Multitool

This offering from Shimanos spin off accessory brand PRO is certainly a great looking piece of kit, very slim and nicely finished. It also has just about everything you could need when out on the road tool wise except a chain tool and a couple of tyre levers.

For £14.99 you get 2,3,4,5 and 6mm Allen keys and a Phillips screwdriver. It also features a 2 inch measuring rule laser etched into the side of the tool body. What this is exactly for I dont know, my best guess would be to quantify the effects of your saddle on a cold day whilst on a nature break?

Knog’s twenty- function multi tool crams a phenomenal amount of useful stuff into a very confined space and is just the thing for best bikes loving to travel light. Good quality steel won’t chew delicate fasteners but it wouldn’t be my first resort for group rides and for all their charms offer limited leverage when tackling stubborn fasteners…assuming the crank bolt adaptor hasn’t vanished down the sofa.

gooj 010

gooj 012

Not that I have spent much time at Her Majesty's pleasure but the Maxgear Gooj (Get Out Of Jail) is probably not the sort of tool I would ask for to be hidden in a cake and smuggled into prison. Jails are probably not easily dismantled with a set of Hex wrenches (2 / 2.5 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 8mm), Chain tool, Spoke wrenches, Torque T-25, Philips screwdriver, flat screwdriver, and two tire levers.

Lezyne are a company that have the ability to make a seemingly mundane product such as a pump or multi tool into an object of desire. They mix quality materials with well thought out design and an attention to detail, which result in objects that demand attention. This is certainly true of their SV10 multi tool, which packs, as you may have guessed, ten tools into a light (only 101 g), compact and attractive package.

With multi tools rapidly becoming pocket workshops, it’s nice to find Wheels MFG’s amusingly monikered gimp has all the essentials without feeling over-burdened. However, close to micro-tool dimensions means there’s insufficient leverage for tackling really stubborn fasteners.

Made from hardened lazer cut steel, Pedros’ Trixie is a very clever tool with an equally slick name. There’s pretty much the full complement of fixed specific functions you’d need on an everyday basis including 15mm wrench for track nuts, 5mm Allen key stub, a curious serrated section tackling 8,9 &10mm bolts while doubling as a mounting point on the frame’s bottle bosses so you’ll never leave home without it (although you’ll need longer, aftermarket fittings should it share space with a bottle cage and/or mini-pump).

EMT is an abbreviation of Emergency Mini Tool and the comp quickly became my tool of choice around the workshop just as it did for road and trailside fettling/repair. Bristling with features, it includes 2,2.5,3,4,5,6 and 8mm Allen wrenches, disc specific tools (Pad opener, spacer tools and obligatory Torx) coupled with nifty box spanner, nylon coated tyre lever and both Phillips and flat screwdrivers- the latter crowned by a rubber cap to prevent injury in the event of a tumble.