Birzman

Specialist bike-tool manufacturer Birzman is relatively new on the UK scene, but their product range is impressive, from hefty spanner sets for the workshop to little minitools for emergency side-of-the-road repairs. And it's the latter type we're testing here: the simplest of the minitools, with just five basic functions - three allen keys (4, 5, 6mm), a torx tool (t25) and a cross-head screwdriver.

We've tested a few Birzman tools over the last few months and generally we've found them to be excellent quality. If you've got into bike fettling and you're looking to set yourself up at home then this 13-piece kit would be a good starting point; all the tools are good quality and you've got most of the bases covered from the off.

There's a huge range of mini-pumps out there, but the Birzman Horizons stands out in the crowd, combining contemporary design with a few old-school attributes that work surprisingly well.

First - the dimensions. At 250mm end-to-end, it's not as small as some mini-pumps, but any shorter and the pumping efficiency would be severely reduced. As it is, I needed around 250 thrusts to get a 23x700 tyre up to 100psi - about three times more than with a full-sized pump - although this is an issue with all mini-pumps, not just this Birzman.

Birzman's Digital Torque Wrench is as the name suggests a torque wrench from specialist bike-tool manufacturer Birzman. I know I shouldn't be seduced by appearance - especially on something as mundane as a metal stick for tightening bolts - but I can't help it. With its comfortable black handle, slender metal neck, neat little LED screen and control buttons, plus a dash of Birzman's trademark lime green plastic for good measure, this is a truly lovely-looking piece of kit.

Beware of thieving magpies, because the Birzman Feexman Stainless is one shiny multi-tool.

Multi-tools tend to fall into one of two categories, either the Chinese puzzle type, where the whole thing is folded in on itself and you need a black-belt in origami to extract the half-inch micro-drive mouse flange extractor or the flat variety where everything is laid out like spots on a plaice. This is in the latter camp, with all 17 functions clearly set out for your admiration.

A hammer's a hammer, right? Not necessarily. The Birzman Deadblow is designed to take the place of your standard workshop mallet, and there's no denying that it's a classy bit of kit that discharges its hammering duties in style.

The nice people at Birzman say the designs of their bike tools are inspired by nature. Hence, according to their website, the Zacoo Next floor pump design “originates from the Birzman premier 5 degree floor pump” which itself originates from “the trunk of a tree … a true vertical expression of strength and stability.”

If you’re the sort of person that gets excited about bike tools (not as much as you get excited about bikes, obviously, but almost) then you might know of tool manufacturer Birzman. Fairly new on the scene, Birzman claims to make tools with shapes inspired by nature, and the range is impressive, with all sorts of kit from slinky little mini-tools for emergency side-of-the-road repairs to hefty spanners for the workshop. Sorry, for the ‘StudioCycle’, as the Birzman website trendily has it.