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Emily Dickinson's Out Of Hand BMX Toolkit: Part II
by emilydickinson | 18 Mar 2006 1:16 am
[This article is actually a chapter from my forthcoming book, 'The Complete Guide To BMX Repair and Engineering. The book is complete, and I'm having it proofread by a few people in the know to check for accuracy, which is becoming a much longer, more difficult process than I expected. It should hopefully be available through Brick City Bikes before the Summer. Enjoy. EmilyDickinson - Gangster Mechanic at Brick City Bikes]
Part I: Measuring Tools
Emily Dickinson's Out Of Hand BMX Toolkit
Part II: Bike Specific Tools
Because of the way BMX bikes are designed and built, there are quite a few parts and operation that can only be dispensed with tools made specifically for those jobs. The tools in the next section are each made for a specific job, and unlike standard tools, can’t be used for anything else. This is both an advantage and disadvantage It is advantageous because since they only do one thing, they tend to do it well. This is a disadvantage because these group of tools are expensive and are required to work on their corresponding part. Basically, there is no way around owning these tools if you want to work on your BMX. The repairs these tools are used for are the ones I see people screw up the most because they try to use the incorrect tool for the job and end up with mangled parts and bloody knuckles.
10. Chainwhip
At first glance, the novice mechanic may feel he has become Simon Belmont and transported to the land of ‘Castlevania’, but more than likely he/she is attempting to perform some maintenance on a rear hub. By wrapping the small piece of chain on a chainwhip around the cog on a rear hub, you can hold the cog steady as you loosen or tighten the lock ring or work on the driver. A chainwhip will let you get a solid grip on the cog and you can use enough force on the lcokring to actually move the notoriously stubborn part. On the opposite end of the chainwhip is a hexagonal shaped hole, which is made to fit the top side of a freewheel remover. You place the freewheel remover into the freewheel, then place the opening on the chainwhip over the freewheel remover and start pushing to get the freewheel on or off. The handle of the chainwhip will give you all the leverage you need to get the freewheel loose or secure, no matter how long it has been on the hub. In really desperate cases, you can hit the end of the chainwhip with a mallet to get the freewheel loose. Sooner or later, you are going to snap the chain on the chainwhip. When this happens, just replace it with a spare bit of chain you have nagging around, there is no special ‘chainwhip chain’.
11. Chainbreaker
I think there are more ghetto ways to remove a chain than any other BMX repair there is, and I’ve seen everything from 10-Penny nails to chisels and butane torches. They’re all wrong, and they all end up messing up the chain, sometimes insidiously enough so the chain snaps just as your trying to hit a 10 stair rail in front of a cute Indian girl (not that’s ever happened to me…). Your chain takes quite a bit off terrorizing when you’re riding, so it’s a good idea to use a chainbreaker. There are quite a few types of chainbreakers available, for BMX repairs any of the screw type models is your best bet because you can put the most pressure on the chain without destroying it or the tool. BMX chains come in 3 sizes: 1/8”, 3/32” and 3/8”, and chainbreakers come in two sizes. A smaller size chainbreaer will work on a 1/8” and 3/32” chains, and the larger sized chainbreakers will work on 1/8” and 3/8” (‘fat’) chains. Just about all chainbreakers have a loosening shelf for breaking in stiff links, and replaceable pins. I suggest getting a few extra pins when you buy your tool, because the pins do snap, they can be hard to find, and it’s frustrating to have a busted tool when your trying to do a repair and ride. For the most part, I don’t recommend specific brands and models of tools, but here I have to recommend the Park CT-7 chain tool, for a very specific reason: this is only chain tool that will open the absurd Shadow Interlok chain, and other half link chains. I have broken just about every chain tool you can buy trying to open up the Shadow chain, and the CT-7 is the only one that will do it (the Shadow Chain is useless and I’ve written quite a bit about it in other articles so I’ll leave it at that). If you insist on running a half link chain, this is the tool you must use. My advice here: buy a chainbreaker, and learn to use it. They’re cheap, simple to use and prevent a hell of a lot of aggravation.
12. ISIS Bottom Bracket Tool
ISIS (International Splined Interface Standard) is a set of specific measurements used on certain bottom brackets, and it refers to the size and pattern of the splines in the bottom bracket. ISIS hasn’t caught on much in BMX, but if you are a racer or run any version of the Truvativ cranks or Gigapipe bottom bracket you need one of these. This tool mates with the threads in the bottom bracket and allows you spin it in and out of the shell. This is a necessity if you run these parts, because there is no other way to disassemble your bottom bracket without mangling the threads.
