Using good tools
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After years of using cheap chain tools where I always had trouble getting the chain to sit and stay flush and so I would bend links or break the pin in the tool, I finally got a Park CT-4.3. It is a joy to use b/c the chain doesn’t move. The chain pin just pops out no problem. Seriously, it took about as long to open the Sram chain package as it did to install the chain (probably should have used the right tool on the package, but scissors were handy and a razor was not, so perhaps I’ll never fully learn).
One other lesson I learned is to buy a chain online well in advance and keep it in stock. I like going to the LBS, but paying $30 for a chain that can be had for $17 with a little foresight isn’t worth it.
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@mstone 151551 wrote:
no, bike tools are mostly pretty small
Did someone say “Proper tools?”
True, most bike tools are small but there are so many to own and some are sizable such as a wheel dish checker, truing stand or head set press. I have been a hired bolt buster for 40 years and I still don’t have a 40 inch breaker bar. Besides I have shown more than a few times that my 18″ breaker can cause more than enough unintended damage in the right hands.:rolleyes: And no, my 48 inch 600 ft/lb torque wrench is not to be used as a breaker bar regardless of what someone who borrowed it thought. 😡
The proper number of bike tool boxes is T+1 with 2 being the minimum. A large box for the many infrequent use but satisfying in your hand “the right tool” when needed bike tools snuggled in and around all the odd bits of bike part and a small* somewhat portable one for the 10 tools you use 99% of the time. Along with the small box the stand should at a min be self populated with a flat, a Phillips and a couple of Park AWS Y hex wrenches.
*Sized just long enough to fit a Park PW-4 pedal wrench along with the rest of the work burnished must haves.
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