BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

You could always go to free ride or kraynicks

I have a couple of old bikes with silvery pedals. I'll go grab photos of them in a moment. I don't have a pedal wrench, but if we can surmount that barrier I'm glad to sell either pair to you

I have a pedal wrench that anyone can borrow.

If you have a 15mm open end wrench you have a pedal wrench.

I might have one somewhere, but no guarantees considering how small my collection of (bike-specific and non-bike-specific) tools is. I think I'm eventually going to start investing in some appropriate bike tools so that I can do more things myself.

I took a closer look at the regular platform ones, and they are in terrible (read: unsafe) shape. Probably weren't safe to begin with. So never mind about those.

The quill pedals are a bit scratched up but are in fine working order. They're whatever came on a 1985 Nishiki Prestige. If you want them, you can buy them from me for a low, low price (whatever change you have in your couch cushions is probably plenty, because I don't need these anyway).

On the other hand, you may just want to go to Kraynick's or Free Ride and get regular platforms.

I'm pretty much of a kludger, I'll make do with whatever I have, but a pedal wrench is the one bike-specific tool I wouldn't live without. Highly recommend getting one. I learned my lesson a long time ago on an alloy crank arm that I ruined by not tightening a pedal enough. When the pedal comes off attached to your foot sumpin not right.

Yeah, it can also be tough to get enough leverage to loosen a pedal with a regular wrench. And, if you're not careful you can impale your wrist on the chainring.

BTW, before you start buying individual tools, take a look at the Park tool set. It's expensive but I think it's worth it. Sure, there are some things in there I've never used, and I've had to pick up some other tools but most of it is useful on a pretty regular basis.

I'd been thinking about putting a kit like that on my Christmas list. My DIY-loving dad would be so proud if he got to buy me something like that. Now the question is... which one? http://www.parktool.com/category/tool-kits

I have the AK-37. The SK-1 looks alright too (and it is a lot cheaper) - the AK has a lot more tools and they're also nicer tools. I think it depends on how many of the tools you can see yourself using, and how many of them fit your bikes. In particular there are 3 bottom bracket tools and it may be only 1 of them (or 0 if you're unlucky) is useful to you. That being said, I think I've used enough of the tools to make it worthwhile.

The AK-37 looks good. I already have most of the stuff in the SK-1.

Also, I'll have to look into my bottom bracket situation. I imagine I have a couple different things going on among the assortment of bikes in my house...