13.Spoke Wrenches
Keeping your spokes tight makes your wheels last longer, feel better and work more efficiently. These facts being true, it astonishes me how many riders don’t own a spoke wrench or know how to use one. Wheels are definitely the source of a lot of ‘voodoo engineering’ in the bike world, but keeping your wheels tight and true is simpler than it seems, and is a skill worth learning. Spoke nipples are made of brass, or soft aluminum, so using a pliers or adjustable wrench will round out the nipples faster than Kate Moss bangs out rails in a recording session. If you look closely, spoke nipples have strangely shaped flats in an odd size, so a spoke wrench is the only tool that will give you a solid, tight grip. Spoke nipples also come in quite a few sizes, but there are 4 types you’ll find on a BMX bike: .127”, .136”, .130” and .12 gauge. Spoke wrenches that are made for one specific size tend to be the best quality, and easiest to use because of their shape, they are thinner and easier to manipulate in the tight space between spokes. The padding on their handles also makes a huge difference by the time you get to spoke 52 or so. Spoke wrenches that fit multiple size nipples are handy because you’re prepared to deal with more situations, and help your crew out, but because they are larger can sometimes be difficult to get in between the tight space between spokes on the wheel. You can always trim down the multiple opening spoke wrenches to make them smaller if you are having a tough time turning the wrench because of space issues. The round, 8 opening spoke wrenches can come in pretty handy because they fit just about any spoke size you may stumble across, and if you need to deal with a stripped or rounded nipple, you may be able to use one of the smaller sizes to get a grip. The round spoke wrenches are fairly large, so if you’re running 48’s you may have a hard time manipulating the wrench. Campagnolo is the originator of the round, 8 hole spoke wrench, and their version is beautifully machined, but insanely expensive. Copies of the round Campy wrench can be found for as little as $1-2 (USD), so for that price it’s a useful addition to your BMX toolkit. Ideally, you should have one fancy, single size spoke wrench that fits the spokes on your wheels, and another of the multi-sized wrenches to deal with stripped nipples and help out your riding friends.
14. Pin Spanner
A Pin Spanner is a funky looking wrench that that works by inserting the two tabs at either end of the wrench into mating holes, and then turning the wrench. They are differentiated by color, and each color corresponds to the distance between the two pins. Red is the most common pin spanner needed when working on a BMX. Some 1 piece cranks have dustcovers or lockrings with two small holes that require a pin spanner to install or remove them. Some freewheels and cassettes also require a spinner to open them up to get at their innards. Parts that require using a pin spanner are very common on older bikes, especially early freestyle bikes. Most modern bikes don’t require a pin spanner at all, and they are slowly becoming obsolete in the BMX world, but haven’t gone the way of forkilfters yet.
15.Freewheel Remover
Every rider with a fair amount of riding time under their belt has fought at least one epic freewheel battle. You know the scenario: on the floor, sweating, angrily wielding a hammer in one hand, and a greasy screwdriver in the other, cursing as you try to get the mangled freewheel off of your hub. Introducing a freewheel remover into the above scenario would almost seem like a cruel joke, because it makes the process so simple. A freewheel remover is a round piece of metal, with several prongs (depending on the size freewheel) that sit into matching indentations on the freewheel that allows you to thread the freewheel on and off a hub. Freewheel removers come in quite a few different configurations, and which remover you need depends on your freewheels size and manufacturer. Most BMX freewheels use either a 2 or 4 prong remover depending on the brand of freewheel, and come in several sizes measured by the number of teeth on the freewheel. Removers will usually work on a few sizes of freewheel, for example the same remover will work on a 14 or 15 tooth freewheel, but you will need a larger remover for a larger freewheel (one that will work on a 16/17/18 tooth freewheel). 13 tooth freewheels are fairly new to the game, and they require a specific remover that is smaller than others for larger freewheels and will only fit a 13 tooth model. Removers are available with handles, or without. I find that the removers without handles are a bit more versatile, and if you have a terribly stuck freewheel you can place this type of remover in a bench vice, place the freewheel into the remover, and turn the wheel like you’re steering a bus, which is almost guaranteed to get the freewheel off. The hexagonal cut out on the top of a handless freewheel remover will sit inside the end of a chainwhip, acting like a handle, which can be used for leverage. The threads on a hub can be fragile, so it’s best to do the first few turns by hand when installing a freewheel, after you have checked that you are sure you know the orientation of the threads, so you don’t cross thread the two pieces and get yourself into real trouble. In an ideal world, every time you purchase a freewheel, the tool would come packaged with it, but until that happens a freewheel tool is an essential purchase. Can you take off a freewheel with a screwdriver and a hammer? Sure. Is it worth the years taken off your life through aggravation and the screwdriver gauges in your palms? That’s a decision only you can make.
