so today i was out riding and had to stop at a mechanic shop to borrow a torx star thing to tighten a bolt. the dude there (who's a freidn of brother2) made fun of me because i don't have any tools and stuff. so i was starting to put together tool box, but then it got to be, like, huge and heavy. so my question to you guys is this: what sort of stuff should i put into a tool kit? there used to be a post with a lot of suggestions of what to carry, but I can't find it anywmore. help, again, guys? thanks abs!
I carry the following in my tailbag. The toolkit supplied by Husqvarna. This has the 25mm spanner needed to remove the axles. I used this to tighten both axle nuts, so it should be sufficient to loosten them again. A trail stand which can be used to steady the bike with the front or rear wheel off the ground. A spare 21" tube. A couple of tyre levers. A set of L torx with long handles. A leatherman, or at least a small keyring sized multitool they sell for $5 at the counter of auto stores. Not the best tool, but it has a small pair of pliers which is handy for removing and replacing fuses. Recently added a hand held camping chain saw.
I really like this stuff. http://www.xtremetape.com/ It seals, it stretches, resists heat up to 500F and has crazy tensile strength. You can wrap a cracked radiator/oil hose no problem. Also great on electrical stuff - won't turn gooey and unravel after a year. My fork seals blew on my Honda nighthawk and I wrapped them up tight with this. It's not sticky like regular tape so it slid up and down the fork like the seal would. Saved me until I could get new seals. Also repaired my tach and used this for the seal on the glass under the bezel. It only sticks to itself. Think of it like stretchy flat rope that can seal water/oil and be wrapped tight around something.
I have traveled to 49 states on a bike and have carried the following zip ties as previously mentioned a hose camp electrical tape and a small amount of duct tape or gorilla tape a head flashlight a small kit with torx bits and screw tips also a few small metric sockets small vice grip and needle nose pliers a small compressor and plug kit for tubeless folks a little wd40 can and a small can of chain lube for longer trips a couple latex gloves a few spare bolts and screws there are a couple very small replacement dirt bike screw kits i would always carry a clip on chain link bandaids for me a camera roll plastic case with spare fuses most of this stuff can at least get me to help and the most important tool is a charged cell phone or in alaska i carried a 2 meter hand held ham radio can usually hit a repeater to get help. As it is my profession i carried a pretty intense medical kit this was when i had lots of storage on a vstrom as will ride more locally may cut back a bit. deb
Just a heads up, regular torx bits won't cut it on these TR's. You'll need either the long bits, the L keys, or the screwdriver type with a pair of vise grips to act as a lever. I opted for the later in two sizes, one for the body panels (which wouldn't need much torque) and the other for all of the M6 bolts around the bike (though I forget the torx sizes off the top of my head). There are a number of torx bits that are just recessed too far to reach with a normal torx bit. And there is definitely concern regarding the cover of the countershaft sprocket, oil filter, etc, not being accessible without having about a 3 inches of reach on your torx.
Abby, this is a debate for the ages. Really, it depends on how far you stray from home, and how far away from civilization that you find yourself. Being on the island, I imagine your toolkit can be pretty lightweight. There is a great thread over on ADVrider about this. Perhaps it is the thread you were thinking of. Hundreds of pages of toolkit ideas, for every kind of trip imaginable. http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=262998 While the tools may differ in size, the fundamentals are the same.
I bought this Torx set at a BMW dealer near my home. I didn't even buy it because it was good. We'd just bought a set of luggage at the dealer for my wife's bike, and their workshop had already closed for the day and I didn't have any torx tools on me so needed this to install the gear on her bike, but discovered how well throught out and versatile they were. They are long, the holder stores all of the bits, and if you slide the short end of the bit back into the holder it turns into a handle. I searched the website of "motohansa" and they seem to be a local Australian mob but I can't see this item there anywhere.
I don't own a cell phone. A few tools, some odd parts and fasteners, and some mechanical savvy have served me well for several hundred thousand road miles.
Oh, in re-reading my post, I think my message would have been better served by typing: "Abby, all you need is your cell phone, don't try to fix anything. Call your brother."
