Best bike tool kits 2022 | Top-rated choices for the home mechanic

A bike tool kit is a great choice if you’re just getting into cycling or you’re looking for a more comprehensive set of tools for the car or garage.

Many people build up their collection of bike tools over time, but a specialist tool kit is an easy and often more affordable way to get all the tools you need for virtually any bike maintenance, from changing a cassette to installing new brake cables.

Take a look at the best bike tool kits that we have tried and tested below, and our guide to some of the essential tools a kit should include.

Essential tools for a bike tool kit

Many modern bikes might seem more complicated than bikes of years gone by, but at their core, they are still relatively simple to work on and use the same selection of tools for most maintenance.

In addition to your basic pump, tyre levers and puncture repair kit, these are the essential bike-specific tools any home mechanic’s tool kit should include and will cover some of the most straightforward jobs on a bike.

Allen/hex keys

A multi-tool is great for on-the-road repairs and adjustments but try to have a good set of Allen/hex keys in your toolbox.

A decent T-handle set with a ball end on the long side is a good place to start – this allows you access to awkward bolts with reduced risk of rounding.

Torque wrench

Torque wrenches are available cheaply and you can get very compact bike-specific ones. The bonus to using them is that you avoid over-tightening anything, which can affect your warranty on – or simply break –  parts you regularly tighten, such as the frame, fork or handlebar.

Just remember to undo the torque adjuster before throwing it back in the box.

Pedal spanner

A proper pedal spanner will give you a better chance of leveraging off pedals, especially if they haven’t been removed in a long time. A good pedal spanner is usually flatter and thinner than a regular spanner, which you may struggle to get between the pedal and crank arm to undo.

Always apply anti-seize compound to the pedal thread before installation to avoid wrestling with your pedals in the future. Check out our comprehensive guide on how to remove and change bike pedals for more info.

Chain breaker tool

A chain breaker tool is an essential bit of kit you should get familiar with using properly.

Use it to repair stiff links and to take your chain off for serious cleaning and so prolong the life of your chain and parts. You can even use it to take out a link and put a speed-link in to make removal/cleaning even easier.

Chain whip and cassette lockring tool

A chain whip holds the cassette in place and stops the freehub from spinning when removing the lockring of a cassette. It is also used to remove the cog from a fixed-wheel bike.

A good chain whip will have a decent length handle that will help you gain some mechanical leverage and make light work of removing a lockring.

Check that the chain whip is compatible with the width of the chain that you run on your bike. For instance, is it suitable for 11-speed chains?

You will also need a splined cassette lockring tool if you want to remove your cassette for replacement or cleaning. SRAM, Campagnolo and Shimano all use different standards for these.

Bottom bracket tool

A bottom bracket (BB) tool helps you remove or install a bottom bracket into the bottom bracket shell of a bike.

There is a wide variety of BB tools available due to the numerous bottom bracket standards out there and the different ways of installing and removing a bottom bracket, so making sure you have the right tool for the bottom bracket on your bike is a must.

Shimano Hollowtech II is arguably the gold standard with many brands opting to use it for external bearing and threaded bottom brackets. Shimano Hollwtech II tools also fit a wide variety of BBs from different brands and often work with adaptors for other standards.

Best bike tool kits in 2022

• PRO Advanced Toolbox
• Birzman Essential tool box
• LifeLine X-Tools Bike Tool Kit 37-piece
• Topeak Prepbox tool kit

Best bike tool kits

PRO Advanced Toolbox

• £200 / $290 / AU$453 as tested
• Quality feeling tools
• Needs to be topped up to be comprehensive

The PRO Advanced Toolbox has 25 tools that are well-made, a decent weight and feel like they’ll endure the test of time, as you’d expect of PRO (Shimano’s in-house parts brand).

Rubberised handles give great grip and enhance usability. The Allen keys have a precise fit and both the cassette tool and chain tool are 12-speed compatible. Quick-link pliers are a handy addition to the set.

The custom-cut foam inlay keeps the tools firmly in place, while the metal clasps on the carry case are robust and secure.

Ideally, it’d include a complete Torx set (it has T20, T25 and T30 wrenches) and a 1.5mm Allen key. If we’re being really picky, a flat-blade screwdriver would be nice too, but overall, there’s little to criticise with this excellent kit.

• Read our review of the PRO Advanced Toolbox

Birzman Essential Tool Box

• £150 / $178 as tested
• Professional-looking kit
• Pricey

The Birzman Essential Tool Kit is a professional-looking kit, with each of the tools stowed in a labelled foam pocket within the hard plastic case.

Thirteen ‘pieces’ are provided (20+ tools), covering most of what’s required to build a bike. The chain and pedal wrenches are long enough to unstick seized parts. Notches on the Allen keys are useful for checking they’re inserted far enough.

Adaptors are provided so you can use the cassette and bottom bracket tools with the 8mm Allen key, avoiding the need to add an adjustable spanner.

We’d downsize the chain rivet extractor and add a pair of cable cutters.