16.Chainring Bolt Spanner
At one point in the life span of BMX, all chainrings were connected to the driveside crank arms, with 5 or so funny looking slotted nuts which needed to be held stationary, while you drove a bolt through the chainring and the ‘spider’. A chainring bolt spanner is a small, slotted wrench with an angled head, used to hold the chainring bolts stationary. Cranks and chainrings have changed quite a bit since then, so this type of setup is less prevalent. If you are a racer, especially one who noodles around with different gearing setups, this wrench will save you a lot of time, neck cramps and searches for dropped bolts. Some freestyle bikes also use these bolts, but they are less common that the mushroom hex head most riders’ use. You may not find yourself reaching for this tool all that often, but if the need arises you’ll be glad you have it because it makes swapping chainrings much more efficient.
17.C-Spanner (Hook Wrench/Lockring Wrench)
What you call this tool depends solely on your geographic location; if you live in England it’s C-Spanner, if you live on the West Coast of the U.S. you call it a Hook Wrench and if you live in New York City it’s a Bottom Bracket Wrench. If you’re like most people, you don’t call it anything and just use a screwdriver and a big rock instead. Most one piece cranks, and many bikes with U.S. bottom bracket have a notched lockring on one side, that puts tension on the bearings and hold the whole mess together. The C-Spanner has two semi circular openings on either end with small notches in different places. After placing the C-Spanner over the lockring, you will quickly know which of the openings is the correct one, because the notches will line up and should fit very, very snugly. Once the wrench is in place, it can be very difficult to actually turn the wrench and have the lockring actually move, because they are on extremely tight. It may take more force to get the lockring to move than any other part on your bike. To make it more fun, some lockrings are also reverse threaded, so you may just be making it tighter! If the lockring won’t budge, and you are certain you know the correct direction to turn it, hold the C-Spanner as steady as possible, lines up in the notches, and hit the point furthest away from the bike with a mallet. Since this is a long tool, the leverage combined with the force of the mallet will usually budge it. If you happen to be working on an older BMX (I’m sorry ‘Classic’ or ‘Collectible’ BMX…), you may find a notched fixed cup on the non-drive side of the bottom bracket, which a C-Spanner is also the correct tool for. There are a few BMX bikes floating around that have notched lockrings on the headset which require a C-spanner to remove so you can make adjustments. I would also imagine those bikes may have a sidehack and bananna seat. I realize that I am well known as a curmudgeon who harps on people using ghetto methods and incorrect tools to fix their bikes, but I warn you to take special care when a job calls for a C-Spanner. Because of the odd shape, relatively small notches and tremendous force involved with parts that require a C-Spanner, it is nearly impossible to get them off any other way without trashing the part and getting bloody knuckles. Don’t email me and say you stripped the lockring with a screwdriver, because I will just roll a blunt and laugh at you.
18. Fixed Cup and Pin Spanner
Much like a She-Male, the Fixed Cup and Pin Spinner is two very different items that are joined together in an unharmonious marriage. The Fixed Cup side of the tool will wrap around the fixed cup found on many ‘Old School’ bikes, and some cheap bikes with one-piece cranks. The square type of fixed cup, and fixed cups in general, are becoming very rare on BMX bikes, but I have decided to include this tool because if you run into one, and attempt to use vice grips or an adjustable wrench to take the cup out, much like having ‘Just One Beer’, it ain’t gonna’ happen. The Pin Spanner side of this tool can be used to remove the dustcover and lockring on some non-standard one piece bottom brackets.
