You don’t need to be an expert to look after your bike. Most problems are straightforward to fix with a little patience and the right tools.

There are basically three places where your bike can be maintained: at the roadside; at the bike shop; or at home. Sometimes you don’t have a choice. A punctured innertube needs replacing on your way to work. That difficult problem with your gears is one for a shop mechanic. But the more you can keep on top of your bike’s everyday maintenance at home, the less time you’ll spend at the roadside and the less money you’ll spend at the bike shop.

Bike maintenance isn’t as hard as it looks. So long as you’ve got the time and the tools to tackle the task at hand, it’s usually worth having a go. If you get stumped, you can always drop your bike off at the shop. These days you don’t even need to invest a maintenance manual. There’s lots of free advice online – including on this website – and countless hours of video instruction on YouTube. And there are some good, inexpensive phone apps; just search for ‘bike maintenance’ on Google Play or Apple’s App Store.

Here’s a suggested toolkit to get you started. It doesn’t include a mini-pump, tyre levers, and a puncture kit because we’re assuming you already have them for on-the-go emergencies. Nor does it include tools for less common components or more advanced jobs. You’ll add to this as time goes by.

Avoid using cheap tools made from mild steel. They’ll soon round off, becoming useless as well as damaging your bike. Good tools will save you money in the long term. If you get them through Cyclescheme, you’ll be saving at least 25% on them anyway. The would reduce the total cost of the equipment on this page from £253.89 to £190.42 or less.

Floor pump

Also known as a track pump, this is essentially a bigger version of hand pump that sits on the floor. It pumps more air per stroke and does so easily, so it requires much less effort to inflate your tyres – something you’ll do whenever repairing innertubes, changing tyres, or just keeping tyre pressures topped up. It’s especially useful for high-pressure or high-volume tyres. Make sure the pump head matches the valves on your bike; most floor pumps are compatible with both presta and schrader types. Buy a pump with a pressure gauge to take the guesswork out of pumping.

Expect to spend: from £25. Example: Topeak Joe Blow Max II, £37.99

Lubricants

Bike cleaning products are optional. Lubricants aren’t. You’ll need three types: a light spray oil; chain oil; and grease.

• Spray oil. Lightly lubricates and also purges water from the drivetrain after a wet ride. Most spray oils use PTFEs for their slipperiness but some use graphite instead. Expect to spend: from £4. Example: GT85, £4-5 for 400ml
• Chain oil. A thicker lubricant primarily used for oiling the chain.
Expect to spend: from £3. Example: Green Oil Wet Chain Lube, £7.99/100ml

• Grease. Apply to bolt threads and seatposts when fitting so they don’t seize. Also useful for bearings when you start to maintain them.
Expect to spend: from £10. Example: Park Tool HPG-1, £13.99/113g

Hand cleaner

Soap won’t shift chain oil. Mixing washing-up liquid with a handful of sugar works okay but it’s worth having a dedicated hand cleaner – if only to keep oily prints off the sugar jar.
Expect to spend: from £5. Example: Juice Lubes Hand Juice, £8.99/500g

Workstand

It’s easier to work on your bike if it’s off the floor – and not just for your lower back. You can spin the cranks and the wheels so you can adjust the gears and brakes, for example. Most workstands are supported by a tripod or two long bars at the base (which form two sides of a triangle), with an adjustable-height vertical pole and a clamping arm on top. Check the stand’s weight limit if your bike is particularly heavy (20kg or more). If the stand can’t remain set up in, say, a garage, ensure it will fold down easily for storage. And if you’ll be working in the house, be sure to get a mat.

Expect to spend: from £60. Example: Decathlon Bike Workstand 500, £69.99 

Multitool

Separate tools tend to be more durable and offer more leverage, but to begin with a multitool is fine. The money won’t be wasted either, because later on it can live in your saddlebag. Exactly what functions you need will depend on your bike but this list will cover most eventualities.

• 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8mm Allen keys (i.e. hex keys).
• Phillips head screwdriver.
• T25 Torx driver.
• Chain breaker.

Expect to spend: from £20. Example: Lezyne V Pro 13, £40

Chain checker

Bicycle chains wear out. As well as shifting poorly, a worn chain causes damage to the chainrings and cassette sprockets. That means you’ll have to replace those as well as the chain if you notice the chain wear too late. How do you know how worn your chain is, and whether it’s ready for the bin? With a chain checker.

Expect to spend: from £10. Example: Park Tool CC-3.2 Chain Wear Indicator, £10.99

Pedal spanner

A pedal spanner is simply a 15mm spanner with a longer handle to provide more leverage. As you’d expect, it’s used to fit and remove pedals. While many pedals can also be fitted with a large Allen key, it’s easier with a pedal spanner. The 15mm size also fits the wheel nuts of fixies, hub-gear bikes, and others with bolt-through axles. You can use an adjustable spanner for this job (and many others) but a cheap one may round off the nuts; spend £25 or more on a quality model from the likes of Bahco, Stanley or Rothenberger if you fancy an adjustable.

Expect to spend: from £5. Example: FWE 15mm Pedal Spanner, £8.99

Cable cutters

When you replace a gear or brake cable, you’ll need to cut it down to size. Likewise when you’re replacing the cable outers the cables run through. A good, clean cut will limit cable fraying or and help prevent jagged burrs on the outers. This isn’t just for neatness but to keep the brakes and gears working better for longer. So again: don’t buy cheap. Cable cutters can also be used for trimming cable ties and mudguard stays.

Expect to spend: from £20. Example: Birzman Housing and Cable Cutter, £29.99

Pliers

Also available from hardware stores, a pair of pliers is useful for gripping various bike parts – cables when you’re tensioning them, nuts when you’re turning a bolt and don’t have the right size spanner handy, and more. They’re also necessary for crimping the metal end caps that go on the ends of brake and gear cables, to stop them fraying. Some pliers will cut cables as well, but cable cutters do a better job.

Expect to spend: from £10. Example: Lifeline Pro 7” Pliers, £9.99

Spoke key

Building wheels is fairly complex but replacing a spoke or truing a buckled wheel is well within the scope of most home mechanics. All you need is a spoke key that fits your bike’s spoke nipples; there are various sizes.

Expect to spend: from £10. Example: Rixen Kaul Spokey, £9.99