Tool kit....

Wapping

Moderator
Moderator
Joined
Oct 21, 2005
Messages
78,766
Reaction score
3,527
Location
Wapping, London
Not a review, but....

Lots of bods ask, “What’s the best tool kit for me Adventure (with a capital A) bike, mate”.

This kit is not cheap but it has:

Near enough everything a bod will need

Some quite neat tools

They are reasonably well made



My suggestion would be to watch the video (that ain’t too hard) and stop it at various points, to take a note of the tools. Can’t write fast enough? Easy, just stop it and take a screen shot. Failing that, here’s a screenshot of the kit for you:

face3390566ada7f4fa9c6413832922a.png


Just zoom in a bit, you can quickly work out what is what.

Then, busy yourself on the internet and / or at Halfords and / or on EBay and buy the same (or very similar) pieces for less, building your kit that way. It is that easy.

https://sbvtools.com/product/bmw-motorcycle-tool-set-70-pcs/

Want to go the whole hog in the big shiny tool department? That’s easy, too. Just do the same from here:

https://sbvtools.com/product/pro-mechanic-motorcycle-tool-set-75-pcs/

Job done.


Can’t be arsed or can;t think of a bag / box to pit it in? Then just buy it from the seller, you’ve spent enough on your bike, it deserves the best.

PS Having no idea how to use the the tools or the confidence to try, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have them. They will look well cool when you show them to your mates. Not least, you need something to shove into those enormous panniers, other than Tesco donuts and a flask of (obligatory) brew.
 
Might be easier to assemble it yourself from U.K. suppliers at present, these boys look like they are Beligians
 
The benefits of Brexit are many varied and wonderful indeed. Bods used to moan that Touratech refused to ship to them from Germany, allowing TT UK to rip-off honest hard working British bikermates. Now companies (at least for now) aren’t shipping as they can’t (quite understandably) be arsed with the paperwork. It will though open up a whole avenue of inventive tax dodging (or moaning) from a raft of bods. The tax dodgers will of course lambast scroungers and other cnuts, as dodging import duty and VAT on motorcycle gear (or anything else fancied) is OK and puts one up the man.


PS My post suggests bods assemble it themselves, saving money.
 
All of those tools can be easily sourced at Halfords/Toolstation/Screwfix at very reasonable prices, you might even be able to wangle a trade discount card at any of these emporia depending on your job. I have a Halfords trade card and it gives me anything from 10-25% discount depending on the item.
 
Stupid idea Wapping.

Go back to route planning ....

:D
 
There is a lot to be said for a pre-assembled kit. I didn't buy one, and I rather regret it. Instead I took the I'll put a kit together route. What that means is you end up buying kits of things to try and cherry pick a few bits, you end up with a big kit of stuff, and it still aint cheap. You miss out on the clever space saving dual use pieces.

I'm sorely tempted by this BMW kit, looks nice, and ticks a lot of boxes, looks nice quality too.

If someone fancies putting together a Halfords itemised / costed identikit, I'd be interested to one see the cost, and two how many extra pieces you needed to add to make it the same, including a roll.
 
If someone fancies putting together a Halfords itemised / costed identikit, I'd be interested to one see the cost, and two how many extra pieces you needed to add to make it the same, including a roll.

But not so interested that you’ll do it yourself :augie:D

https://www.halfords.com/

I’ll get you started. A tool roll can be had for a fiver on eBay. A tenner on Amazon. Or a lot if if you want hand tooled leather.


:beerjug:
 
^^^ Wapping, did I mention I've put my own kit together including Kriega Tool Roll, and I put some decent components in it, not the cheapest I could fine, that's why it cost a decent amount of money, that included buying stuff from Halfords.

No I won't be trying that again.
 
Yep , Kriega tool roll and assemble a kit your self , that’s what I’ve done. Euro 300 is mucho dinero for me , I’m sure some on here would find that a useful kit though :thumb
 
Yep , Kriega tool roll and assemble a kit your self , that’s what I’ve done. Euro 300 is mucho dinero for me , I’m sure some on here would find that a useful kit though :thumb

The kit is certainly nicely put together, that is for sure.

I did, just as you suggest people do. A long time ago, I looked at my motorcycle and at as many of the nuts, bolts and screws as I could see. More importantly, I imagined how many I could picture having to undo or tighten away from home, very comfortable in the certainty that I wouldn’t be rebuilding the gearbox on the roadside. The reality, as the picture above shows, is that there are not that many. This basic kit has served me proud for many years, virtually unchanged. All I had to do was add the occasional oddity. The one that springs to mind was, if I remember correctly, the bolt that holds the gear change lever onto its shaft, on a 1200 GS, is a male Torx. The only things in addition that I added were, some simple side cutter pliers, an adjustable spanner, a length of twin core flex and some basic electrical connectors. The twin core flex and connectors came in handy only once when a friend’s Suzuki fell over in the car park, breaking off the indicator in one piece (the bulb didn’t beak) but breaking the electrical lead. 30 minutes later, the indicator was back on and working, including a panel off and back on. When I was running the Wanders, I added some L-shaped regular Allen keys, to cater for other bikes.

