Toolboxes
Browse used toolboxes for sale from riders across the UK. This category covers the boxes, cases and rolls that hold a home workshop's spanners, hex keys and chain tools, from cantilever trays and hinged hard cases to rolling cabinets and canvas tool rolls, listed empty or with the tools still in them. It suits anyone building up a home workshop who would rather not pay full price for a stocked kit case.
What kind of toolbox suits bike tools?
Bike tools are awkwardly long, so tray depth and internal length matter more than the number of compartments: a chain whip, a cassette lockring wrench and a 300mm torque wrench will not lie flat in a general household box. Cantilever boxes open into stepped trays and are easiest for a full tool set, a single-tray hinged box is enough for a travel kit, a rolling cabinet suits a fixed workshop, and a canvas tool roll packs into a car for race weekends. Moulded kit cases such as the Park Tool BX-2.2 are cut around one specific tool list, so anything missing leaves an obvious empty slot in the foam.
Do I need a toolbox or a workbench?
A toolbox stores and carries; a bench gives you a surface, somewhere to fit a vice and somewhere to bolt a repair stand. If your tools currently live loose in a drawer and you have no fixed space, start with a box. If you already own the tools and have nowhere to put a wheel down while you work, look at workbenches first and buy storage that fits underneath it afterwards.
What should I check on a used toolbox?
Work the latches and hinges by hand, because thin pressed catches deform and stop holding, and the rivets on a cantilever's linkage wear until the trays sag out of line. Look for rust in the corners and under the tray liners, which is where a damp garage does its damage, and for foam inserts that have soaked up chain oil and gone soft. On a rolling cabinet, check the castor bearings and the telescopic handle for play, and ask for the keys if it locks. On a stocked kit, ask for a photo of every tray so you can see exactly what is missing.
What else do I need alongside a toolbox?
A box keeps tools together, but cassette tools, sockets and chain whips collect filth faster than anything else in a workshop, so degreasing is what keeps them usable. Listings for parts washers and the rest of the workshop accessories section are worth checking at the same time, since collecting several heavy items in one trip is often what makes buying used worthwhile at all.
How much should I pay for a used toolbox?
Price an empty box on its material and mechanism: pressed steel with a working cantilever action holds value, while thin polypropylene with a broken catch is worth very little. On a stocked kit, ignore the case and price the tools one by one, because a bottom bracket tool or a cassette whip has a clear second-hand value and the box is the part thrown in. Buy new when you want foam cut for tools you already own, or when postage on a heavy steel box costs as much as the box.