bikes
07:05 are the needle nose pliers.
07:07 This means you can really get into those tiny little
07:09 hard to reach places,
07:11 and you can do all of those essential jobs.
07:14 They can double up as cable cutters as well,
07:16 so if you've got cable ties or anything else
07:19 that you want to be able to cut,
07:20 then a lot of them do have the facility to do that as well.
07:24 (upbeat music)
07:26 And last but by no means least,
07:30 probably the set of tools that are the most specific
07:33 in the entire list.
07:35 And those are the tools you'll require
07:37 to take your cassette off and put a new cassette on.
07:41 There's two tools that you need.
07:42 You need a cassette tool and a chain whip.
07:45 So these are ones we have here.
07:48 Again, they come in different styles.
07:50 This is Park Tool's version,
07:52 so rather than a normal type of chain whip,
07:55 this grips hold of the cassette on both sides
07:58 and means that you can loosen it
08:00 without the whole thing spinning.
08:02 You'll then need one of these little tools here
08:05 and an adjustable spanner
08:06 to be able to actually do the job itself.
08:09 This then is used if you want
08:11 to put your new cassette back on.
08:14 You can buy these with handles built in,
08:16 or as it is like this,
08:18 a very simple, small, effective tool
08:20 that you use with a spanner set.
08:23 So that is the only specific tools on the list, really.
08:28 Everything else is something that you can use
08:30 for multiple types of jobs.
08:33 So there you have it, a simple rundown
08:35 of the 10 most essential types of tools
08:38 that every rider needs to have.
08:41 Now, if I've missed anything out
08:42 or you think there's another tool
08:43 that you think is an essential for everybody to have,
08:46 please put it in the comments section below.
08:49 And don't forget to like and subscribe,
08:51 and more importantly, click on that notification button
08:53 to keep up with our latest releases.
08:55 But until then, we'll see you soon.
08:57 (whooshing)