Workshop
Browse used workshop tools for sale from riders across the UK. This category covers the kit that lives on a bench rather than in a saddlebag: repair stands, hex and Torx sets, cassette and bottom bracket tools, truing stands and spoke keys, track pumps, and torque wrenches that reach down to the 4-6Nm settings carbon bars and seatposts are specified at. It is aimed at home mechanics building a bench up piece by piece, and at riders who need one specific tool for one specific job.
What tools do I need to service my own bike?
A working bench starts with hex keys from 2-8mm, a T25 driver for rotor bolts, a chain tool, a cassette lockring tool with a chain whip, and a bottom bracket tool matched to the shell standard on your frame. After that the buying order follows the jobs you take on: a repair stand once you want both hands free, calipers and a chain wear gauge if you would rather catch a worn part before it damages the parts around it, and spoke keys and a truing stand if you plan to repair wheels instead of replacing them.
Do workshop tools replace a multi-tool?
They do different jobs. A folding multi-tool is sized to get you home, and its short handles cannot generate the leverage a seized bottom bracket cup or a crank bolt at 50Nm needs. Bench tools have long handles, full-depth splines and a fixed shape that stays square to the fastener, and several workshop jobs — cassette removal, headset cup pressing, facing, bearing extraction — have no folding equivalent at all.
What should I check on used bike tools?
Look at the working end rather than the handle. Hex and Torx bits round off at the tip and will then chew a bolt head instead of turning it, splined cassette and bottom bracket tools lose the crisp shoulders that stop them jumping out under load, and chain whip teeth flatten until they skate over the sprocket. On a repair stand, check that the clamp cam holds a loaded bike, that the jaw rubber has not gone hard and shiny, and that the height collar does not creep. Click-type torque wrenches left stored at full setting drift, and a used one arrives with no calibration history. Track pumps usually need only a head seal, which costs far less than the pump.
How much should I pay for used workshop tools?
Forged steel with no moving parts — cone spanners, chain whips, splined sockets, hex keys from Park Tool, Unior or Var — works the same at fifteen years old as new, and around half the new price is a fair figure for a set in sound condition. Pay less for anything containing a spring, bearing or gauge. Buy new where accuracy is the whole point of the tool: torque wrenches, and chargers and diagnostic leads for electronic groupsets, where a damaged cable is not visible from outside.
Which workshop tools are worth buying secondhand first?
Single-job tools make the strongest case. A crown race setter, a headset press, a freehub bearing extractor or a bottom bracket socket for a standard you happen to run will each see an hour of use in their life, so previous ownership costs you nothing. These also appear cheaply when a seller changes to a frame with different standards and the tool no longer fits anything they own.