X-Tools Bike Tool Kit

I've built and maintained quite a few bikes up with this set of tools without damaging any components (mainly Ultegra kit). I think it's a bargain for the price and a great starter kit. You've got to start somewhere and this gives you that ability to learn about your bike. The tire levers aren't much cop but then who cares about them. As other posters have said there are better tools out there but I think you will accrue those as your skills and demands as a mechanic develop.

Here's a thought:

On any bike worth more than about £500-600, any given component you might work on with these tools is probably worth more than the whole kit. It would definitely be worth more than the individual tool.

That's not a ratio you should be pleased with, and it's certainly not one conducive to repeated, damage-free use over the years.

Particularly for high-torque applications, like BB's, cranks, cassette lock rings, and areas prone to corrosion/galvanic welding like hub cones or pedal axles.

One bodged use and you could be looking at serious cash to repair.

Whilst an experienced mechanic would know how far to push a cheap tool, the target market for a £35 set won't.

Caveat Emptor.

Much less from eBay, this is very generic.

Park Tools 'advanced' set is £240, and yes, it probably is 10x as good as one of these cheap sets.

Spokely reckons £35 from chain reaction

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/x-tools-bike-tool-kit-18-piece/rp-pro...

£ 38.28 in Rose

I've got the Planet-X 'Jobsworth' branded one, and it's ok - Have put together a whole bike with it, and changed various parts on others. It's a good starter kit, but I reckon if you're doing more that just regular maintenance you need something a bit better.
Better than bodging a job with none of the right tools though.

I'd put this in the 'back of the car' category of kits, as a cheap & cheerful get-you-out-of-trouble solution.

But for prolonged home workshop use?

Cheap
Long-lasting
Close tolerances, not likely to damage components

Pick any two

There's a reason Par£ and P€dro'$ cost what they do.

Cheap, nasty tools are a false economy.

If you care enough about DIY to buy a tool, buy a decent one.

Though I can't say anything about these exact tools, I've found (through experience!) that anything which may require a fair bit of leverage, like BB tools or crank extractors, you are much better off getting a 'fitting only' tool to use your own spanners on, rather than one already on a handle, as the handles rubber grips soon wear away, and you can't get any sort of convenient sized pipe over it for extra leverage. Plus the crank extractor I had with a built in handle, soon snapped off, making the tool itself useless.

Those spanners look a bit nasty.

A set for putting things together.....rather than taking them apart!

Planet X do an identical one in red for 30 quid if it's what you want.

I had the bigger, more expensive X TOOLS kit and found almost every part of it to be of poor quality (some parts even broke on first use - and not due to neglect or misuse). Personally, I'd avoid.

For this rebranded kit for $34

Beware the splined BB spanner. It's quite crudely stamped out of metal plate and the edges are sharp enough to chew into an alloy BB cup. Needs a going over with a needle file to smooth it out.

very generic kit, goes by many different names, not just X tools. I've see at least 6 different versions, Yellow, Blue, Red, Black, Orange and Pink....

Good review, useful as I'm in the market for such a kit. One puzzler, 8/10 on everything with only one 7/10, yet 7/10 overall?? Missing something?

I've had one for the last 5 years & it's stood me in good stead apart from the tyre levers which snapped. This seems to be a weakness in the kit & I can't get matching replacements
otherwise a good kit.