Did I spend a fortune? No. The most expensive item (bought secondhand) is a Snap-on screwdriver handle and three reversible blades.

For the many thousands of accumulated man-miles that the Wanders produced, the kit only very rarely saw any use at all. Neither did the puncture repair kit. Maybe I / we were lucky? Who knows?
 
For the many thousands of accumulated man-miles that the Wanders produced, the kit only very rarely saw any use at all. Neither did the puncture repair kit. Maybe I / we were lucky? Who knows?

When I bought my 2002 1150GS it came with a puncture repair kit under the seat, “what a great idea!” I thought despite that fact that i’d never needed one since I started riding my moped in 1984. I kept that GS for 7 years, I forgot to pass the kit on to the new owner as it was in my top box where it sits now, still unused, I’ve even added a mini electric pump in recent years.

15 yrs ago in Austria we came across a guy on a cruiser stuck with a rear puncture, I was quite excited that I could help this guy with my kit ,he seemed pleased too although he didn’t speak English. However we were both ultimately disappointed , he slightly more than me I imagine, when I realised he had tubed tyres & therefore could only wish him luck wave him a cheery goodbye :D
 
When I bought my 2002 1150GS it came with a puncture repair kit under the seat, “what a great idea!” I thought despite that fact that i’d never needed one since I started riding my moped in 1984. I kept that GS for 7 years, I forgot to pass the kit on to the new owner as it was in my top box where it sits now, still unused, I’ve even added a mini electric pump in recent years.

15 yrs ago in Austria we came across a guy on a cruiser stuck with a rear puncture, I was quite excited that I could help this guy with my kit ,he seemed pleased too although he didn’t speak English. However we were both ultimately disappointed , he slightly more than me I imagine, when I realised he had tubed tyres & therefore could only wish him luck wave him a cheery goodbye :D

On the superior 1150, BMW did all of this for you

They supplied a full toolkit, with which you could strip the bike, change both wheels, adjust the valves (feeler gauges were supplied) and as you say a Rema Top Tip puncture kit

81c405ac01a501001bdce7ef44858d87.jpg


All neatly racked out in a waterproof box under the pillion seat (which also doubled as a luggage bridge rack, sans pillion seat)

No need for fancy extra TT toolboxes

Clever blokes. Ze Germans
 
Oi... you just add to my stress of not having this ‘stuff’.

Instead I pray to the gods for safe passage - it says so in my passport. :D
 
Anyone with experience of these MM, Torx, square type spanners?
 

Attachments

  • 9496DE66-CFD8-4BEF-ABD9-673826BE4CCB.jpg
    9496DE66-CFD8-4BEF-ABD9-673826BE4CCB.jpg
    200.2 KB · Views: 550
How many male Torx bolts / 12 point / spline bolts / damaged bolts do you expect to come across on your bike? If a bolt is already damaged, replace it now. Me? I’d replace it with the proper bolt from BMW parts (bugger the expense) whilst wondering how it got chewed-up in the first place.

Just buy a few metric combination spanners and / or a few metric sockets and a half decent ratchet wrench with an extension bar or two.

You’d be better off spending a little bit more on some reasonable quality male Torx drivers. The L-shaped ones are good, for an on-bike tool kit, making then easier to spin. The largest ones are only needed for the rear wheel bolts, the rest of the bolts (mainly) just hold the screen and the panels in place, so you don’t need to be Charles Atlas.
 
^^^ Wapping, did I mention I've put my own kit together including Kriega Tool Roll, and I put some decent components in it, not the cheapest I could fine, that's why it cost a decent amount of money, that included buying stuff from Halfords.

No I won't be trying that again.

I had a very quick play around on the internet, pricing stuff. GBP 120 choosing reasonable tools plus say a tenner for a bag. That’s GBP 130. Add £20 for the sake of it, gives GBP 150 or EUR 170. This includes VAT and postage.

The opening post’s price is EUR 247 PLUS tax. I assume, as it would be a post Brexit import, you’d add 20% VAT ie. EUR 50, let’s call that EUR 300. I am not sure about import duty? Even if we said EUR 300 that is GBP 270 or about GBP 120 more than you could assemble it yourself for.
 
Not sure what the final cost of any of the kits delivered to the UK would be, as on checking they will only deliver to the France or USA, Ah. Brexit the gift that keeps on giving.

Wapping, my kit probably ended up costing me that plus a bit as I have usual tyre pump and extra bits that we tend to add.
What I did like with the sbv ones were the apparent quality, and the tool design to make components lighter and multi use.

I spent some time looking at that earlier, which led me to the following.

https://www.madornomad.com/sbv-adventure-motorcycle-tool-kit-review/

Site Includes good advice about putting together you own tool kit
https://www.madornomad.com/adventure-bike-tool-kit/

Anyway looks like we don't need to concern our self with buying from source as not much of an option at present.

I do appreciate your efforts though to bring value to the masses. :D
 
The Belgian feckers don't ship to the UK? That's an outrage and the last time we rescue them in a war! I shall at once pour all my Belgian beers down my neck, by way of protest.
 


Back
Top Bottom