Tools. Isn’t that one of the things that separates us as motorcyclists from the lower species like, say, politicians? A few days ago a friend of mine called to see if I could get him a tool kit to replace the one that now lay on the side of the road somewhere. A quick look at the CruzTOOLS website and a just-as-quick telephone call got one headed my way. A RoadTech M3 in this case ($89.95), which is aimed at metric cruiser riders but will work on many types of motorcycles.
Now, I’ve been a professional mechanic for over 40 years and have the box full of Snap-On tools that shows it. Snap-On is generally considered the best line of tools available and is priced accordingly. The price also includes hand delivery of your new purchase to the service department and all the candy you can eat from the jar on the counter in the delivery truck. But I digress.
There are a few manufactures that provide pretty decent tool kits with their bikes, but, as a general rule, stock tool kits leave a lot to be desired. And as someone said a long time ago, “the quality of the tool kit is inversely proportional to the need to use said tools.” I didn’t know what exactly to expect when I opened up the package from Cruz but I have to say I was very pleasantly surprised. The various components of the kit are sourced from Taiwan, China and USA, and I couldn’t tell which one came from where. I measured one of the 14mm wrenches from my tool box across the jaws and compared it to the one in the kit. They were exactly the same–down to the thousandth of an inch. The LED flashlight has batteries included. There are zip ties, electrical tape, Lock-Tite, WD-40 and even a spark plug gapping tool, just in case you need to check the plug gap during a rest stop. Actually, the spark plug socket included is good for standard 18mm or 13/16-inch hex plugs and may not work on many of the new bikes out there which have a 5/8-inch hex. Different size sockets are available from Cruz. There’s also a really cool little socket set. All rolled up in its pouch it’s about 3-3/4 inches in diameter and 9-1/2 inches long. The pouch, by the way, looks like it will hold up to years of use without coming apart. It’s made of 600 denier, PVC-backed polyester. Now, most modern road bikes are so reliable a tool kit just isn’t something that gets a lot of consideration. And when they do break it’s usually something that can’t be fixed by the side of the road. All the other stuff that goes with your bike does need attention occasionally, however, and for that kind of job this kit is perfect.
There are kits with tools specific to BMW, Harley Davidson and a couple of dirt bike kits as well. There are kits for musicians, too. Go figure. Check out the selection at cruztools.com and have your favorite shop get the kit that works for you.
