Even the most casual rider could use a few tools back home for minor adjustments - seat height, water bottle cages, pedal installation etc. And face it, making these adjustments with a multi-tool is for the birds. They’re fantastic when you’re away from home, but some basic full sized tools for the garage really come in handy.

Leave the fancy bike-branded allen wrenches on the shelf and head to the local hardware store for a basic set of metric allen keys. Its worth your money to not buy the cheapest one available - make sure you get the full assortment of sizes as its inevitable that you really will need that 2.5 or 3mm wrench for something, sometime and some of the cheap sets are made from rather malleable steel that can end up rounding out and ruining your bolts. Couple these allen keys with a set of metric open-end wrenches and you’re off to a good start on making typical end-user adjustments with ease. As expertise grows and the need makes itself known, certain bike specific tools are unavoidable, but thats for another post.