Tools - Wheres the best place to get them ?

[Pkunk]

lew lew
[/b]

have you got any apples ?

i recommended atom supply, because my mate who works there constantly brags about how good the prices on superawesome tools are.... so maybe its time to put him to the test

[Foofie Foofie]

Ok the imperial shit you see is the drive. As said, its the size of the male and female ports in the sockets and rachets etc.

The 3 most common ones are 1/4" , 3/8" and 1/2".

1/4" drive is best used for plastics, hose clamps, engine cases etc etc, small stuff , or even up to 14mm sockets where its not a high torque area.

3/8" drive, best suited for brakes, fork bolts (tripple clamps) , tank bolts, subframes, pinch bolts etc .

1/2" drive, the mother of em all, you need only for engine bolts (the long ones that go all the way thru, swingarm bolt (again the long one), and axles fron and back. I suggest you do not buy any 1/2" drive tools for a bike, except a breaker bar, and the matching sockets only for front and rear axles so you can pull wheels out and do chain. I have a 1/2" drive set in metric and imperial, and i only use 2 sockets, the rest i use to press bearings in.

Dont buy a torque wrench - waste of coin. Unless your building engines, you wont need one, and even then most 2 stroke engines for eg, you wont need a TW only on the head, even then i dont allways use it as im so used to 20ft/lbs, i just listen for the elbow to click

T/Bars : 8,10,12
T/Bar allenkey : 4,5,6,8
Allenkey uni-end : 4-10
Combo spanners : 6-19
Pliers : Full size pliers, full size side cutters, baby long nose pliers, baby sidecutters
Rachets : 1/4" drive and 3/8" drive
Extensions : 1/4" drive - 2" and 6". In 3/8" drive 3" and 6"
Screwdriver set
Sockets : 1/4" drive set form 6 to 14mm. 3/8" drive from 6-22mm. Also get 10,12 and 14mm in single hex for bolts that start to round off in double hex.
Breaker bar : 1/2" drive
Hammers : Metal and plastic (99% of the time on a bike you use plastic)

Thats about it for basics. Sometime you wanna double up , like two 10mm spanners, two 12's as you sometimes need two, and other things like twist pliers, o-ring pullers, tap and die kits, heli-coil kits .... and then ontop of all that , air tools. I wouldnt live in a workshop without air tools.... they are superb !.

[Mattis]

T/Bars : 8,10,12
T/Bar allenkey : 4,5,6,8
[/b]

Thats what I think I will be adding to my tool collection next, that is if I can find a decent set of each.

You don't realise how useful the T Bars are for bikes until you use em or see someone use em.

I started my collection off when my old boy bought me a huge set of kincrome spanners and socket/ratchet set some 7 years back now, I still have every single piece of them, they have never let me down and I can't recommend em enough.

Screwdriver set
[/b]

Another thing my old boy got me was a set of screwdrivers with magnetised ends on the heads, these come in handy for getting those tricky screws in (and out if you drop them in a tight position). So yeh, if you can get a set which have the end bit (point) magnetised.

My best suggestion would be to spend the big coin on your main items, then skimp out on the smaller items your not going to commonly use. In some cases if I know Im pretty much only going to use it once then I will just get the cheapest alternative from Superdupercheap or similar.

[Hewie]

I got a TBar set of allen keys ... best 100 bucks I spent recently.

Thanks for that list Saf .. Ill go start harassing shops now

[Taz]

Hewie

i know lots of guys will disagree with me but BUNNINGS is your one stop shop for tools for all things.

you can buy cheap or you can get quality there as well.

The best thing about bunnings is that keep your receipt and if the tools fail then you can take them back.

electric or cordless go GMC 2 year exchange warranty no questions asked...just keep receipt.


i use gmc tools all day every day and when they break i go get new ones...fucking awesome set up

my 2c worth

[Barney]

Wot Saf said

Buy the minimum you need to get you going, buy thhe best quality you can, (nobody has mentioned teng tools, I've got a few they're good tools mid price in the range)

As you get better and more involved, buy your tools as you need them, it'll spread out the cost and you can keep up the qulaity you're buying.

Clean your tools after you've used them ( yes, that one as well ) , store them clean, in a dry environment, nothing worse than rust!!!

Don't bother with metric & A/F combination sets (socket or spanners), A/F is a total waste of time on 99% of bikes.