19.Crank Puller
A crank puller, or a ‘crank yanker’ (insert heart laugh here) is used to remove the crank arms from the bottom bracket spindle. This tool has a set of threads on a cylinder with large wrench flats on one end, and comes either with or without a handle, and in different thread pitches for different cranks. The versions with the handle are easier to use, but many cranks have this tool included, but it usually the non-handle type, but this is also quite serviceable. A crank puller is only necessary for cranks with threaded arms. In short, if your cranks have pinch bolts you don’t need a crank puller, and if they do not have pinch bolts a crank puller is necessary. This is a very simple tool to use, but has enormous potential for causing damage to you cranks if you use it incorrectly. After removing the crank bolts, grease the threads inside your cranks arms and slowly thread the remover inside as far as it will go. Make sure the remover goes in straight, and also be sure to thread it all the way in. If you fail to do either of these things, there’s a good shot you may strip, cross-thread or mangle the inside of your arms. This will destroy your fancy crank arm, and when you try to warranty it, the company will know exactly what you did in about 4 seconds. Once you’re certain the extractor is in correctly, hold the crank arm steady, and turn it the opposite way using the handle or an adjustable wrench on the wrench flats. After two or three turns, the cranks arms should slide right off.
20. Crank Bolt Wrenches
A crank bolt wrench is a wrench with a very thin walled opening that protrudes from the handle at a 90 degree angle. The wrench is set up this way so that it can fit inside a crank arm and be thin enough to grasp the bolt that secure the arms to the spindle. If your cranks bolts are not the hex head type, then this is the tool you need because most ratchets are too thick to fit inside a crank arm. This tool has a great secondary use. It is the perfect size for adjusting top cap bolts on your headset. Adjusting a top cap bolt to the exact tension is a pretty black art. It seems that it takes forever to get the bolt to the correct tension; it’s always 1/8 turn too tight or too loose, leaving your forks like a merry-go-round or a lazy susan. By using a crank bolt wrench, as opposed to a socket or a monkey wrench, you can get a super secure fit on all sides of the bolt, and have a good ‘feel’ while you’re adjusting it, because there is no ‘ratcheting’ action to get in the way. This picture is also a good place to make a bit of a show about tool quality for comparison’s sake. The wrench on top if the fancy Campy version, and the one at the bottom is the utilitarian version by Park.
21. Cone Wrenches
Cone wrenches are very thin wrenches with a deep, square opening that ser designed to fit around the axle cones on your wheels. Most normal wrenches are too thick, and have the wrong shaped opening to grasp a cone correctly, and trying to use anything but a cone wrench to make thee adjustments is a nightmare. Having properly adjusted cones is what makes your wheels spin smoothly. If the cones are too tight the wheels barely spin and your bearings get wrecked. If your cones are too loose, then your wheels will wobble and the bearings will shift around. Cone wrenches come in various sized from 13-22mm, and they are used in pairs. Whatever size cones you have on your wheels, get two of that sized cone wrench. One wrench is used to hold the cone steady, and the other is used to turn the opposite cone and make the adjustment. In this picture the blue handled wrench is a ‘shop quality’ cone wrench, which has a nice padded handle and is incredibly strong. The silver, double ended cone wrench is a ‘consumer quality’ model, and they tend to bend and get misshapen jaws pretty quickly. Since you really only need to own the two cone wrenches that fit your bike, I recommend shelling out the extra few bucks and getting the good ones. I won’t lie and say you can’t use an adjustable wrench, but it is pretty difficult to find one thin enough to get in the narrow space on the axle, and they are prone to slipping, making a fine adjustment, which is what you need here, a real chore.
22.Headset Wrenches
Headset wrenches come in a few sized 30mm, 32mm and 36mm. A headset wrench is used to make the adjustments on a threaded headset, which are very nearly extinct on BMX bikes. If you are riding an older bike, or an inexpensive bike, that has several very large nuts underneath the stem, than you need two headset wrenches to loosen, tighten and adjust your headset. I’ve included headset wrenches out of respect for the old school crowd and for the sake of being thorough. If you are on a ‘modern’ bike, you probably don’t need one in your toolbox. The one exception is id you are running a Euro bottom bracket. A 32 mm headset wrench is the perfect size and shape to fit the wrench flats on a Euro cup, so it can actually be quite useful in this instance. The shape of the wrench flats on the euro make it difficult to get a flush fit with an adjustable wrench, so a headset wrench is the perfect thing.
