My name is Scott, I am the owner of TrailToolz. I have been riding for as long as I can remember. Why did I start TrailToolz?

Well, I currently race a KTM in Enduros and own various other motorcycles that are ridden on and off the road. After a few trail and road side breakdowns, I  decided I needed to bring along more tools that those that just happened to come with the motorcycle I was riding.

Before I set out to build or buy the tool kit that I needed, I came up with the following specifications: 1) since I ride primarily off road, I would need a smaller toolkit that would fit in a fanny pack or a large fender bag. 2) The tools themselves should be small and lightweight. After paying high dollars for a state of the art lightweight motorcycle, I did not want to add weight by carrying around and extra 15 pounds of tools. 3) The tools need to be of good quality, at least as good as you might find in a high-end home garage tool kit. Personally, I would be more likely to by a “cheap” tool for my garage then I would for a portable toolkit. A broken tool in the garage usually just means you have to wash the grease off your hands, jump in the car and drive to the store to buy another one. A broken tool on the trail may mean that you have to park your bike and walk home! 4) Since I have multiple bikes, I wanted a basic toolkit that would be easy to move from bike to bike and did not contain bike specific tools like plug and wheel wrenches. What is the point of carrying a Honda spark plug wrench when you are riding a KTM? The bike specific tools should stay with the bike that needs them.5) I did not want to carry any more tools than necessary. For example, if you ride a late model Japanese or European bike, you don’t need to carry a 9mm wrench, because none of the nuts or bolts on the bike are 9mm. So there is no point in carrying a “complete” set of wrenches.

When I set out to find a ready made tool kit that met my specifications, I did not have any luck. Some of the problems I found were:

v      The toolkits were street bike oriented and consequently most of the tools were too big and heavy

v      The tool bag or case was too big and would not fit in a fender bag or fanny pack. What I really wanted was a tool roll that I could move from bike to bike.

v      The tool kit came in a purpose built fanny pack... Sometimes I wear a fanny pack when riding sometimes I don’t. I do not want to be forced to wear a fanny pack just to carry my tools.

v      The tools in the kit  were not good quality tools

v      The tool kits were really expensive.

v      The tool kits included things like zip-ties, tape, flashlights. I don’t want to pay marked up prices for items that I can easily find and buy for myself.

Since I could not find a tool kit that met my specifications, I decided to build one of my own. I also figured that other people would also be interested in a tool kit like this. Consequently I decided to put a lot of these tool kits together and market them to other riders.

I wanted to build the “ideal” toolkit, so I spent a lot of time contacting various tool vendors trying to find the tools I wanted. I also had them ship me some sample tools that I could test myself. I tested the sample tools in the garage and on the trail and found out what worked and what didn’t. In the end, I think that I found the “perfect” set of tools for the tool kit. What I ended up with is a good basic tool kit. It does not contain every tool you could possibly ever need. It also does not contain a lot of “extra” items like zip ties (that you can easily buy yourself!) that would drive up the price. It does contain the basic tools that you might need to correct most trailside problems.