Recommend me some tools

[Wafer_Thin_Ham]

The time has come for me to purchase that most manly of all collections.(And I can't carry on nicking by dad's tools.)

I want something that's decent, but not stupidly expensive.

I've been looking at Beta, Draper, Facom, etc.

Learning more towards the Beta as it's kit I've borrowed/ used from someone else before.

Any suggestions from anyone?
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[G]

Presumably you're going to acquire more tools than a single set over time?
I generally prefer to get a single comprehensive area at a time. For instance a spanner role covering pretty much everything from 6 - 32mm.
For sockets, I'd try and find a decent 6-point wall drive set. These are probably the favourite of my 'daily' tools and have saved a lot of hassle where other tools have started to round off etc. The set I got was pretty cheap at a bike show too.
I forget which, but one of the companies does spanners like this too. Unfortunately it's pretty hard to find decent information about such things .

[arry]

Have a look at Kennedy tools - bought 3 socket sets about 6 years ago now and not managed to break one of them, and that's with professional garage usage also

[mr jamez]

I've used quite a lot of draper woodworking tools, budget stuff for occasional use. I certainly wouldn't consider Draper for a set of tools that I intend to use regularly and keep for a long time.

A lot of the sockets and stuff I have are Teng or Britool. And of course you can't forget halfords pro.
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NSR 125F > BROS 400 > NC30 > BROS 400 > Trumpet S4 > '97 VFR 750

[G]

I've rarely been that impressed by Halfords pro myself.
Had an allen key set that was 'ok', their ratchet-wrenches are the same as all the other re-branded ones of the same type, the 12-point wall drive socket set I got was terrible in the smaller sizes. Got a couple of their (mid-box) tool chests and again it's 'ok', no more.
Similarly for their big-sets, when they're at £89/£99 it's not too bad value if you want an easily portable set that will cover most things, but nothing in it's really that good.
Actually, saying that, I got a spark plug set ages ago and the hinged 3/8" ratchet I really like - whether it was worth the £30 or so I payed for the 'kit' is another matter.

[Bendy]

Very happy with my Halfords Pro stuff, but for what it's worth I've never broken any of the £30 Draper kit I bought from Argos as my 'first tool kit' - it all still works and still gets used in amongst the Halfords stuff.

The Halfords 'big black box' comes up at 1/3 off every so often - most folk I know have picked one of those up for £99 and it's a good start - get all the odds and sods as you go along.

[bryvw1973]

the draper expert stuff is good and lasts well i have a socket set that ive had for years and its taken no end of abuse.the draper basic stuff is ok but wont take as much daily use as someone mentioned
ive also got a stanley socket set and set of spanners the spanners are the best ive owned the socket set has lasted 3 years untill the rubber grip came off the ratchet but that was with lots of use
i have worked as a mechanic and i really dont feel the need for silly money tools such as snap on

[Vincent]

If you sit a decent socket and a cheap one side by side, you can see the difference. A socket that looks like it's made out of plastic will split if used wth too much force. There's no need to spend a fortune - a half inch socket set and a 1/4 one, 8 combination spanners, 4 or 5 screwdrivers. Mole grips, normal and long nose pliers, adjustable spanner, socket T bar, then pick trhe rest up as you need it.

[T0MMY]

I reckon the Halfrauds stuff is pretty good and much of it has a lifetime guarantee. Their flex-headed ratchet spanners are very useful and are half price at the moment. I have so many random tools scattered around that I wish I had just splashed out years ago and bought one of the big black boxes for portability and to keep everything neat but you'll end up needing loads more stuff anyway.

It's definitely worth spending a bit of money, shit tools will break very quickly damaging your bike and hurting you. A lot of cheap kits are for fixing bicycles and putting together Ikea desks, totally inadequate for automotive stuff.
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ZX6R + CBR600RR

[Kickstart]

Hi

Most of my spanners are Facom. Pretty decent.

Draper Expert 1/4" drive socket set is good (ratchet is tough but very easy to reverse the direction by mistake when using it).

Sockets are a pretty random selection. Probably the most used are a set of no name 3/8" drive deep 6 point set. Have put up with a large amount of use and abuse.

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[swiftb]

From experience over the years ive chosen to pay for decent gear as in most cases you gets what you pays for. Tho I was in the motor trade for 8 yrs so gear was used daily and frequently. So the lifetime guarantees provided by the likes of snap-on and britool and mac tools was worth every penny.
If your building up a kit that is going to be used occasionally then you wont go wrong with some cheaper stuff, facom , halfords pro etc. But I would say buy decent heavily used items ie ratchets, sockets , hex sockets. It will pay off in the long run

[Kickstart]

[swiftb]

[Wafer_Thin_Ham]

Thanks guys, helpful stuff.

It's something I'm going to build up over time.


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[effit]

[Mark65]

I bought a Stanley socket set 20 years ago and apart from loosing the 15mm one it has been used time and time again and hit with a hammer and still never lets me down, again my spanners are the same age from argos i think, they were bought for me when i was going to be a mechanic. No rust and still do the job. Although i recently purchased a halfords pro torque wrench for my bike bits as my old draper again must be 20 year old is to big. I read the halfords torque wrenches are made by norbar.

Mark
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07 Yamaha YBR125, 07 Honda CG125 , 15 CBR300R (Chocolate Crank, Deaded), 16 CB500FA, 19 Honda Forza 300, 70 Suzuki SV650

[sickpup]