Marke in OKC - 2002 Chetak

P.S. - I used to live in Overland Park, back in 1995. Good memories there!

:)M

Last edited by questionmarke on Fri Jun 27, 2008 5:24 am; edited 1 time in total

P.P.S. - I'm just looking through my list of tools again. Everything in there is handy and has been used at least a few times. But some things get used a lot more than others.

For instance, I've got all these spare bulbs and little miscellaneous nuts and bolts and parts that hardly ever see the light of day (most of them are just left over from past mods and I figured it would be better to have them on hand than to throw them away). I rarely ever dip into any of the electrical connectors (at least not any more, because I've pretty much got all the new electrical stuff situated and haven't needed to adjust any of it on the road). Also, there's that spare headlight that I've been carrying around for three years now and have never needed. In the very beginning I blew a couple of headlights, but since I stopped tweaking electrical stuff I have not blown a headlight in years. I rarely use the exacto knives, or the vice grips, or the soldering wire, or the diagonal cutting pliers, or the electrical wire, or even the zip ties (although I'm an avid fan of zip ties!). I only use the lithium grease when replacing a cable, which is very infrequent. I haven't needed the extra spark plug wire in a couple of years though I went through a season when that had to be replaced several times. I never use the inline fuel filters anymore, though for some reason I still carry them with me. I've never used the super glue or the little expanding camp towelette. And I don't often use the small sockets (though there is one that comes in handy for adjusting one of the cables ... is it the rear brake?). I don't even use the Leatherman tool very much, though I find it to be a really useful tool and wouldn't want to be without it.

All of those things together would weed out a lot of bulk if you were to remove them from my tool kit. But ultimately I'm glad to have them for those rare times when they are needed. I'm just saying that you needn't go as all-out as I did and you can still have a really thorough and useful tool kit.

Now let me tell you a few of the things I use the most and wouldn't be without:

-The open end wrenches (pretty much all of them)
-The screwdriver (with multiple bit tips)
-The spark plug wrench that came with the stock toolkit
-The wire brush for cleaning the spark plug
-The mini flashlight so I can see what I'm doing in the dark (and hold it with my mouth if need be)
-The engine jack
-The larger sockets (oil drain, oil filter, valve/cylinder, wheel hub)
-The teflon tape
-The air pressure gauge

Optional items I use often:
-The third hand tool
-The feeler gauges
-The magnetic parts dish so I don't lose anything
-The shop rags
-The air nozzle for filling the tires from a standard air compressor

Other things that I'm really glad to have on me in the off chance that I need them:
-An extra spark plug
-The homemade "pull cable" for fishing new cables through the body of the scooter
-The tip cleaner set (haven't used them in a couple of years but I used to need them every few weeks)
-A spare tube
-Cotter pins
-A spare clutch lever (the first time I laid the bike down on slippery pavement it snapped off the clutch lever and I couldn't get the bike out of gear to roll it out of the intersection, much less to ride it away)
-The long magnet for fishing out the infrequently-dropped nut, bolt, or washer that ends up somewhere in the nether regions of the scooter body
-Extra cables

Finally, I'm really, really, really, really glad to have stumbled upon the idea of downloading the three different shop manuals from the Argo website and printing them in spiral-bound booklet form at Kinkos. They carry so easily in this size and can be absolute lifesavers when trying to figure something out on the side of the road all by yourself. I'd highly recommend doing that. I think they were in the neighborhood of $8 each, printed in that format. Well worth the money if you ask me.

Again, I hope that helps and I'll shut up now!
Marke

Awesome - Thanks! I will likely just steal from my existing set in the toolbox for now and put together as I can, but this is a huge help. Going to do as you suggest and just put some wrenches and sockets on some engine parts and make sure I have a short list of stuff on the scoot for now. For me, not going cross country, I can store most at home and just try to carry repair items w/ me.

Edit: I will take you up on most of these ideas ASAP - I have all the manuals, but need to get them in a smaller format or cut them down etc. Might just take the PDFs into Kinkos, etc. Going to head home on scoot now and read the rest of your most recent posts soon. Beautiful night for riding home for work!

_________________
Jamie B.
2003 Bajaj Chetak - Black