Support road.cc

Like this site? Help us to make it better.

Park Tool THH-1 Sliding T-Handle Hex Wrench Set

9
£109.99

VERDICT:

9
10
Professional quality hex keys with integrated extractors for rounded bolt heads
High quality build
Sliding T-handle is really useful
Integrated extractor for rounded bolt heads
Integrated extractor for rounded bolt heads
Weight: 
1,429g

At road.cc every product is thoroughly tested for as long as it takes to get a proper insight into how well it works. Our reviewers are experienced cyclists that we trust to be objective. While we strive to ensure that opinions expressed are backed up by facts, reviews are by their nature an informed opinion, not a definitive verdict. We don't intentionally try to break anything (except locks) but we do try to look for weak points in any design. The overall score is not just an average of the other scores: it reflects both a product's function and value – with value determined by how a product compares with items of similar spec, quality, and price.

What the road.cc scores mean

Good scores are more common than bad, because fortunately good products are more common than bad.

  • Exceptional
  • Excellent
  • Very Good
  • Good
  • Quite good
  • Average
  • Not so good
  • Poor
  • Bad
  • Appalling

The Park Tool THH-1 Sliding T-Handle Hex Wrench Set might be pricey but these are excellent, professional quality tools with features to make bike maintenance a little quicker and easier, and to help remove rounded bolt heads.

What you get here are eight hex keys in the most common sizes for bike maintenance – 2mm, 2.5mm, 3mm, 4mm, 5mm, 6mm, 8mm, and 10mm – and a wall-mounted holder to keep them on.

> Find your nearest dealer here

Each hex key is a combination of chrome vanadium and S-2 tool steels and has machined, chamfered tips. The dimensions of the keys vary from 125mm to 305mm in length, with the T-handles measuring from 65mm to 145mm.

The T-handle can slide through the head at the top of the main body of each key, so you can adjust it to give you greater leverage or greater access, depending on what you're working on.

2020 Park Tool THH-1 individual - 1.jpg

I used the tip at the end of the main body of the key most of the time, but the T-handle tip comes in handy when there's less space – if you have a wedge-type seatpost clamp you access from the top of your bike's top tube, for example, and your saddle height is quite low. The tips are high quality and show no signs of wear after a couple of months' use. I certainly don't expect durability to be an issue here.

> Read our review of the Park Tool THT-1 - Sliding T-Handle Torx Wrench Set

One useful feature is the blue anodised aluminium Speed Spinner – a loose-fitting sleeve that fits around the body of each key without sliding up and down it. You can hold the Speed Spinner firmly between your thumb and forefinger and the body of the key can rotate inside.

2020 Park Tool THH-1 end detail - 1.jpg

This comes in handy for getting long bolts in and out quickly. You know when you loosen the bolt that holds your headset top cap in place, for example? The first half turn takes a little effort but sometimes you have loads of thread beyond that where there's very little resistance. The Speed Spinner allows you to hold the tool in place and just give the T-handle a quick whirl. Job done.

The other useful feature is the integrated Strip Gripper, which is the twisted black tip on one end of the T-handle that's designed to remove oversized and rounded hex heads. You've never rounded the head of a hex bolt? Don't tell fibs, we all have, and it can be a right royal PITA.

2020 Park Tool THH-1 bar detail - 1.jpg

The twisted design is an established feature of many extractor sets, and it's often enough to loosen a bolt that a standard hex key can't shift. Some heads are rounded beyond its capabilities, but it's always worth giving it a go before resorting to anything more drastic.

The hex keys come with their own mount so, as long as you put them away, you'll be able to find the right one quickly when you need it, rather than wasting time rummaging around at the bottom of a toolbox. The mount has a rubbery finish and you can fix it to a wall, bench, or whatever else is convenient.

2020 Park Tool THH-1 bar in situ  - 1 (1).jpg

The size of each key is given on the tool body, and a little plate in the centre of the mount tells you the sizes too. I'd have thought it would be more useful to have the sizes printed next to the relevant holes in the mount, but you're probably able to pick out at least the most common ones by eye anyway.

2020 Park Tool THH-1 bar in situ  - 1.jpg

You might baulk at paying £110 for a set of eight hex keys, and there's no doubt that it's a significant investment, but I'm a big believer in buying the best tools you can and making them last. You could go online and buy an S-2 tool steel hex key set for far less, but bear in mind that features like the sliding handle and the Speed Spinner sleeve are bound to raise the price, and you're getting an integrated rounded bolt extractor set too.

For comparison, the Silca HX-Three Travel Essentials Kit we reviewed is £35. They're high quality but don't have the features of these Park Tool keys.

The Silca HX-One Home and Essential Travel Essential Kit is £125. The eight hex keys come in a beechwood box with an adaptor for using six Torx heads and four screw heads.

> Beginner’s guide to bike tools

As well as being available as a complete set, you can buy the Park Tool hex keys individually at prices from £13.99 to £17.99 each, depending on the size. This means you can just get the sizes you need or, if you do go for the complete set, replace any that you lose or damage.

All in all, the Park Tool THH-1 Sliding T-Handle Hex Wrench Set is a top-quality offering. If you're just an occasional bike tinkerer, perhaps tools like this are overkill, but if you're into your bike maintenance and you like to have excellent equipment that's built to last, that's exactly what you get here.

