Do it yourself! A buying guide to garage essentials for a basic motorcycle toolkit

Whether you strip down and rebuild your bikes from spindle to spindle, service your bike at home to save money, or simply look after your chain, you will require a certain amount of tools. Some motorbikes will come with a small portable toolkit, however this is usually a very simple kit with minimal, small tools. It is advisable to have a better quality, more comprehensive kit in your garage.

Best deals on essential tools

• Halfords Advanced 175 piece socket and spanner set £178.50 (was £255)
• Halfords Advanced 200 piece socket and ratchet spanner set £200 (was £330)

What should be included in a basic tool kit?

There are two main options when building your tool kit: buy a comprehensive basic set that includes the essentials, or to buy several different sets of each type of tool, providing you with a larger selection of sizes of each. Either way, the main things that you need to ensure you have are:

• Sockets
• Screwdrivers
• Spanners
• Allen keys
• Pliers
• Torque wrench
• Oil filter tool

Other helpful items are things like a C spanner, paddock stands and cable ties can be useful to keep in the garage too.

Is it really worth paying that much more?

To keep your bike’s nuts, bolts and other fasteners in good condition and to ensure they can be undone and removed with ease, nothing but decent tools will do. The temptation to spend a fiver on a big shiny do-everything toolkit is huge, but this is likely to prove a false economy.

Cheap tools can deteriorate fast and will eventually damage fasteners, eating into the value of your machine. And what’s the point in paying for tools you’ll never use?

If your motorcycle has metric fasteners, then buy a basic metric-only toolkit. Better still, build a kit specific to your bike, and go for reputable top quality brand names that won’t cost the earth, like Teng, Draper or Halfords.

Apart from making home mechanics a damn sight easier, there’s also the delight in handling something so precise and perfect. Having splashed proper cash on a toolkit fit for a GP pit crew, don’t ruin it. Using screwdrivers as chisels or spanners for hammering will knacker them. Either buy the proper stuff or buy some cheapies you don’t mind blunting and bending.

For those whose idea of heaven is a bank holiday weekend of fettling a classic motorcycle or rebuilding your latest tipsy eBay purchase, you might be looking for a more advanced motorcycle toolkit.

Socket sets

A socket set is a basic motorcycle toolkit essential, and for most jobs on a bike, a 3/8in drive set will suffice. However, there are larger jobs that will require a meatier 1/2in drive set, such as removing and replacing wheels, for example.

Do-everything combined imperial and metric 384-piece socket sets for £30 look attractive, but will you use it all? Only Harleys have a smattering of old imperial nuts and bolts. A recognised brand of 3/8in drive ratchet (the size of drive-to-socket union), with 8-19mm sockets and a couple of extension bars, will tackle most tasks. The Draper set below, for example.

Spanners

A good set of spanners is also a garage essential, and combination style – with a ring at one end and open-ended at the other – offers great flexibility.

Spanners are used when there’s no room to fit a socket. Combination spanners – open-ended one end and a ring spanner (like a flat socket) on the other – are the best bet. After buying a quality 8-19mm set, bolster your basic toolkit with a cheaper set of the commonly used sizes on a motorcycle, as it’s often necessary to hold a bolt as you undo the nut.

Screwdrivers and Allen keys

It’s necessary to use the right type of screwdriver in the correct size. The type you’re looking for will have hardened tips to prevent premature wear (screw heads soon chew up) with large rubber, easy grip handles. Pozidrive (crosshead) sizes #1, #2, and #3 are the minimum required, plus varying sizes of slotted (flat-bladed) drivers.

Recessed (Allen) bolts for bodywork etc. are easily damaged by worn, cheap or ill-fitting Allen keys. Quality keys fit better, and last longer, and T-handle keys are easier to use and better for stubborn bolts. Over 10mm, or with a high torque figure, it’s best to use a 3/8in drive ratchet with Allen socket attachments, such as those in the Gedore socket set. A basic toolkit for your motorcycle should feature most, if not all, of these.

Pliers

There are few jobs on a bike that invite the use of pliers these days, but they’ll always be handy (freeing off stuck clutch adjusters, removing fuel pipe clips etc.). Look for the type with rubber handles so you can hold them with greasy hands. Long-nose pliers are good for inaccessible areas (dropped nuts are a speciality); flat-nose offer good grip.

Torque wrench

A torque wrench is one of the most frequently used and most important tools you can get. In a nutshell, it’s a ratchet-like device with an adjustable clutch that stops turning the nut/bolt when a predetermined torque figure has been reached. This prevents nut and bolt threads from being over-stretched or breaking off.

Oil filter tool

It’s important to change the oil filter and oil in your motorcycle at the manufacturer’s recommended intervals. There are special tools to help you remove a filter when there’s limited room (eg. if you have exhaust pipes in the way) and to install a new one correctly, a chain wrench or filter socket is a must.

C-spanner (hooked spanner)

C-spanners are used for adjusting pre-load on rear shock absorbers, whose adjustment is via threaded locking rings. Standard C-spanners are prone to wear, and there’s only ever one in the toolkit when you need two to lock them after adjustment. Match the original to a quality aftermarket item with a hinged lever for better purchase.

Other useful items

Frequently asked questions

How do I look after my tools?

After use on your motorcycle, give your toolkit a basic clean with an oil-tainted cloth to remove grit and corrosive fluids before storing. And don’t lend them out – friendships have been ended over the ‘loss’ and damage of tools.

Do I need motorcycle specific tools?

No, motorcycles will use the same sorts of tools that cars do and most sets have many uses.

Do my tools need to match?

No, it make’s no difference if your tools are all from the same brand or not, just choose the ones that you like and can afford.

How MCN tests tools

At MCN, our team of expert journalists have decades of experience gained over hundreds of thousands of miles. We don’t usually test our tools to destruction; we use it exactly how you do, in the real world and in all conditions, using them to carry out maintenance and upgrades to our motorcycles. That means we can deliver impartial buying advice you can rely on.

Each of our writers has an in-depth understanding of the needs of today’s biker… because they are one.

If you can’t see a review against an item on this page, it’s because we haven’t tested it yet. These items will only be included if we think they’re important and relevant in the market, and rest assured, we will be working on bringing you a review as soon as we’ve done the miles.

To find out more, head to our dedicated page explaining how we test motorcycle products.

What our star ratings mean

When we review a product, we award it a score out of five. In the ratings tab of a given product, you may also find more specific scores for the different aspects of a product’s performance to help you make an informed decision. Here’s a guide to what each number score means:

• 1 star – Poor performance in this category or overall. A product with a single star rating has fallen below the expected standard and should be avoided.
• 2 stars – Basic performance in this area or overall. A product with a two-star rating has managed to perform to a barely acceptable level and there is room for improvement.
• 3 stars – An average performance in this area or overall. A product with a three-star rating has achieved a basic level of performance and is deemed adequate.
• 4 stars – A product has performed over and above the accepted averaged in this category or overall. A product with a four-star rating has surpassed expectation and delivered in a particularly impressive way.
• 5 stars – A product has performed at the highest possible level in a particular category or overall. A product with a five-star rating has delivered to the highest possible level, impressing the tester with its performance. We would happily spend our own money on it.

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