[David9694]

Show us your favourite tool. I’ll start, with my collection of tyre levers. 

Topic

[hawkinspeter]

don simon fbpe wrote:

Nice to see I’m not alone in thinking Park Tools are not all that their marketing and fanbois claim. Worst tools I’ve had the pleasure of working with and poor after sales/sales support/retail support.

I’m quite disturbed to see how many Park Tools I’ve accumulated over the years – I’m no fanboi of them and usually have a look round for cheaper alternatives, but somehow I’ve ended up with lots of them.

[hawkinspeter]

David9694 wrote:

I’ve got one Mavic wheelset with aero spokes – do they twist more than round ones, or is it that you can have a holder for them? 

The problem is that twisted aero spokes look bad and defeat the whole purpose of them. Also, being straight pull spokes, they will twist more than J-spokes as they can pivot all the way round.

As for a suitable tool, you could easily just make a slot in a bit of wood that would work as well. Pliers would work, but you’d want to protect the spoke a bit.

[don simon fbpe]

samuri wrote:

Can you let the pro mechanics know please so Froome et al can stop their moaning.

 

I do like this tool though. Normally I just loosen the capiler, squeeze the lever and then tighten up the bolts but this looks much better.

There’s a tool for this?

Nice to see I’m not alone in thinking Park Tools are not all that their marketing and fanbois claim. Worst tools I’ve had the pleasure of working with and poor after sales/sales support/retail support.

[David9694]

I’ve got one Mavic wheelset

I’ve got one Mavic wheelset with aero spokes – do they twist more than round ones, or is it that you can have a holder for them? 

[hawkinspeter]

I’ve got one of those, but

I’ve got one of those, but don’t know where it came from.

Here’s the spoke tools I could find easily. I’ve included the rubbish one you get with the Park Tools tensionometer and also an aero spoke holder (expensive piece of black plastic with slots in it). I’m sure I’ve got a long nipple driver (missus!) somewhere, but can’t find it and it’s easier to just use a normal spoke key in my opinion.

I also found an NBT2 cassette lockring remover (https://www.spacycles.co.uk/m13b0s72p595/NBT2-%28Next-Best-Thing%29-Cassette-lockring-remover) so that’s in the photo too. Never used it as it looks like it’d trash a frame in my careless hands.

[David9694]

Pretty sure I got Spokey from

Pretty sure I got Spokey from Freewheel back in the ’80s. 

[hawkinspeter]

David9694 wrote:

Here’s an item I think you don’t need – spoke tension meter.  

Now, there’s a parallel to gardening here, which I’ve attempted to do this year for the first time really since childhood.  We wanted to do a wild flower patch. The instructions for the so-called wild flowers said you had to prepare a seed bed, fine tilth.
Yeah, right, they’re wild, so I just sprinkled them around the grass, didn’t mow it and waited. Well, that went well – a patch of long grass.  

So it goes with wheel building and spoke tensions.  “Ping” on the drive side, “pong” on the non-drive – or the other way around – but the point it’s simple and instinctive.  Wheel build instructions sound like such a bunch of old women some times.  In my case, it’s been 5 happy years since my first wheel build, so that must count for something – right?

I’ve got one of those and only used it once or twice. I found it fiddly to measure each spoke and slightly unnecessary as I tend to go by the feel/sound of the spoke. When building/trueing, it’s easy enough to figure out which spokes need adjusting to move the rim where you want it.

Maybe I should dig out my various spoke keys as I swear they must be breeding.

[David9694]

This looks like one of those

This looks like one of those neat set-ups…

[andystow]

Hexes and hexes and hexes,
Hexes and hexes and hexes, plus a couple of Torx. I find myself using the T handles the most just because they’re easiest to get out.

[chrisonabike]

Wrong caption? Isn’t that the
Wrong caption? Isn’t that the Schwalbe “high protection level” tyre removal kit? You use the claw hammer to try to pop the first/last bit of bead, then the other parts are the captive bolt gun for someone to put you out of your misery.

[David9694]

yours for £12.99 and I’m sure

yours for £12.99 and I’m sure there’s other stuff you want as well

https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/tools/park-tool-mt1-rescue-multi-tool-9-function/

[David9694]

Crank dust caps seems to be a

Crank dust caps seems to be a real gap in the market and they’re very pricey when you do find them. 

[David9694]

Oh brilliant Mr Shimano, clap

Oh brilliant Mr Shimano, clap clap clap, fan of the M324 and M520 pedals as I am, you’ve really set a trap for the unwary – you can dismantle the bearings with standard tools, but you have to track down these gizmos (for the cost as a new pair of pedals) to reassemble and – bonus – they’re different.  

The tap is a l/h pedal tap I managed to track down on Ebay from China.  Pedal decided randomly to unwind itself one day and a fair bit of damage was done before I realised.  Worth a try, I guess.

There is a service that can fix damaged crank threads with a helicoil; here’s where you need a jig because if it’s even slightly off you’ll feel it.  But  I don’t think it’s economic unless they’re your granddad’s Super Record cranks that he won the Milk Race on in like 1970 that you’ve nadgerred. 

[David9694]

Here’s an item I think you

Here’s an item I think you don’t need – spoke tension meter.  

Now, there’s a parallel to gardening here, which I’ve attempted to do this year for the first time really since childhood.  We wanted to do a wild flower patch. The instructions for the so-called wild flowers said you had to prepare a seed bed, fine tilth.
Yeah, right, they’re wild, so I just sprinkled them around the grass, didn’t mow it and waited. Well, that went well – a patch of long grass.  

So it goes with wheel building and spoke tensions.  “Ping” on the drive side, “pong” on the non-drive – or the other way around – but the point it’s simple and instinctive.  Wheel build instructions sound like such a bunch of old women some times.  In my case, it’s been 5 happy years since my first wheel build, so that must count for something – right?

[mark1a]

Yes and as much as I like a

Yes and as much as I like a Park Tool product and Calvin’s videos, I also couldn’t bring myself to pay the blue tax on a rubber mallet – this £1.50 from Halfords camping gear section:

 

[Author]

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