Mechanics and Fixing Any Questions Answered

Water will eventually make it's way inside the bearings. Be careful washing the bike, avoid river crossing, but salty roads will still kill it.

Isopropyl Alcohol ... petrol
Lighter oil

If the lighter oil is in a lighter then you probably only need one of the other two ingredients and...

Lighter fluid works well

Hence using the correct grease

Having set fire to my garage not that long ago in an unfortunate welding incident, I'm reluctant to recommend the cleansing qualities of fire. Particularly if powder fire extinguishers are involved.

1 IPA for me, 1 IPA for the lever
1 IPA for me, 1 IPA for the lever
1 IPA for me, 1 IPA for the lever

Who does a range of decent 3/8th socket set sized allen keys that aren't £80,000,000 Park Tool prices?

ie. something like SBS-3 but probably only need the allen bits, not all the sockets. I already have a socket set but want the longer allen set in this.

https://www.bike-discount.de/en/park-tool-sbs-3-socket-bit-set-3/8

Looks like you can buy individual hex bits but I'd prefer to just grab a set:
https://winstanleysbikes.co.uk/park-tools-hex-bits

Lots on ebay/Amazon but what's a decent bang for buck set?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Blue-Spot-01516-Socket-Pieces/dp/B003YT6UYY

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wera-Hex-Plus-holding-function-05003971001/dp/B07B7TWVNZ

I'd get a Wera set. Park hex stuff is generally a bit shit

2nd vote for Wera.

Wera are obviously good, but does anybody else have to put their readers on to tell Wera Hex+ from Torx bits in bicycle sizes? 👓🔍

I recently got the Wera Bicycle Set 8 which covers most needed sizes for bikes, including T25 and T30. https://products.wera.de/en/tools_by_trade_tool_sets_for_bicycles_and_e-bikes_bicycle_set_8.html.html

One of the clearest in my experience, and I've never mistaken it for a 25mm hex..

That might be a bit cheaper than their stupid priced hex set. Let me think what sizes I actually need though. I use the smaller sizes a lot but they tend to be on stuff that I'm not using a 10-60Nm torque wrench on :D

What about the Halfords professional range? Life time guarantee when you brake them....

Search on mobiles is shite.

Maybe. I can only see individual bits and I was just hoping to buy a set and be done with it.

Proxxon are also German I think. Seem quite a bit cheaper than Wera. Any good though? I can't imagine I'm going to chew through these any time soon with home use although let's call it abusive/excessive home use. :D

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Proxxon-Industrial-Socket-65TEILIG-23112/dp/B001EQAE46

Yeah had a look on the website and they don't list those bits anymore. Which is odd as I had a rail.

Maybe look at the sockets sets I just bought the 200 piece for 175 delivered and has the rachet spanners

They used to be sold in the UK by the German bike stuff company hiene gerricke. Or how ever it is spelt. Seem to be good quality in the past with very reasonable prices. Check out the Louis.de site and see if they stock them. They used to have a co.uk site that might help with UK delivered prices

How about this?
https://www.louis-moto.co.uk/en/rothewald-ratchet-insert-set-3-8-7-piece-10001341

Fuck that, go Halford Advanced, they do lifetime warranty, so when I broke a bit, I send the whole thing back and get a new one.

Every time.

Yeah, that's more my kinda price although still tempted by the Proxxon set for its range of bits.

I've got that exact set and it's fine, but it seems about £20 overpriced on Amazon compared to what I paid (which was in Switzerland so useless for you, sorry).

.

Sounds very wasteful

It's free, a lots of mechanics tend to use Halford Advanced over big brand such as Snap-on, while they're not the ulimate tools to use, it easy to replace with no question asked.

I've replaced my bit dozens of time in the last 4 years without spending any money.