What's in your Toolkit and if you even have it?

Sochi

Sochi

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I've been reading this post on ADV forum about toolkit and it made me thinking.
Do you have one?

I am not an ADV rider and don't have much space but I do have a basic set of all keys and wrenches to set-up/adjust suspension, multitool, small locking plyers (englishjay showed me once how to use it and get home when shifter peg is broken ;)) - and that's pretty much it...
The bike is new and I have CAA.

One thing I'd like to add maybe is a plug kit but then I'd need some sort of compressor (?)... Or would my CO2 cartridges I use for my road bicycle work?

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The best - if you have a naked or ss and have a decent toolkit - post up a pix = that would be great!
Thanks!
 
Last two bikes were both missing the factory toolkit. Frustrating because it's hard to come up with anything that's even close to as optimized...

When I go on a longer ride/trip I just pick out an assortment of small tools. Only critical addition that you don't get from the factory is zip ties
 
The problem with asking randos on the Internet is that every bike has different bolts/sizes. For example, Euro manufacturers love Torx. HDs, I assume, are Imperial? Haven't owned a Japanese bike in a while, but I believe they're all Hex/Allen heads?

My advice is to simulate all of the things that can wrong on your bike in the field/street and try to fix it with your toolkit while you're still in your garage. It'll quickly reveal any deficiencies or point out tools that will make life easier.

Big thing for me is wheel removal/tire changes, as we run tubed tires in the dirt, so I've got to make sure I have the right socket head for the rear axle nut, as well as a breaker bar/spoon/extender long enough to torque the nut off and back on.

Even if you're not running tubes, having one with you in the right size is helpful if you do dent a rim and it won't hold air any more. Even if you don't carry spoons and a pump or compressor all the time, having the right size tube is useful if a passerby rider happens to have those tools, but they don't carry a tube that fits your wheel, or you take it to a shop and they don't have that size tube in stock.

Always nice to have these as well: Heavy duty zipties, JB Weld, thread locker, safety wire, a small roll of duct tape, baby can of WD-40, patch kit to repair tubes. Plug-kit if I'm riding tubeless. I also carry a jump-start kit for those big-bore bikes which are sometimes hard to bump-start.
 
Sochi said:
Good point.

Some sort of Gorilla tape too? But roll is so huge...
Click to expand...


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You can also make your own small roll if you don't want to throw money at the problem.
 
Lightcycle said:
The problem with asking randos on the Internet is that every bike has different bolts/sizes. For example, Euro manufacturers love Torx. HDs, I assume, are Imperial? Haven't owned a Japanese bike in a while, but I believe they're all Hex/Allen heads?

My advice is to simulate all of the things that can wrong on your bike in the field/street and try to fix it with your toolkit. It'll quickly reveal any deficiencies or point out tools that will make life easier.

Big thing for me is wheel removal/tire changes, as we run tubed tires in the dirt, so I've got to make sure I have the right socket head for the rear axle nut, as well as a breaker bar/spoon/extender long enough to torque the nut off and back on.

Even if you're not running tubes, having one with you in the right size is helpful if you do dent a rim and it won't hold air any more. Even if you don't carry spoons and a pump or compressor all the time, having the right size tube is useful if a passerby rider happens to have those tools, but they don't carry a tube that fits your wheel, or you take it to a shop and they don't have that size tube in stock.

Always nice to have these as well: Heavy duty zipties, JB Weld, thread locker, safety wire, a small roll of duct tape, baby can of WD-40, patch kit to repair tubes. Plug-kit if I'm riding tubeless. I also carry a jump-start kit for those big-bore bikes which are sometimes hard to bump-start.
Click to expand...

ADV rider is talking here :) Your toolkit probably weights as much as a full (skinny) passenger.
So far all I simulate is if I can call CAA and how much more I'd need to pay if I am farther then 200km..
But from past experiences it might take them hours to get there so I think maybe I have enough to patch flat tire and go, save me time..
 
The bike’s tool kit if you have it; replicate if it has gone astray. Any add ons with different fasteners, put driver for them in the kit. Try to do the usual maintenance with this kit. Patch or gummies for flat repair and small compressor (which you test every season on a real tire, not just on and off). CAA for sure (guilty, haven’t renewed).
Electrical wires, inline fuse connector, posi-locks of different sizes, electrical tape. JB weld. Good quality duct tape. Spare headlight bulb.
First aid kit. Spare key (on you or hidden in bike)
I have hard cases so can carry this. Without them, I’d have to be more spartan.
 
Two most common breakdowns I see out on the road is tire puncture and dead battery, so I'd carry appropriate tools to fix those in a jiffy instead of having to call and wait for CAA.

Common self-inflicted injuries are bent/snapped pegs/levers. That locking vice grip/pliers can double as a lever/peg for field-repair.

Most everything else can be duct-taped or zip-tied together. JB Weld for dire circumstances.
 
Leatherman, socket to release rear wheel and some form of handle for it, c02 with 3 cartridges (won't be hard but should be hard enough to get to a compressor), tire plugs and tools, small visegrips, a few zipties, a few pieces of tiewire. Depending on the bike, sometimes a pocket multimeter.
 
Other nice-to-haves that don't take up too much space:

pumice-based hand cleaner wipes:

fast-orange-scrub-wipes-25pc--ff657663-fc25-4030-a9a3-6dcac2758e96-jpgrendition.jpg


General PDP Template

www.canadiantire.ca www.canadiantire.ca

and a pair of thin nitrile gloves, for messier jobs.

A small rag or microfibre cloth is also good to lay nuts/bolts/washers and other parts on the ground so you don't lose them, and they serve double duty to clean off the area you're working on as well.
 
Lightcycle said:
Other nice-to-haves that don't take up too much space:

pumice-based hand cleaner wipes:

fast-orange-scrub-wipes-25pc--ff657663-fc25-4030-a9a3-6dcac2758e96-jpgrendition.jpg


General PDP Template

www.canadiantire.ca www.canadiantire.ca

and a pair of thin nitrile gloves, for messier jobs.

A small rag or microfibre cloth is also good to lay nuts/bolts/washers and other parts on the ground so you don't lose them, and they serve double duty to clean off the area you're working on as well.
Click to expand...
I'm gonna remember this, it never even occurred to me it was a thing
 
- Factory toolkit. Needed it at least once last summer on the JBR, it's basic but had enough tools to do a surprising amount of things given the number of standardized sizes of nuts, bolts, and screws on the bike.
- Tire goo
- Tire plugs
- Compressor
- Booster pack
- A good quality metal valve stem tool
- Multi-sized cube style wrench. Don't even really know how to explain it well, but it's a brick type thing with 4 or 5 different sized sockets built into it.
- Vinyl gloves. For something dirty, or for rainy weather when my gloves get soaked, either or.
 
Edge case anecdote here:

My buddy rides a 1290 Adventure R and he dented a rim out on the trail. Tubeless wheel. Wouldn't hold air.

No problem, I carry spoons and a universal 21" tube. So we go to work taking the wheel off, removing the tire and... *screech*...

TPMS sensor in the wheel requires tiny Torx heads to remove, so you can poke the tube's valve stem through the rim.

I didn't have this small Torx head, but thankfully somebody else in the group did, so we were able to remove the TPMS sensor to stuff the tube in the rim.

Moral of the story: don't do a thought experiment in your head to populate your toolkit. Actually perform the repair from start to finish beforehand, so little gotchas don't halt your field repairs.
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