I wanted to start a thread on trail tools and what most of you carry. I have a minimalist mentality but I'm open for all suggestions.

Personally I haven't had anything break while out riding and only having 2500 miles on my bike I really haven't had to do much of anything. With that being said I want to be prepared for typical repairs.

So far the factory tool kit seems to has some decent items, I've been thinking of ditching the factory wheel wrenches for those combo wrenches with tire spoons.
I also run a PM Racing air filter sock so I can peel it off on long rides if the filter gets dirty.

The Motion Pro multi tool is on my list, a spare light duty tube and a pump on my list. Any suggestions on good reliable pumps? Any other decent tools or handy items to carry?

 

For a pump, I recommend the Topeak MTB Mountain Morph. People complain about pumps or even the idea of carrying one, but this pump doesn't weigh much and it will always work, every time, and many times no matter how many flats or such that you or another rider on the trail might have. This pump has a small hose...so you don't have to do a stupid isometric exercise of holding it on the Schrader valve. It has a fold-out foot you can stand on to keep it in place while pumping. It has a nice fold-out T-handle for good grip. It has high volume...as long as you don't get the tiny version.

 

I would carry both sockets and wrenches in common sizes, lord know when you need a socket you'll only have a wrench and vise versa.

Keep sock and wrench in

8mm
10mm
12mm
14mm
(other sizes you deem fit)

Another tip, if you need a break bar but are short on one, just disconnect the mid pipe and the muffler and slip in over the ratched. Works like a charm and its one less thing to carry.

 

Simple trail jack. Zip ties, duct tape, and some Quicksteel. A spare spark plug. A few feet of safety wire, electrical tape. No need for rolls of the stuff, just a few wraps around wrench handles, tire iron handles....An Altoids tin with a couple cotter pins, 6mm nuts and bolts, fuse, a lighter, a good place for a couple tube patches and adhesive. Keep it closed with a few wraps of that electrical tape.



Trail jack, works front and rear.

Seems I take any new to me bike and start at the handlebar and work down replacing every factory fastener with stainless socket head bolts and screws like these:



What looks like Phillips head screws on an import bike are usually Japanese Industrial Standard, and a regular ol' Phillips head screwdriver will booger 'em. May as well get it over with and replace them with better quality fasteners that I have tools for. I had my life threatened with early termination for boogering screw heads on firearms. Seeing a mangled head on a fastener always reminds me of that. So you get out in the Boonies with a mechanical crisis, and most of your screws are 2/3 boogered already....guess what you'll be dealing with IN ADDITION to the reason you were wrenching to begin with.... Ace Hardware usually has a good selection of replacement fasteners, and if I replace 4,5-6 at a time, soon, most of my fasteners can be dealt with with one of these:



I rarely strip out or round off these type of fasteners. Dual sport bike fasteners are notorious for falling off. By upgrading the fasteners to a higher grade, I have a chance to apply a spot of loctite and torque things. You'll find losing bolts that weren't torqued are a primary source of trail bike failures. You probably will cut your chances of breakdown a lot by doing this. And you have one tool that addresses most problems. Keep in mind all your fasteners were supplied by the lowest bidder that could generally meet the minimum requirements and torqued by a Thai that may not have had enough rice to go to the click on the torque wrench. At least throw in a 3mm hex head wrench to drain the float bowl on the carburetor.

Find room to stash a spare clutch and brake lever. Look into a proper tool bag, maybe something like this:

Motorcycle Off Road Dirt Bike Dual Sport Enduro Fender Tool Pack Bag Removable | eBay

 

I carry the factory tool kit plus, folding ratchet wrenches(some shorty doubles like 10 & 12mm), a couple of hose clamps, a tube of dielectric grease, RTV sealant, and little one of blue loc-tite, a bag of various fasteners, some wire, and zip-ties, a bag of 3/8" sockets and wrench, and a 1/4" socket set + 18" worth of extensions in it's own case(which also holds a valve tool and some useful hex bits). All in my small enduro tank bag.
I took the tool bag off long ago, but have recently put my front fender bag on the back with tubes, tire spoons, and a pump.
A little over prepared most of the time, but I have used every tool at some point.
What I really want is that trail jack.

 

There's a pretty good thread on this topic at ADV Rider:

The Toolkit Thread - ADVrider

I made my kit up of many of the things on that list and it's compact, yet functional.

 

Thanks for the ideas, stubby wrenches, trail jack, and the Motion Pro tool with additional sockets looks like a good start. I'm thinking when I do certain things on my bike at home I'll use my "trail tools" to see how limited I am and maybe I'll get a better idea of what I need.

I agree that a huge portion of the problems could be avoided through regular maintenance and properly torquing fasteners. I see it regularly in the 4WD community.

 

Well I ordered a few items, I'll post up after they get here Monday. I got a spare tube, a Motion Pro tool kit and a fender bag with tire irons. I plan on going to Sears and sourcing some random sockets and wrenches as well. Hopefully I can find that pump at a local store as well.

 

Yes, let us know what you end up putting in your minimalist tool kit, NorCalKLX.

I really want to order that motion pro tool kit and the combined tire iron/wheel nut wrenches. It seems that with those items you have almost everything for the bike, but I am still interested in what else you decide to bring.

 

https://www.kawasakiforums.com/forum...toolkit-37411/