Topeak Essential Toolshop

The Topeak Essential Toolshop is a neat little kit for working on chains, gear or brake adjustments and component tweaks – it’ll even deal with pedals (probably) and sensitive parts that need specific torque settings. It doesn’t cover more serious work on drivetrains, bearings or hydraulic systems, but for general maintenance and adjustment it’s great.

This kit neatly covers most adjustments or replacements you’re typically going to make: saddles, bars, stems, brake callipers, bottle bosses, tyres and chains.

Topeak’s 12.3cm long ratchet is as impressive as the smaller 18Nm versions we’ve seen elsewhere, with a satisfyingly chunky click to its reversible head and a solid, comfortable feel. It’s rated up to 60Nm, which is plenty for bikes, though it’s pretty short if you’re cranking on a well-stuck pedal.

The 1/4in bits are cut from good steel and stick in securely with magnets – in the handle end too – and you get a good range of hex and Torx sizes. You also have one flat screwdriver bit and two Phillips head drivers, and the holders of both sets swivel up for easy plucking as you work. You’ll probably only use about half of these bits regularly, but with 2mm to 8mm hexes (plus 1.5 and 2.5mm variants) and Torx bits from T10 to T40, you shouldn’t get caught out often.

The torque wrench adaptor offers a versatile 2-6Nm range, which covers you for most handlebar, stem and seatpost bolts. It’s not adjustable and doesn’t click out at a preset torque, instead giving a ‘live’ reading of the torque you’re putting into the handle. You just stop when you reach the right line. Clearly this sort of design (also found on the Prestacycle TorqRatchet Go, for instance, which is great but now £64 on its own) isn’t aimed at ultimate accuracy, but in testing the Topeak agreed very closely with my more serious wrenches. Certainly closely enough for this application, and it’s way better than guessing and crushing a tube or cracking a lug.

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The sheer amount of chain tools here is slightly odd, though they’re all high quality. If you need to fit, remove or shorten a chain you’ll be happy. I’ve no complaints about how they work, but the functionality goes quite far yet not quite far enough.

You get a chain breaker for dealing with pressed-in pins, pliers for opening and closing quick links and a hook for holding the ends while you connect them. Comprehensive for taking chains on and off, then, but with no socket for removing cassettes, if you’re replacing worn parts you’ll need additional tools. And how often are you removing chains otherwise? Perhaps more people take them off for cleaning than I realise.

The pliers are particularly clever as they’re formed by the tyre levers, while the chain hook slots neatly into the side of the grey one. The two pins on the black lever are slightly different diameters, ensuring you only get the metal ends in the right orientation to either open or close a recalcitrant quick link. It’s a really nice bit of design, and the levers – nicely shaped for grabbing tyre beads, comfortable and strong – sandwich neatly together for storage.

You could carry the levers with you on the bike as they’re very portable, but the chain tool is heavier than a multi-tool version and, if you want its handle, that means carrying the heavy steel extension tube for your ratchet too. Topeak describes this as a ‘must-have household tool kit’, so that’s clearly not the intention.

For me, going the whole hog with a cassette lockring tool, or ditching the workshop chain tool and portable lever/plier combo altogether for, say, a pair of cutters with a ferrule crimper for fitting new cables, would be a better use of space.

Value

At £89.99 this isn’t cheap, but for what you’re getting it’s a bit of a bargain – I think this is good value.

For one thing, the Topeak Ratchet Rocket Essential HD is £49.99 and that just gets you this ratchet, the spinner and a smaller selection of 12 bits.

Add even a simple torque wrench to that and you’ll already be up to £90 – the Feedback Sports Reflex Fixed Torque Bit Driver I reviewed recently was £40, for instance, and that only does one torque setting – and even then not accurately.

Individually adding all the other tools you’re getting with this Topeak kit would obviously cost you way more in the end.

If you want to go all in, the Birzman Travel Tool Box will get you 20 excellent tools to cover almost any job. It’s a big investment at £299.99, though you can find it online discounted to £210, which puts it close to the smaller (yet still excellent) Birzman Essential Tool Box. The latter gets you 13 tools for £190, and either kit will deal with chains and sprockets as well as everything else.

Overall

The tools here are all well made, and there’s some nice design involved. I do feel the selection could be slightly better for regular maintenance – cable replacement is not covered, and neither is cassette removal – but what you do get works very well. It’s priced well too. If you’re cramped for space at home or in the car, it’s well worth considering.

Verdict

High-quality tool set that covers a lot of regular maintenance jobs, and good value too

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