Newbie tools and things

That would be a great starter set of tools. Knowing how to use them is good. Lots of the basic things on a bike are easy enough to teach yourself or learn off of sites like Sheldon Brown's.

Lights are dependent on what type of riding you do at night. In-town riding does not, necesarily, require the type of lights we use when riding trails. I use an HID light for trail riding at night, but felt fine when I used a $25 light in-town. The $25 light would be horrible on the trail (not bright and doesn't last...).

Pumps, I love my Crank Bros. I am also fine with my $15 one I bought from a department store when I couldn't find my Crank Bros pump while on a road trip. A couple of riding buddies love their Topeak Hurrican (?) pumps.

I don't use a seat bag any longer. I keep all of my "stuff" in a backpack when I ride (CamelBack HAWG or DaKine). I keep a multi-tool (Crank Bros 17), tube patch kit, two extra tubes, my water bladder of course, tire wrench, pencil, duct tape (strong all purpose tape), matches, food, etc in it.

I really like the T-9 lube (made by Boeing?) and the Pedros stuff for lubes and/or cleaning. Pedros makes a good biodegradeable degreaser (smells good!).

I love having a decent bike stand. That and the wheel truing stand have been my most favorite bike tool purchases/trades. They have proven invaluable.

Good luck and welcome aboard.

Brock...

I can't really imagine doing night time hard riding for quite sometime, more riding home a couple of miles from friend's houses - so cheap lights really should do 🙂

I already had a quick look at the camelbacks - seem like a great idea and can carry more of the necessary stuff than a saddle bag I guess.

Looking a the crank bros multi - that does seem to do much of what the bigger, heavier and more expensive set that I posted - but I guess you need both - one for on the road and a better set for when you're not just making a quick fix with minimal tools...

This hobby is gonna cost me isn't it 😉

I bought the Super-B kit for $au59 from Torpedo7.com.au. Does most everythign i need for the home workshop. For commuting I have an under-saddle bag with puncture kit, 1 x spare tube, Topeak multi-tool, spare flashy-light batteries, STEEL-cored tyre levers and a Wrench-force MTB pump.

The pump is only good for up to about 60PSI - good enough to get home on my MTB slicks that I normally run at 90PSI. The tyre levers are steel becasue teh Conti Sport Contact slicks are @#$^@!!'s to get off and on, and I keep destroying plastic ones with those tyres.
The best purchase I made though was a copy of Zinn and The Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance. It's not much good having the right tools if you don't know what to do with 'em! 🙄

Hi
Pumps - how about the innovative award winning Cyclaire Pump.

cyclaire.com.au said:

Hi
Pumps - how about the innovative award winning Cyclaire Pump.

[font=Comic Sans MS]At a brief glance it looks a little large even for a backpack.[/font]
[font=Comic Sans MS]As for the saddle bags they work if you ride light,but make sure that the zipper can be locked in place or cable tie it closed.I see plenty puncture repair kits scattered on the trail by new riders.[/font]

truespin said:

Tools this looks like a good starter set: wiggle.co.ukProductDetail.aspxOpen ↗
then need to drive my car straight to the LBS in order to fix a small thing...

[font=Comic Sans MS]GREAT LOOKING TOOLKIT,However some bike's have specific tools required for [/font]
[font=Comic Sans MS]Crank and BB removal,be a shame to spend all that money and still not have the tools reuired.[/font]
[font=Comic Sans MS]If you are just going to replace chains and cables go for a multitool and a chain breaker,worth it getting a decent set of allen keys.A small shifter works great for peddals.[/font]
[font=Comic Sans MS]SEALED WHEEL BEARINGS don't reguire all the vaious spaner sizes.[/font]