Verdict

Professional quality hex keys with integrated extractors for rounded bolt heads

If you're thinking of buying this product using a cashback deal why not use the road.cc Top Cashback page and get some top cashback while helping to support your favourite independent cycling website

road.cc test report

Make and model: Park Tool THH-1 Sliding T-Handle Hex Wrench Set

Size tested: 2mm, 2.5mm, 3mm, 4mm, 5mm, 6mm, 8mm, 10mm

Tell us what the product is for and who it's aimed at. What do the manufacturers say about it? How does that compare to your own feelings about it?

Park Tool says, "Designed and built specifically for a wide variety of bicycle hex work, the THH-1 is a set of eight common sizes of professional quality T-handle hex wrenches made for speed, efficiency, leverage and a perfect fit. Soon to become your favourite hex set, the THH-1 includes a handy tool holder that mounts to any vertical surface, including pegboard and solid surfaces (fasteners not included)."

Tell us some more about the technical aspects of the product?

Park Tool lists these features:

– Carefully selected combination of Chrome Vanadium and S-2 tool steels

– 2, 2.5, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 and 10mm hex wrenches included

– Unique anodised aluminium Speed Spinner makes running long bolts in and out quick and effortless

– Machined, chamfered tips allow easier insertion into hex fittings

– Integrated 'Strip-Gripper' twisted hex that makes removal of most bolts with stripped or oversized hexes fast and easy

– Sliding T-handle creates increased leverage and multiple access positions

– Tool holder is included with the set and mounts to any wall, bench or tool box, perfectly positioning each wrench for easy access and storage

Rate the product for quality of construction:
 
10/10
Rate the product for performance:
 
10/10
Rate the product for durability:
 
9/10
Rate the product for comfort (if applicable)
 
9/10

You might call the Speed Spinner a 'comfort' feature in that it saves you a bit of wrist wrenching. It's a loose sleeve on the body of each key. You can hold on to it and spin a bolt tighter until you reach the bite point, or spin bolts out once you've loosened them enough.

Rate the product for value:
 
6/10

This is a lot to spend on a hex key set, of course, but the quality is first class. Even if you do some real damage, you can replace the individual key (from £13.99, depending on the size).

Tell us how the product performed overall when used for its designed purpose

Superbly well. The length of the key body and adjustability of the T-handle means you can access even the most awkward bolts.

Tell us what you particularly liked about the product

The overall quality, the Speed Spinner loose sleeve and the Strip-Gripper for removing bolts with stripped heads.

Tell us what you particularly disliked about the product

Not much. They're £110, but worth it if you do a lot of bike maintenance.

How does the price compare to that of similar products in the market, including ones recently tested on road.cc?

For comparison, the Silca HX-Three Travel Essentials Kit we reviewed is £35. They're high quality but don't have the features of these Park Tool keys.

The Silca HX-One Home and Essential Travel Essential Kit is £125. The eight hex keys come in a beechwood box with an adaptor for using six Torx heads and four screw heads.

Did you enjoy using the product? Yes

Would you consider buying the product? Yes

Would you recommend the product to a friend? Yes

Use this box to explain your overall score

This is the best hex key set I've ever used so, although it costs over £100, I still think it warrants an overall rating of 'exceptional', and that's a 9.

Overall rating: 9/10

About the tester

Age: 48  Height: 190cm  Weight: 80kg

I usually ride:   My best bike is:

I've been riding for: Over 20 years  I ride: Most days  I would class myself as: Expert

I regularly do the following types of riding: commuting, club rides, sportives, general fitness riding,

Mat has been in cycling media since 1996, on titles including BikeRadar, Total Bike, Total Mountain Bike, What Mountain Bike and Mountain Biking UK, and he has been editor of 220 Triathlon and Cycling Plus. Mat has been road.cc technical editor for over a decade, testing bikes, fettling the latest kit, and trying out the most up-to-the-minute clothing. We send him off around the world to get all the news from launches and shows too. He has won his category in Ironman UK 70.3 and finished on the podium in both marathons he has run. Mat is a Cambridge graduate who did a post-grad in magazine journalism, and he is a winner of the Cycling Media Award for Specialist Online Writer. Now over 50, he's riding road and gravel bikes most days for fun and fitness rather than training for competitions.

Add new comment

5 comments

Avatar
Hardtail_650b | 3 years ago
0 likes

There is nothing better than Silca t-handle folio they are aweosme! muche better then Park Tool.

In regards to P-handle hex keys I use Pedro's quality 100%

Avatar
guycoz | 3 years ago
0 likes

The key missing feature that I can't understand they removed from the PH-x range is a ball head. Not sure if this is just a massive oversight, or whether they deliberately removed it (as it can strip bolts if used improperly). Neverltheless it still means you'll probably need a set of ball head wrenches to compliment these.

Avatar
Municipal Waste | 3 years ago
0 likes

I used a set of these yesterday and they were very good. For reference I have 17 years professional spannering under my belt. My only gripe is that had they anodized the spinning grips in different colours it would be quicker to spot say a 2mm or a 2.5mm across the workshop or in a colleague's hands for example.
You'll potentially want a standard and a stubby set of regular allen keys to complement these in order to carry out certain fiddly jobs too.

Avatar
vanderlay | 3 years ago
0 likes

Hi Mat. Like the look of these. You've given the strip gripper a negative (red cross  not green tick) in the summary but seem to like the feature in the main text. What's the negative?

Thanks

Avatar
ktache replied to vanderlay | 3 years ago
1 like

He has given it both a green tick and a red cross.

Latest Comments