Tools and maintenance

Topeak Prep Box

Cycling tool kit packed with everything you would reasonably need for DIY bike maintenance

A bad workman might blame his tools, but if your toolkit is as nice as Topeak’s Prep Box all you can do when things go wrong is sit down and despair at your own mechanical ineptitude.

Anyone who owns a bike should really have the minimum of tools on hand to get the thing going again should something go wrong, but as anyone who’s ever rounded out an allen key will tell you, not all tools are created equal.

So if you’re serious about bikes, it makes sense to ditch the £5 multi tool you use for everything and invest in something a bit fancier, sturdier and that comes complete with pretty much everything you could need for any maintenance that isn’t super niche (like head tube facing, for instance).

Beam-type torque wrenches are simple to use and rely on deflection to measure torque

A bad workman blames his tools, but if your toolkit’s as nice as this all you can do when things go wrong is despair at your own failings

If anything, Topeak have taken things one step further with their Prep Box, not only providing a selection of 36 tools that’ll sort you out in almost any situation but putting them all in a pretty awesome box, too.

Inside, you’ll find 1.5-8mm allen keys, T7-T30 torx keys, a chain tool, chain whip, chain wear indicator, a screwdriver with four attachments, four spoke wrenches, cable cutters, tyre levers, lockring tools, long handle wrench and bottom bracket tools.

Price: £269.99
Website: Topeak
UK distributor: Extra-UK

Off the top of our heads, we can’t think of anything you’d commonly need that isn’t catered for meaning, although the Prep Box is a bit of an investment, it might be the only one you’ll need to make.

Added to that, it all packs neatly into a box that weighs just 4.8kg when full, so you’re practically a walking neutral service vehicle should you decided to take your moped down to the local Sunday morning 10 and follow some of the riders, just for fun.

Seriously, though, if you have space constraints there are few things better than a packable tool kit, and one like this with a specific space for each tool is really useful because toolboxes tend to become a little anarchic without them.