At minimum, you need a 5x6-foot area to make room for the bike, yourself, and a surface for tools and parts. If available, 8x10 feet, or about half of a car parking space, gives you more room to work around the bike and allows for a workbench. You also need a bike stand. The ones included in this guide are awesome choices, but there are less expensive options, too. If you’re tight on space, bench- and wall-mounted stands (like Park Tool’s PRS-4W) might work better. Finally, you need storage for tools in a toolbox, on a pegboard, or in drawers.
As you add tools to your arsenal, start with one of my essentials: a set of ball-end P-handle metric Allen wrenches. If I could have only one tool, this would…
