I'm surprised to hear you say you've got Craftsman in your tool box. I'm not a A&P, but have worked in and around the industry for a while now, and I've yet to hear any of 'em speak positively about Craftsman. I, personally, am happy to have drawers full of Craftsman stuff -- that's my "good" stuff as a home mechanic.
Oh, but I digress...
It's hard to beat Park, but not impossible. Gotta love Park and Calvin Jones for hanging out here and giving great advice, as well as for putting up their excellent website that really gives a good book such as Leonard Zinn's a run for the money -- er, except that the Park website is free (Zinn and the Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance is still money well spent, though).
Oh, did I digress again?
Pedro's gives Park some good competition. It's hard to spend $25 on a Park pedal wrench, for instance, when Pedro's sells one for $15. Or $35 on a Park torque wrench when it's the exact same rebadged wrench Sears sells for $20. I've always been a little leery of Lifu, mainly because I don't know who or what Lifu is, but for ten years I've been using one of their bottom bracket tools -- perhaps the hardest working tool in the box? -- and it's held up great. Spin Doctor sells a really great inexpensive chainring nut driver that I've not seen from Park or Pedro's, and their $40 wheel truing stand got me through my first few wheel builds like a champ.
If you're going to get in to the shop-type stuff such as headset presses and derailleur hanger alignment guages, Park is the automatic choice. That is, unless you want to improvise a $3 headset press out of a 6" bolt and a stack of fender washers, or a headset cup remover out of a short section of PVC, which have both been working great for me for years now.
As far as work stands go, everyone has their preference, and I prefer Ultimate's stable and portable tripod base and spinner clamp over what I've seen from Park's vast selection.
Unless you're committed to buying everything in one shot in kit form to save a few bucks on a quantity purchase, I'd suggest buying stuff as you need it, or as you see it on sale. The kits, as I'm sure you already know, tend to come with some stuff you already have, and some you will never ever need.
Anyway, that's my 2¢, for whatever it's worth. It sounds as if you have 20x the wrenching experience I do and I'm sure you know a good (or bad) tool when you see one.
Oh, but I digress...
It's hard to beat Park, but not impossible. Gotta love Park and Calvin Jones for hanging out here and giving great advice, as well as for putting up their excellent website that really gives a good book such as Leonard Zinn's a run for the money -- er, except that the Park website is free (Zinn and the Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance is still money well spent, though).
Oh, did I digress again?
Pedro's gives Park some good competition. It's hard to spend $25 on a Park pedal wrench, for instance, when Pedro's sells one for $15. Or $35 on a Park torque wrench when it's the exact same rebadged wrench Sears sells for $20. I've always been a little leery of Lifu, mainly because I don't know who or what Lifu is, but for ten years I've been using one of their bottom bracket tools -- perhaps the hardest working tool in the box? -- and it's held up great. Spin Doctor sells a really great inexpensive chainring nut driver that I've not seen from Park or Pedro's, and their $40 wheel truing stand got me through my first few wheel builds like a champ.
If you're going to get in to the shop-type stuff such as headset presses and derailleur hanger alignment guages, Park is the automatic choice. That is, unless you want to improvise a $3 headset press out of a 6" bolt and a stack of fender washers, or a headset cup remover out of a short section of PVC, which have both been working great for me for years now.
As far as work stands go, everyone has their preference, and I prefer Ultimate's stable and portable tripod base and spinner clamp over what I've seen from Park's vast selection.
Unless you're committed to buying everything in one shot in kit form to save a few bucks on a quantity purchase, I'd suggest buying stuff as you need it, or as you see it on sale. The kits, as I'm sure you already know, tend to come with some stuff you already have, and some you will never ever need.
Anyway, that's my 2¢, for whatever it's worth. It sounds as if you have 20x the wrenching experience I do and I'm sure you know a good (or bad) tool when you see one.
