Wrenches
Browse used bike wrenches for sale from riders across the UK. This category covers the spanners a bike still needs now that most fasteners take a hex key: 15mm pedal spanners and track nut wrenches, 8, 9 and 10mm combination spanners for cable pinch bolts and rack stays, thin 13-16mm cone spanners for cup-and-cone hub adjustment, and 32mm and 36mm headset spanners for threaded forks. It suits riders servicing hub bearings or working on older bikes, where a hex key is no help at all.
What size spanners do I need for a bike?
Pedals and older track nuts take 15mm, and a pedal spanner is thin and long for exactly that reason. Cable pinch bolts, mudguard and rack hardware run on 8, 9 and 10mm. Cup-and-cone hubs need thin cone spanners — commonly 15mm and 16mm at the rear, 13mm and 14mm at the front — used in pairs against a locknut. Threaded headsets take 32mm or 36mm, and bottom bracket lockrings on older frames need a peg or hook spanner rather than a flat one.
Spanners or allen keys?
Most current bikes moved their fasteners to hex and Torx sockets, so a set of allen keys covers more of the bike than spanners now do. Spanners keep the jobs where the fastener has flats and nothing else fits: pedals, hub cones and locknuts, threaded headsets, brake and derailleur nuts on older parts, and anywhere you need to hold one nut still while turning another.
What should I check on a used spanner?
Hold an open-ended spanner against a bolt of the right size: if the jaws have spread it will rock, and it will round the flats. Check the 15mm end of a pedal spanner for the same wear, since pedals seize and get hit hard. Cone spanners are the ones to inspect closely — thin by design, they end up bent, twisted or burred at the tip and will then no longer slide behind a locknut. On ratchet ring spanners, feel for grit or skipping in the mechanism, and on adjustable spanners for play in the sliding jaw, which is what makes them round fasteners.
How much should I pay for used bike wrenches?
A forged spanner is close to indestructible if it has not been abused, so condition rather than age sets the price, and around half the new figure suits a clean set from Park Tool, Unior or Var. Mixed job-lots of general spanners are often cheaper than one bike-specific tool bought alone, which makes them a sensible way to fill out a set of hand tools. Buy new where the size is critical and cheap: a fresh cone spanner costs little and saves the hub it is adjusting.