23.Pedal Wrench
A pedal wrench is long (for leverage), thin (to fit between the pedal and crank arm) and available in two sizes 9/16” and ½”. Pedals that fit one piece cranks use a ½” pedal wrench, and pedals that fit three piece cranks use a 9/16” pedal wrench. The opening on a pedal wrench is rectangular to get a solid fit on the pedal flats. When shopping for a pedal wrench, buy the longest one you can find. Because of all the huge loads your pedals take during hard landings, they can be a nightmare to get off the cranks, so the longer the wrench, the easier it will be. It makes a huge difference. When installing pedals, remember they are reverse threaded. If you turn them the wrong way, and start to tighten them, you will cross thread them ruining both the pedal and the crank arm. Avoid those dinky 3”-4” ‘toolkit’ pedal wrenches that every bike shop sells. There is absolutely no way you are getting a BMX pedal off with one of those. The top picture here is a combination 32mm headset wrench and 9/16” pedal wrench, which is a good combo to own if you have a euro bottom bracket. The next picture us the classic, and in my eyes the best pedal wrench, the Park ‘battle axle’. It is huge with a large handle that can break even the most stubborn pedal. Also, if I were to pick one bike mechanic’s tool as a self defense weapon for melee combat, the ‘Battle Axe’ pedal wrench would be it.
24. Cable Cutters
Many riders new to BMX fail to realize that a BMX brake cable actually consists of two parts: the inner wire and the outer housing. Both parts of the cable are very strong, but they are also elastic, which means they are difficult to cut. If you try to use anything but cable cutters to trim your brake cable, you will end up with a frayed, crooked mess, and you’ll never get it through the straddles, knarps or tidied up with cable end. Diagonal cutters that are used to trim wire for r/c cars and such don’t have the strength to cut a brake cable, and using a hammer and a flat head screwdriver is pathetic and will definitely lead to fraying. When you buy a pair of cable cutters, you get a lot of tool. What I mean by this, is you are purchasing a very efficient machine that performs its’ function, cutting cables perfectly clean and straight each time, until you are too old to even ride a bike. A mechanic I know has been using the same set of cable cutters since 1970, a fact he loves to repeat to new mechanics when he’s stressing why it’s worth shelling out for quality tools. A good cable cutter will be able to trim both cable housings and inner wires in conjunction or separately. Riders ask me more questions, and pass along more complaints about brakes than any other part on their bikes, so it’s good to remember that good brakes start with a cable that has been trimmed to the proper length with a clean even cut. A badly trimmed cable is going to unravel and work its’ way loose from whatever is holding it, making your brakes hard to adjust or cause them to stop working at all. In an emergency, you can also use a cable cutter to snip a broken spoke so you can keep riding, they are that strong. If you really want to gain some street cred (or is it shop cred…) among bike mechanics, buy yourself a Felco cable cutter, and wear it on your belt in the cool leather holster they come with. Felco cable cutters have a achieved cult status among seasoned wrenches. They are made by a small company in Switzerland that is mostly known for selling pruning shears, but a Felco cutter is an investment tool that will never let you down.
25. Tire Levers
Since the late 1990’s, BMX tires have become wider and much stronger, with stiff reinforced sidewalls. This is great for riding, but makes getting tires on and off an arm numbing chore. A set of lowly tire levers makes this much easier. Tire levers are meant to be used in sets of three. Place one between the tire and the rim and then use the small hook on the opposite end to attach it to a spoke. Take a second lever, and do the same a few inches farther down the rim. Finally, use the third lever to lift the tire up and over the edge of the rim, then move it around the tire bead until the entire tire is settled neatly in the rim without pinching the tube. There are dozens of different styles of tire levers available, but the best type for BMX are the cheap, wide plastic kind. Never use metal levers. Because of the high level of force needed to get a stiff tire on the rim, if you use a metal lever, there’s a good chance you may end up bending your rim or putting a dent in the sidewall. Tire levers may be the one instance where the cheapest version is also the best. You can expect to break tire levers pretty often, because plastic can only bend so much before it snaps, which is why I stock up whenever I see a sale or hoard them when they are being given away as promotions at races. Tire levers are often overlooked, but help you save time, aggravation and the occasional flat caused by ripping a tube when you’re trying to get the tire on the rim. You would think this would be common sense, but alas, a screwdriver is not a tire lever. The two tools may bear a vague resemblance to one another but one is round with smooth edges, and the other is sharp and pointy which is perfect for getting a flat before you even put air in the tube. If you find yourself minus levers and in need of a tube change, just muscle it on – it’s much better than using a screwdriver.
Check back in a few days for Part III of Emily Dickinson's Out Of Hand BMX Toolkit: Hand Tools
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