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Do you want to install (and uninstall) your fork on your bike? If so, you need to get the crown race on and off. There are tools for sale that represent the incorrect way to tackle this job. Here are the correct tools, and how to use them.

Also known as steerer cutting guide, or fork saw guide, I prefer miter block, because I cut a lot more than fork steerers with it. This tool is in almost constant use—frequently seen in the jaws of my bench vise.

Two times in 20 years has a bike I've worked on failed during a race: my own, in a race I traveled around the world to get to; and one ridden by Lance Armstrong in a national championship. But, I'm still wrenching, and you can wrench too.

Updated from its original publication in 2004, this article is the answer to a Slowtwitch Forum user who once posted: "[Blank] the car, I'm putting a bike workshop in the garage." His post asked for advice, and this is it.

What follows herein is the bike tinkerer's list of essential tools. Any less and you're a caveman. All these specialty tools can be had for quite a small sum compared with the many thousands a pro shop will spend on its tools.