Everyone loves the feeling of satisfaction when they fix something themselves rather than having to pay someone else to do it for you. Some people just like to save themselves some money whenever possible as well. This applies to many things in life and can definitely apply to your mountain bike too. And if you are a serious rider you know how often things need to be adjusted or even fixed to keep your bike in optimal working order.
With mountain biking more popular than ever there are more and more mountain bike specific tools coming on the market that can make working on your bike easier than ever before. But which tools do you need to take care of the basics and which tools do you need to become a mountain bike master mechanic? In this article we will discuss the simple tools everyone should own and then in a future article discuss tools that confuse most people just by looking at them!
Let's start with the basic tools that every driveway bike mechanic should have. We will not cover the obvious tools such as a screwdriver set, wrench set and various pliers. Most bikes these days use metric bolts that are usually Allen head or Torx head and you should have a set of screwdrivers or sockets that will fit these types of bolts. The most common size Allen head bolts on a bike are 4, 5 and 6 and you can purchase one tool that has all 3 sizes on it. Components such as brake levers, shifter levers, seatpost clamps and brake calipers tend to use Allen bolts while brake rotors and some shifter and brake levers will use Torx head bolts. You should also get yourself a pedal wrench so you have something easy to use when taking off your pedals. Some pedals use an Allen head on the end and some have an area to place a wrench on so it's always a good idea to be prepared and have booth tools.