Basic Extra! - Tools

Tools: Some of my favorite sites about tools. Cheap tools are a waste of money, but we can't all have Snap-On (the first shop I worked at used all snap on tools, 4 sets!). In general if it's not a bike specific tool and you can get it at Sears/Craftsman etc. you can save money for equal or better quality than Park/Pedros. For the bike specific stuff Park & Pedros are medium quality, and should last a lifetime of home use, you can get some really fancy & expensive tools if you're using them everday in a shop they will probably last longer.

http://www.biketoolsetc.com/ they have just about every tool under the sun, and tons of small parts too
http://www.efficientvelo.com/ this is the guy from Bike Gallery, very nice tools, check out the cool pictures
http://www.mcmaster.com/ not bike specific, but just about everything under the sun
http://www.parktool.com/ "big blue" decent tools, reasonable price, not my favorite, website also has some good repair advice. The kits give you an idea of what tools to get, and you can save money vs. buying piece by piece
http://www.parktool.com/products/detail.asp?cat=6&item=SK%2D1 this kit will get you started
http://www.parktool.com/products/detail.asp?cat=6&item=AK%2D37 the next step up
http://www.parktool.com/products/detail.asp?cat=6&item=RK%2D41 a very complete kit for the skilled home mechanic
http://www.parktool.com/products/detail.asp?cat=6&item=MK%2D187 eventually I will have them all (but not all blue), this kit would almost set up a retail shop.
http://www.pedros.com/ I think most of their tools are a little nicer than Park, but you pay a little more for them.
http://www.pedros.com/products_tools.htm comparable to the park pk-63 with a nicer case, contains most of the tools a traveling pro mechanic would use.
http://feedbacksports.com/ this is the repair stand I use
http://www.topeak.com/ I have a few Topeak tools I like
http://www.google.com/products?q=wrench+force&oe=UTF-8&brand=Wrench+Force&lnk=brsugg some Wrench Force Tools were made for Trek by Snap-On, but they have been discontinued, very nice, but hard to find. I love my Wrench Force 4 way spoke wrench.
http://www.craftsman.com/ reasonable price, great warranty, most of my "non-bike" tools are craftsman or "Husky" from Home Depot
http://search.harborfreight.com/cpisearch/web/search.do cheap prices, variable quality, I buy simple tools here, and power tools that I don't expect to last very long.
http://www.instructables.com/id/PVC-Bench-top-Bike-Repair-Stand/ I came across this site describing how to make your own repair stand, but you could hang your bike from a piece of rope or a hook in the ceiling much easier (I've seen shops that hang bikes rather than use repair stands)
http://www.yourmtb.com/story/build_your_own_bike_repair_stand_for_under_20 another homemade stand, neither one is portable :-(