Our Favorite Bike Shop Tools (Video) + A DIY Bike Pulley System

Whether you’re a home mechanic or a professional bike wrench, you likely have a few tools in your shop that you use more than others, or special items that you’d even put in a “prized possession” category. In our latest YouTube video, Neil walks through several of the tools he uses on a daily basis and asks a couple of us to volunteer tools that we use regularly. Watch it below, then scroll down for some of my personal favorites, and shots of my DIY bike pulley system used for storage.

Aside from the derailleur hanger alignment tool that I recommended for the video, a few of my favorite tools are old ones that I’ve either inherited or I’ve just had for a long while. These include an old rubber mallet, a Topeak Prepstand (complete with a built-in scale), and a few others. Find details below.

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Above from left to right: An old mallet that I seem to use all the time, and a small antique flathead screwdriver that always comes in handy; My Park Tool Allen wrench set that’s now 16 years old; An ultra-handy small pair of wire cutters with a spring-back mechanism. This is perfect for cutting zip ties when cabling (and un-cabling) bikes.

DIY Bike Pulley System

Perhaps my most used and loved “shop tool” is a DIY bike pulley system I rigged up in my self-built workshop, which a few friends affectionately dubbed “The BIKEPACKING.com World Headquarters” aka “ShedLife 5000.” I have three individual pulley systems that are within the vaulted ceiling, each made from parts I got from my local hardware store. Once each bike is hoisted up, the tires are about 7 1/2 feet off the floor, which gets it out of the way, and provides some nice shop decor.

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The system is perfect for me as I’m always reviewing bikes, building bikes, and shuffling stuff around, so I can rotate which bikes are in use and which are in storage. I plan on making better hooks for the saddle and handlebars, but it was built on a shoestring, so it works for now.

There are tons of tutorials on how to make your own DIY bike pulley system, and you can even buy them, but if you have any questions or suggestions, please leave them in the conversation below.

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