LifeLine X-Tools Bike Tool Kit 37-piece

• £70 / €79 / $104 / AU$145 as tested
• Wide selection of good quality tools
• Some tools that won’t get a lot of use

The tools in the LifeLine X-Tools all have a quality feel that exceeds this kit’s budget price.

We particularly like the Allen keys, which fitted nice and tightly in every bolt we tried. The cassette tool can be used with SRAM XD cassettes, and the chain whip and chain tool are 12-speed compatible too, with the latter working especially well.

The dedicated ¼in bit driver makes the kit ripe for expanding in the future, as your mechanic’s skills grow.

The case feels fairly low-quality and the contents rattle in it when it’s carried. This kit includes an internal BB tool and crank puller, which aren’t that useful for modern bikes. It’s a shame there isn’t a full set of Torx keys, only T25 and T30.

• Read our review of the LifeLine X-Tools Bike Tool Kit 37-piece

Topeak Prepbox toolbox

• £320 / €320 / $400 / AU$600 as tested
• 36 usable, good quality tools
• High price

The Topeak Prepbox has 36 tools and is fairly comprehensive. The tools feel weighty and high-quality.

The long Allen keys are easy to use, and the inclusion of the 1.5mm size is a bonus. It’s great to see a torque wrench included too, and we found the chain tool particularly good for helping to free sticky links.

The case is sturdy, with foam cut-outs for each tool and zipped covers. During transit, there was no rattling and the tools remained in place.

While the cable cutters are sharp, they don’t have the smoothest action. The cassette tool’s chamfered edges mean it doesn’t engage that securely with SRAM XD 11- and 12-speed cassettes.

A couple of the tools – the internal BB tool and crank puller – are virtually redundant now and could be replaced.

• Read our review of the Topeak Prepbox toolbox

Related reading

• 6 everyday bike hacks every rider should know
• How to clean your bike in 7 simple steps
• How to pump up a bike tyre | everything you need to know about pumps, valves, pressure and more
• Make sure your bike is safe to ride with the M check

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Also consider

The following tool kits scored lower than the four out of five stars required to make our best list, but are still worth considering.

Halfords Bikehut 30pc Bike Tool Kit

• £60 (international pricing N/A) as tested
• Plenty of tools covering most jobs
• Solid performer but could do with some improvements

The Halfords Bikehut 30pc Bike Tool Kit is a solid performer and should complement the budding mechanic with a host of bike-specific tools that serve well as a segue into more technical tasks.

The rubberised handles on the larger tools are comfortable to hold. The 8mm Allen key proved useful and doubles up as a ½in driver for other tools in the kit, but the driver can easily slip off. We found the quick-link pliers worked well and the tyre levers feel robust.

The Allen keys are short, so they only offer limited leverage for loosening tight bolts.

We found the combined pedal spanner/chain whip frustrating to use as a spanner because the chain contacts your hands, and the whip is a tight fit with 12-speed cassettes.

During transportation, the tools all remained in place, helped by the central foam separator, but they did rattle around. The plastic carry case is durable and locks closed with metal clasps.

• Read our review of the Halfords Bikehut 30pc Bike Tool Kit

Halfords Essentials 25-piece cycling tool kit

• £35 (international pricing N/A) as tested
• Wide range of tools
• Large size tools

The Halfords Essentials Tool Kit is an 18-piece kit that combines a large number of tools (Allen key sets, etc, are counted as single ‘pieces’) in a sensibly priced package.

There’s no T25 Torx wrench, though, which is widely used on modern mountain bikes.

The chain whip, 8mm Allen key and external bottom bracket tool have very long handles, which help when trying to loosen seized bolts. Angled jaws on the equally large pedal spanner reduce the risk of skinned knuckles.

Lower manufacturing tolerances mean the tools don’t have the same high-quality, durable feel as some of the others on test, and removing and replacing tools in the plastic box is fiddly.

Lezyne Port-A-Shop

• £110 / $120 as tested
• Allen and Torx wrenches
• Glueless patches

The Port-A-Shop from Lezyne is more of a (well-presented) multi-tool expansion kit than the portable workshop its name suggests.

However, it provides a range of tools that should cover most car park bike-tinkering needs. The bulk of them are contained within three high-quality multi-tools.

There’s a wide range of Allen and Torx wrenches, and the inclusion of traditional and glueless patch kits is a nice touch. A separate spoke key would be easier to use than the one integrated into the chain tool.

The range of tools falls short of other kits here if you’re looking to fully assemble a bike.

Pedro’s Starter Tool Kit

• £170 / $150 / AU$200 as tested
• Tool wrap case
• Some extra tools needed

Presented in a durable-feeling tool wrap, this selection of 19 high-quality tools is a good starting point for the home mechanic to expand upon.

Pedro’s ‘cog wrench’ is a hassle-free alternative to a chain whip, with a great handlebar-grip-style handle. The cable cutters are another highlight, slicing through both inners and outers easily.

You’ll need an adjustable spanner (not included, but there is room for one) to make use of some of the tools.

At this price, we’d expect common bike tools such as a T25 Torx wrench and bottom bracket tool to be included.