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Preparing your Motorcycle Tool Bag: Practical Guide and Checklist
Jun
If you’re here, you’re probably wondering what you should pack in your tool bag so that you’ll be able to help yourself out on the roadside, or always have what you need to maintain your bike with you on your next trip.
Mind you, I’m not a rocket scientist. What I want to explain in this article is how I created my tool bag, and what I drew inspiration from, so that you can do the same and create your own bag adapted to your needs and your bike.
As a bonus, you’ll also find a checklist that I use for my bag, which you can use as inspiration to create your own!
One important thing to keep in mind, as I write this article I’m riding a KTM 890 Adventure R 2024, so some of the tools, sizes and shapes of the keys will be specific to my bike. So try to hang on to the reasoning more than the objects I present.
The first: Don’t reinvent the wheel, I’m not the last and certainly not the first to want to make a tool kit for my motorcycle trips! If you go to YouTube and search for videos on this subject you’re going to get hundreds of results so here’s how I went about it:
- First I made myself a cup of tea, then I went to get something to take notes with and a pen.
- Then I simply listened to the 10/15 most popular videos or the ones that interested me the most while taking notes.
Simple, isn’t it? In fact, what I realized is that each person has different ideas (and fortunately so), which means that in each video you’ll hear about an accessory or tool that wasn’t present at all in the other videos, and that’s what I think is great! So while listening to these videos, I took notes on their advice and on the tools and accessories that these people take with them on their trips, and I’ll try to sum it all up for you in the rest of the article.
One thing that came up a lot was the fact of not taking on too much weight, of not carrying unnecessary things or things that are too heavy, because weight and space are things that you absolutely have to take into account in your future road trips!
The second step followed on from the first – in fact, I had no idea I was going to do this. While watching videos on motorcycle tool kits, I came across a niche called EDC (Every Day Carry Kit). The aim of these EDCs is for you to be able to carry them with you every day, and for them to be functional and lightweight! Well, that’s just what I need for my own kit! So I repeated the same process as for step 1, and now I’m going to show you exactly how I went about creating my kit!
The basic tool kit
Well, the first thing you’re going to have to do is this: Go to your bike, get the little bag of tools that came with it (which is usually under your saddle) and then take some notes.
So yes, I know what you’re going to say, there’s not much in it and the experts will tell you that in general these little kits are enough to dismantle your bike to find your fault but don’t have enough tools to solve it, so yes it’s true but we have to start somewhere!
Moving on, what you’re going to do now is put everything on a table in front of you and take note of all the tools that were contained in this little kit.
In my example, my kit will contain :
- A handle for using the sockets
- A double key 14 – 10
- A double key 13 – 8
- Small T-25 Torx wrench
- 6mm hexagonal wrench (HEX)
- Size 32 wrench with extension
- 8 different sockets (Flathead, Hex 5mm, Cruciform, Torx T-30, T-40, T-45, and two 8 and 17mm sockets)
Well, that’s all well and good, but what does it tell me? So now you know what your bike mainly uses as tool size and shape, and that’s not bad at all! It may sound silly, but now you also know whether your bike is metric or SAE, and that’s going to be important when you go to buy your tools.
Extras and accessories for your bike
If you’re like me, you didn’t even have your bike yet and you were already looking on every possible forum for the best accessories to add to your bike, such as skidplates, luggage racks, crash bars, phone mounts, etc.
Don’t forget that during your road trip all these little things can also move around and will potentially need adjusting, and you need to have the necessary tools with you to do this, so when you install them take good note of the tools you’ve used to add them to your bag later.
If you need help choosing the right accessories for your bike, check out this article where I explain how I prepared my bike for my road trip on the Pan American Highway.
Assembling the kit
Let’s move on to what’s next.
First of all, I figured that if these tools are here, it’s because they’re the most common and are going to be the most present on the bike, so the first thing I’m going to do is double the contents, because we all have a socket set at home that’s missing a 10mm socket, and you don’t want that to happen to you in the middle of a trail when you really need it.
As for the wrenches, nothing too complicated, I took 5 wrenches in sizes 8, 9, 10, 13 and 14. You’ll notice that I made a few wraps of duct tape around my size 14 wrench so I could have some with me without having to carry a full roll.
For everything Torx and hex, I simply bought a kit and kept the wrenches I was interested in.
Now for the different sockets, I bought a small kit on Amazon that I wouldn’t recommend at all, because the ratchet wrench supplied with it is really not good quality. However, using a saw, I was able to make a small holder for my sockets that I find very practical.
All this contains two ratchet wrenches (one large and one small ¼”), an extension, sockets from 6 to 14mm, 17mm and a ¼” to hex bits adapter that can be used with the following items:
- A set of 32 Klein brand bits(available here) that will cover my needs for everything flat and cruciform, as well as having extra hex and torx bits and a hex to ¼” adapter so I can use my sockets with them.
- The Hazet 810BH bit holder(available here), which I can use with my Hex bits as well as my sockets thanks to the adapter.
