Baby wipes. Fantastic for cleaning brake dust off wheels. They will also shift oil & chain lube and flies off the bike, helmet & leathers.
An old mirror on a stalk (actually bought for a bicycle originally I think). Useful with a torch for looking at inaccessible areas - seems to be essential for changing bulbs in modern car headlights.
Baby wipes. Fantastic for cleaning brake dust off wheels. They will also shift oil & chain lube and flies off the bike, helmet & leathers. Earl Grey -yuk! Tastes like a tart's handbag. Ceylon Orange Pekoe or Darjeeling is much more palatable (without milk naturally)
as above on the hairspray, got that yip off an old biker boy in Northampton bikers club. I use footballers sock tape for taping along lines when i'm going to cut metal with an angle grinder IE chopping my cans down - seems much easier to use than insulation tape even though its virtually the same stuff lol. only use it cuz it's what I had about at the time. I have a ball of elastic bands too I use when Im bleeding the brakes just makes it a bit easier holding leaver in place when twisting nipples
Masking tape. Great for marking out cut lines and invaluable for marking wires, fold a piece over the wire like a flag then you can write on it.
excellent thread 2 uses for old toothbrush - one for general cleaning when access difficult (as said) the other is with end heated and bent 90 degrees to clean inside 748/9** headlamp. 2 uses for biro body - one sharpened 45 degrees-ish used to remove deposit on carb needle valve seats (with T cut) the other is for holding 2 valve inlet/exhaust (but nearly always exhaust) shims to hold and revolve while grinding. Not a tool but useful to know - if you run out of welding rods steel coathangers (although almost extinct) make an excellent substitute.
A short length of wood dowel with a tiny hole drilled down the centre at one end, and an ordinary sewing needle superglued in place ...makes an extremely useful sharp, pointy, pokey thing for picking at all sorts of stuff. You wouldn't believe how often it gets used. Wouldn't be without it. A plastic, kitchen towel dispenser screwed onto the shed wall and loaded with cheap kitchen towels from the pound shop. I seldom use rags anymore. Don't use baby wipes ..spray a little gt85 on these instead. A bicycle spoke is quite hard metal and sharpens into a decent scriber. A short length of 10mm round ally bar is an extremely useful soft drift. Fibre tip pens for marking out sheet steel etc before cutting (though a pencil works fine on ally). Alternatively for colouring a whole area before scribing. The black ones will also mask the odd scrape in black anodised ally components. Old bicycle inner tubes ....the uses are endless. Toothbrushes, but made stiffer by shortening the bristles with a pair of wire cutters or nail clippers ..will work like a gentle wire brush. Worn out scotchbrite kitchen scourers ...again loads of uses. They work well with a little oil or metal polish to attack those areas of corrosion which are a bit more stubborn...though minor scratching may occur. Oh, and my latest discovery is that most modern washing up liquids no longer contain salt, so I may revert to using that as a bike wash ...though I'll rinse it well just to be on the safe side.
Yes, the 'loads of salt in washing up liquid' myth was one I almost fell for until I researched. Internet forum folklore is great innit?
