Job-specific tools, and why generic ones cost more
Bicycle fasteners are unusually specific, and the standard advice to "use the right tool" is not snobbery here — it is because the wrong one causes damage that costs far more than the tool.
Cassette removal
Taking a cassette off needs two tools working against each other: a splined lockring tool to undo the ring, and a chainwhip to stop the cassette simply spinning with it. There is no improvising this. A set with both is the only sensible purchase.
Pedal wrenches
Pedals need either an 8mm hex from behind or a thin 15mm flat spanner from the front, depending on the pedal. The wrench is deliberately long, because pedals are tightened by years of pedalling and often need real force.
Remember the left pedal is reverse-threaded. It undoes clockwise. More pedals have been rounded off by people forgetting this than by any tool failure.
Quick link pliers
Modern quick links are stiff by design and increasingly difficult to open by hand, particularly 12-speed. The pliers turn a frustrating job into a two-second one, and mean you can take a chain off for a proper clean whenever you like.
Spacers, clamps and the carbon warning
Headset spacers and seat post clamps are the small parts that set up the front and back of the bike. Both are places where a torque wrench matters — carbon parts have a specified torque and exceeding it crushes fibres. The failure does not happen while you are tightening; it happens later, on the bike.
If you are unsure, we will do it properly. Book the workshop, or come and talk it over at Hout Bay Cycle Co.
For the pocket-sized version, see multi-tools.
