bike wrench

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A place to ask bicycle repair questions, and for bike shop monkeys to share advanced non commercial wrenching resources (no YouTube self promotion). This is only for repair related topics.

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Cone wrenches or a (thin) adjustable wrench? (lemmy.ca)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/bikewrench

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Hey gang. I'm building up my bike repair tool set, and it looks like I'll either need to get a set (or several popularly sized) cone wrenches and/or an adjustable wrench with a thin profile.

I figure an adjustable wrench could help service anything from axles/hubs to headsets, which cone wrenches are limited to the size(s) you've got.

Any advantage/disadvantage of one over the other that I might not realize?

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Tools and fasteners with these thin flats are delicate, because of the high contact pressures resulting from thin wrenches. Exactly the conditions you don’t want to use an adjustable wrench for. Instead, only buy the wrenches for the parts you have, and build out your set over time. Also, I’m not sure I’d trust a normal size adjustable wrench off Amazon, much less a specialty tool like that.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That's good advice. I think I'll measure the parts I have and just order tools one at a time. The sets don't seem to save money anyway, so that's fine.

I'm a fan of adjustable wrenches, but haven't used a thin profile one at all. I think you're probably right about them being less than ideal for this application, but I may just get one for those "what if" situations.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Have you seen the knipex parallel jaw pliers? They’ve completely replaced all but my largest crescent style adjustable: https://www.knipex.com/products/pipe-wrenches-and-water-pump-pliers/pliers-wrenches-pliers-and-a-wrench-in-a-single-tool/pliers-wrenches-pliers-and-wrench-single-tool/8603180

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I've got a small knipex, and love it! I may need to get a larger one like that 😁