Hi Guys and Girls…

I’m planning a RTW for a couple years time, lots of saving to do so, if your life depended on it, what make tools would you carry. I know most of you will all shout SNAP ON at me. And yes, you’re all right. But what if I’m on a budget? Recon my tool money will be about £300

£ 300 0n tools? How many tools would you take on a trip to say the North of England? I would say just take enough tools to do a bike service + a decent puncture repair kit. For anything major you would perhaps need special tools and uncarried spares, then you would find a mechanic who has the right equipment and that can obtain spares. About £20's worth of reasonable autojumble brought tools and convert the other £280 into fuel.
Enjoy the trip.

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'He who laughs last, was too slow to get the joke'
Never confuse the map with the journey.

Hi,

I would buy good quality, but not too expensive. You will not use your tools every day and as intensive as the pro's do.
And only take (and buy) the sizes that fit your bike, leave rest.

With preparation and maintenance of my bike i wrote down every size i used. That goes into my toolkit.

cheers,
Sander

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http://sanderonasingle.blogspot.com/

only take tools you don't mind losing........ leave the Snap-On at home!

Go to car boot sales, autojumbles etc and put together a kit of ONLY what fits your bike, be Mercenary and set yourself a limit of 50 quid MAX! ( including chain rivetter!)

Martyn

One tip, take any tools that are specific to your bike - most tools will be readily available but if there is anything a main dealer would use for a tricky little job take it with you. Also think about spares and some improvisation materials - some wire to hold up an exhaust or bind a loose part and duck tape.

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Chris
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"Never have a stupid argument with an idiot - he gets a lot more practice than you"
there I go again
not too hard really

I've used and abused Teng tools for about five years now and they seem good quality at a reasonable price, Don't forget a few cable ties in the bag.

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Chris
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"Never have a stupid argument with an idiot - he gets a lot more practice than you"
there I go again
not too hard really

flevers, well, most of this is pictured.

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Patrick passed Dec 2018. RIP Patrick!

I have the same size nut on my Husaberg. I found one of right size in a Jap bike tool kit, the kind that are supplied with the bike. The spanner part is pressed steel and fits into a pressed box spanner to form a handle. Very small, light and compact.

I think mine came from a Kawasaki if I remember.

Hi. Thanks for the replies…sorry, I should have said that 300 was the budget for tools and spares. The tool kit will be for a KLR 650 with a few parts including two tyres. So might end up being more the 300. had a look at teng tools online today might go for them.

As well as Teng, Draper's Expert range is well worth a look. Halford's professional range is also not bad on a budget if you haven't got time to seek out used stuff.

Go for 3/8" drive socket fittings. Lighter, more compact and 1/2" drive is overkill for most jobs on a bike anyway. Decent quality sets are plenty strong enough, just get one that includes a knuckle bar or sliding T-bar for heavier loads.

The stock KLR tool kit will do quite a bit actually. Make sure you take a wrench for the front wheel axle - there is no wrench in the tool kit that fits it. I carry a 10" adjustable wrench which often comes in handy. Spare master links, tubes, tube repair kit spare bulbs, etc. All of these are a good idea. I also carry a small tire pump among other things.

What make??? Quality doesn't always have to mean Snap-On.

Forget new stuff anyway. I bought all my tools from used tool shops, car boot sales, etc. My socket set must be at least 40 years old and will last the same again. Old Gordon and Bedford tools are pro-quality and are the equal of anything you can buy today. My spare ratchet is an ancient one made by Gordon, bought for £2 from a car boot sale as it was slipping and was fixed by a good clean out. Unfortunately, these days you've got eBay and older professional quality tools are now getting harder to find. Williams SuperSlim were a budget brand when new. They're still common at car boot sales and are near indestructable for non-pro use. Avoid cheap imported crap from China, Taiwan, etc as it will let you down, that includes Machine Mart's budget ranges too.

It will be a few years before I do a RTW trip but my tool list for European trips is:
Multitool pliers
Cyclists tool with allen keys
8" adjustable spanner
3/8" knuckle bar with 3-4 of the most common sized sockets for my bike. You don't need to take the full set.
Gaffa tape, Tie straps, couple of Jubilee/hose clip, fuses, bulbs, spare split pin or R-clip for rear wheel
Motul tyre foam

Don't need to have a Snap-On van following you.

I have a 1200GS Adv. I only carry the tools that fit something on the bike. I have made the tool pouches out of thin silver nylon stuff, when opened & rolled out it also acts as a big"table cloth" so you don't loose things. One under the seat and the other in the pannier. Instead of a hammer I have a small axe fitted on the right side in front of the pannier. This serves as a hammer, anvil or a "Axe". I have also made two holders for 5 ltr plastic canister that slides over the rear foot pegs on both sides, one for 5 lt. water & one for 5 lt. fuel.

This. Very much so.

Do your pre-trip servicing/prep with the tools you'll be taking. If you can't do something, you might need to add to your kit. If there's something in your kit that doesn't fit anything you are realistically going to fix yourself, then leave it behind.

Halfords Pro stuff is great. However the massive hundreds-of-pieces kits, unless they're on an extremely good discount, are a bit of a false economy - they will contain an enormous pile of stuff you will never use - all the stuff in imperial sizes for a start. I've bought quite a bit of Halfords Pro stuff, but most of it has been individual tools, or rails of sockets, etc. Not much of it is in my travel toolkit these days though.

After years of raiding my garage toolkit when I went away, a couple of years ago I sat down and built a proper dedicated one for the Tenere. The core of it is:

- Motion Pro spanner/tyre levers in 22 and 27mm (Tenere with a KTM front end)
- 3/8 drive adapter for the 27mm lever
- Motion Pro 'Trail tool'
- Gerber Suspension multitool (Cheap leatherman-type thing).

The Motion Pro stuff isn't cheap, but it is *really* good. They boast that with the 'Trail Tool' and a Leatherman-type multitool you can take most of your bike apart, and it's true.

I then added to that anything I found I couldn't do with the above while working on the bike. It's a surprisingly small pile - a few open-ended spanners for things like the chain adjusters, plug spanner, valve core extractor, pressure gauge, small bicycle pump, and a few other bits and bobs.

My toolkit, along with a spare front tube, fits in a Kriega US-5. I'd have a few extra spares for a long trip, but not a huge amount.

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dashmoto.net

Agree about the Halfords Pro stuff, not to be confused with their bargain-basement stuff, which is of very variable quality.

I've never been able to afford top-flight tools (Snap-On etc) but have always followed the 'best you can afford' mantra. I look in my toolbox, and the battered old things that get used again and again and never seem to let me down mostly have 'Draper' written on them.

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2006 XT660R daily ride, 1994 XT600E about to be reborn, Blog: http://goingfastgettingnowhere.blogspot.com/