Park tools review

[Delbs]

Hey i just purchased the Professional Tool Kit PK-63 tool kit, Ive got a few Park tool bits and pieces but wanted to have a full setup. Wanted to know if anyone else has setup their home shed with a kit like this and what their opinion / reviews of it were?

http://www.parktool.com/product/p/professional-tool-kit-pk-63

Once mine arrives and i have it all setup i can post a review with photos on here. Just thought id check if anyone else has one also

 

[shakes]

have worked in a shop that was basically a park tool catalogue.

Only one word needed - Awesome

/end thread

 

[John U]

Purchased the PK-63 a few years back. It's an awesome toolkit. All the tools needed for everything I need to do and more. It has pushed my bike tooling ability. The only things I won't be doing with it will be suspension servicing. I may get to that one day but not for now.

I purchased a wheel building stand to complement it (TS-2 I think). Haven't got around to using it yet.

All the basic tools you need to build and maintain a bike. A great investment.

 

[Alo661]

Only 2 problems we've had with park (5 years in the same shop) have been recently.

Red spoke key, didn't fit any nipple size, was too small for the regular ones. Not sure if it was a problem with a batch of them or just one.

Cutters broke after 3 cuts of cable.

Both got warrantied, took the normal time (1-1.5 weeks) for new ones to be sent.

If you don't already have a AWS-10, get one. So handy to have and they last ages.

Do love my new Park pump as well.

 

[steve24]

I have a few of their tools and recently bought a scale on line (CRC) that did not work.
I emailed them to check i had not missed some small switch etc and they basicaly said send us your address and we will send off a new one.

Awesome service!

 

[SuperSix]

Intended to buy a cable cutter once, but the Park Tool price was ridiculous!

Gunzee found similar cable cutter for $15, haggled like it was made in China, and paid $10 for it... AWESOME !!! Nearly 2000 cables cut (and I mean 8mm copper cables) and it's still sharp as new.

The Park Tool Torque wrench is a mandatory tool to have. They're indispensable.

 

[Cycle Technic]

For the most part, if you go for a Park Tool it'll perform well and last well. A couple of exceptions are the cable cutters (as mentioned above), go for the Pedro's, Jagwire or Felco C7 cutters instead, the Park ones will make good spoke cutters after they cut the 50 or so cables they're good for.

The long-handled hex keys will frustrate you eventually, can be hard to fit into small spaces, and it's harder to gauge torque with the longer handles. Get a quality Bondhus set, or a Pedro's set of standard ball-end keys.

Their hammer is... low quality. If the head starts to come loose, stop using it and get a proper ball-pein (engineer's) hammer and a soft-headed hammer separately.

The thing to remember is - while Park manufacture most of their own bike-specific tools (eg headset presses, cone spanners etc) they also sell a lot of "normal" tools like allen keys, spanners, screwdrivers etc. These are typically made by third parties and Parkified with blue plastic. There's no point buying a 3 million dollar spanner-making machine when you can rebadge a Kincrome set for $18 and sell it for $40.

Speaking of which, that kit doesn't look like it includes metric spanners... Getting a boxed spanner/socket/driver kit for $100-$200 is a good value investment to cover that deficiency.

Charlie

 

[user name]

The set looks very good but im not too sure about the lack of ring spanners. If your planning on working on any nut/bolts of value or importance id be picking up a decent sidchrome spanner set.

 

[top_oz_bloke]

I find the Park Tools reputation to be interesting.

People always mention how awesome they are but in comparison to my auto tools I would rate then around the same as Sidchrome, Kinchrome, Repco etc. ie good but nothing special

Maybe it is a reflection of there being plenty of bottom end bike tools and nothing at the top end.

 

[Delbs]

Park tool review

cheers for the reply everyone, i seem to be thinking along the same lines as everyone i guess. Over the years i have already accrued sidchrome socket sets and open ring / closed ratchet sets + screw drivers and a drill etc. So since i already have a few handy tools i just wanted to get a few bike specific sets.
Since Park tools tend to be more expensive when you buy individually i thought id get a kit.

After sourcing a place in Melb called Cecil cycles they said they would match CRC!!! and incl free freight.. i was like wtf!!! lol. I was about to put an order in for the whole kit from CRC then realised i may be hit with an import tax. So i sourced a few places that sell Park tool in Aussie and they have it on their site for $2465 but mention they haven't updated that part of the site for a while. But when they said they have free freight and would beat CRC's price i was cheering.

Going to be setting up my Grip sport workshop stand n park tools with the new bench i setup cant wait to have my own workshop. Oh yeah i got a PT true stand also so yeah i can nearly do everything except suspension rebuilds. that's for now though lol more additions coming

thanks for your responses