jiangshi

Hair spray for attaching grips.

randyjawa 

Home made cotter pin press...


Two x Four lumber for frame work...


Big bolt for fixed cup removal/installation...


Alloy polishing wheel home made...


Home made truing stand and dishing tool...


Aluminum foil for polishing races and cleaning off chrome plating...

canklecat

Cotton swabs with hollow plastic stems. Great for making liners that thread through metal cable guides on bottom brackets and seat clusters, to prevent metal on metal abrasion. Slicks up the feel of shifting and braking. I tried that when I couldn't find any cable liner locally. Works fine.

elcraft

I too, have a home made Cotterpin press. But as I am a goldsmith, I have a vast assortment of rotary tools, particularly burs. I really like Cut-off silicon carbide discs for trimming cut cable housing ends. I have at least five professional grade flexible shaft machines with expensive quick release handpieces, that speed up tool bit changes, too. While most people can get by with a Dremel style tool, I have so many more options on rotary tools than most people. I am also fan of larger tweezers for placing or retrieving ball bearings. I have assorted grinding wheels for thinning or modifying tools for specific jobs, e.g., thinning a cone wrench for adjusting Huret pulley cones. I have altered cone wrenches for Sturmey Archer projects, as well.

Mad Honk 

I buy aerosol carburetor and brake cleaner by the case. I use it to remove grips both on golf clubs and bikes. I dries clean and within less than a minute so the grips can be reused easily and quickly. It can also be used to lubricate during a grip install. Not something most keep in the tool box. Smiles, MH

Prowler 

I had trouble with steel tweezers being slightly magnetic and not releasing the balls. In my pile of "interesting materials" is a bit of scrap bamboo flooring. I've made 2 or 3 bamboo tweezers. Work great and do not get magnetized.

On the other hand I have a bit of rubber refrigerator magnet. Way too weak to magnetize anything but strong enough to pull ball bearings out of a bearing cup and out of the OMS after a good bath.

oneclick 

The SA cone spanner is a lovely simple bit of steel, form defined by function.

J.Higgins 

Interesting solution.

I have several different sizes of ball bearing tweezers, and I DO have problems with them being magnetized. I have a small, non-electrically-powered demagnetizer and it does a marginal job of de-magging my tools. I really get pissy when I have to do a lot of ball-bearing jobs, and I rely heavily upon the tackiness of the grease to pull off the bearing balls and set the balls into place. I really must get a better demagnetizer!

Trakhak

Sounds reasonable, but if you happen to come across a flat bar that's being discarded, try the WD-40 method for removing and reinstalling grips as an experiment. You'll find that the grip comes off easily (obviously) and goes back on easily but then adheres to the bar. Seems counterintuitive, but the grip stays put.

oneclick 

Yes, it's not the result you might think of, but it does work; even on chromeplated steel bars (m/c bars they were).

oneclick 

If you get tweezers with a nice long neck, you can upset the ends and with a jeweller's saw and a bit of filing you can have this:

mountaindave 

Have you tried dropping your tools on the shop floor? No seriously. I wouldn’t do it with a set of calipers, but certainly with wrenches or tweezers. At least tap them strongly against something. It helps randomize the orientation of the magnetic polarities.

nlerner

This DIY tool for spreading rear dropouts and forks was a staple of the first LBS where I worked back in the late 80s. When that shop was closing and the owner let me choose any tool I wanted, this was the one.

southpawboston

Let's not plant that idea in anyone's head!

mountaindave 

Too late:


Looks like a good way to keep fuzz out of your hair and eyes when using a polishing wheel on aluminum parts...

cyccommute 

Water works just fine to remove the grips. Inject it under the grip and it slides right off. Alcohol will also work. Both are less toxic and flammable than brake cleaner. In a pinch, water and/or alcohol will also lubricate for installation. I prefer White Rain hairspray, however. Cheap...less than $2...and a bottle of it will last forever. I just bought my second bottle. I bought the first one around 1985.

guy1138

This! Also very helpful for guiding cables through frames. And my magnetic parts tray that I can stick onto my repair stand makes loose bearings so much easier to keep track of.

oneclick 

Cables through frames? Bit of string and a vacuum.

Reynolds 

Interesting. Is 1 hand force enough, or only for bodybuilder-type mechanics??

SurferRosa

Here or just in general?

I've heard you can use a condom to tighten down tube shifters that loosen. Not sure which type is best. Probably not ribbed.

Reynolds 

Not bike related, but I heard hunters use condoms on their rifle muzzles to keep them clean in wet/muddy environments.

nlerner

Definitely easy to do with one hand as there's lots of leverage to spread the triangle.

rsacilotto

Reverse tweezer for bearings

J.Higgins 

I've been a mechanic in one form or another my entire life, and I've never heard of this. Weed must be legal in your state...

mountaindave 

It is, but that's just one of the very few benefits of living in an oddly progressive/libertarian state... but I digress. Permanent magnets (like steel tools that have acquired magnetism by being introduced to a magnetic field) can lose their magnetism by banging them on solid surfaces, or banging them with a hammer (sometimes problems are a nail). See here.