You’re probably going to tell me that I’m currently missing a 32mm wrench, and you’d be right, but don’t panic, we’ll take care of it in the next section!
The tires
Now let’s talk about tires!
So many things can happen to them, and we need them to travel, so it’s essential to be equipped to deal with the most likely scenarios of a puncture or a dent in your rim.
Whether you ride tube or tubeless I will cover both cases in this article.
Let’s start with what I have that’s specific to tubeless: a small repair kit with drill bits. Nothing too complicated, just two tools, some drill bits and rubber cement – you can find these just about anywhere!
Personally, I chose this slim kit because of its small size!
Even if you ride tubeless, I strongly advise you to travel with a tube repair kit and an extra tube for your bike for several reasons:
- You probably have friends who ride tubeless and if you can give them a hand it’s always appreciated.
- Doesn’t take up much space
- The most important thing: If you make a dent in your rim and your bead leaks, you can inflate your tire as much as you like, but it won’t change a thing. That’s why I always advise you to travel with an inner tube! So yes, you have 2 tires on a motorcycle, one at the front and one at the rear, and they’re not the same size. Example: My KTM is 150/70-18 at the rear and 90/90-21 at the front, so I’m going to travel with a 90/90-21 tube that I can always use in my rear tire. So yes, I’m not going to do hundreds of KM with it, but it should be enough to get me out of trouble and to the next garage!
Now let’s talk a little more about what I’m going to take with me to repair my tubes. Once again, nothing revolutionary, I’ve taken this repair kit from Amazon, which has already served us well and with which I’m very satisfied.
It will consist of patches, glue and a small rasp, everything you need to repair your tube.
To be able to disassemble and access your tube, you’ll need a spoon. My choice is the Motion Pro Bead Pro and Motion Pro T-6 Lever combo set.
The Bead Pro is very small, light and super-useful for removing tubeless tires, which are often much stiffer than standard tubes, without having to struggle too much. What’s more, the other end can be used as a spoon when you want to take the tire apart.
I also took the Motion pro T-6 for their size and lightness, as well as a small adapter that can be very useful. Basically, these tools will be used to dismount your wheels. One side will be used as a spoon to dismount your tire, while the other will be used as a 10 or 12 mm wrench, and the other as a 32 mm wrench! (The famous one that was still missing from our initial kit). On top of that, I took the adapter that lets me convert the 32 wrench to 22 or 27mm.
And a little extra tool: a valve stem puller! If you’ve ever disassembled a tire with an inner tube, you know that the hardest part is getting the valve back into the rim! Well, not any more L 😀 You pass this little tool through the valve hole in the rim, aim it at the valve end of your tube, and when you’re ready to mount the tube, all you have to do is pull and your valve will magically appear in the right place! Amazing, isn’t it? What’s more, they’re available for just a few dollars in the store, so don’t hesitate! ( link right here 😀)
The pliers
I’m now going to tell you about the different pliers I have with me:
- A pair of wire cutters for cutting rilsans, cables or other small items. In the same way as for the duct tape, I wrapped some electrician’s tape around the handle so that I could use it without taking up too much space.
- A pair of pliers
- Circlip pliers: to remove the oil filter from my KTM, that’s what you need if you don’t want to waste 30 minutes.
- A small vise grip that can be used to replace a broken clutch lever, for example.
- A pair of forceps to get the screw you dropped in your fan without tearing your bike apart.
The extras
For the extra tools I can take with me, you’ll find a wrench, a spark plug wrench, a small magnetic pen, a tire pressure gauge, and a small metal ruler.
- Fire starter (lighter / match)
- A Motion Pro SealMate, which may save your fork joints
- Loctite blue 242
- JB Weld to repair your crankcase or punctured radiator
- A little velcro
- Pewter
- Heat-shrink tubing to protect your welds
- Two battery leads and power cable
- A little Superglue
- Tweezers
- Rilsans
- A hacksaw blade
- A small flashlight
- Nitrile gloves
- Wire
- And, last but not least, enough gasketing material if you need it!
What doesn’t fit in my bag
As you can see, there’s already a lot that fits in my little bag, but it’s impossible to fit everything in, so I’m going to quickly tell you about the little extras I’m going to take with me:
- A towing strap
- Torque wrench
- Spare fuses
- 12v compressor
- Battery booster
- WD-40
- Chain grease
How do you transport it all?
That’s a lot of stuff to carry around!
You’re probably wondering how to transport it all with ease, in a suitable bag. Well, look no further!
At Aeri Gear, we’ve developed the right tool bag for your needs. This is the bag I personally use on my road trips, and I can guarantee that all the tools I’ve mentioned in this article fit inside!
Conclusion
First of all, thanks for reading and I hope this article was useful to you!
Please don’t hesitate to comment on what you’d find indispensable in a tool bag or, on the contrary, what you’d never take with you. It might inspire me or even other readers!
Get your checklist!
