Wera Bicycle Set 3

Wera's Bicycle Set 3 is a 39-piece premium set of sockets and bits, designed to cover all bicycle fastening needs. It comes with a stubby screwdriver, a small ratchet and a quick-release chuck to hold those bits and sockets. The engineering quality is superb, but it comes with a price to match, and the set does have some idiosyncrasies.

If you've ever picked up a Wera tool, you'll know that the engineering and the attention to detail is something else. This is obvious with this set, too, from first opening the box. The experience is not dissimilar to unboxing an Apple product.

> Buy now: Wera Bicycle Set 3 from eBay for £76.75

Bicycle Set 3 is an evolution of Wera's Tool Check Plus set, which holds 39 pieces of 1/4in drive sockets and bits for universal applications, in as small a package as possible. The plastic holder measures 175 x 85 x 25mm, and has a belt clip on the back.

Mike, the UK Wera rep at the time, and an avid cyclist, modified the sockets and bits that the kit came with to be cycling specific, keeping the plastic holder. He added a fabric pouch to keep the kit in, along with a smaller holder for taking a subset of the tools out on the road/trail.

Think of Bicycle Set 3 as a fully functional, superb quality, minimalist set of bicycle-specific tools. It's based around a 1/4in mini ratchet and a stubby screwdriver to hold bits and or sockets directly, or with the quick-release chuck also included.

You also get:

• Sockets: 5.5mm, 6mm, 7mm, 8mm, 10mm, 13mm and 15mm
• Torx: TX10, TX15, TX20 (x2), TX25 (x2), TX27, TX30 and TX40
• Hex: 2mm, 2.5mm, 3mm, 4mm, 5mm, 6mm and 8mm
• Ball headed hex: 2.5mm, 3mm, 4mm, 5mm and 6mm
• Flat head screwdriver: 0.5x4mm, 0.6x4.5mm and 1x5.5mm
• One socket adaptor
• Phillips screwdriver bits: PH1, PH2 (x2), PH3
• The sockets are standard depth (24mm outside length) and the bits are standard 25mm.

The eagle-eyed will have spotted that the set includes two each of the TX20, TX25 and PH2 bits. That's something I would change. I get that Pozidriv bits are not used on bicycles, but including a PZ1, PZ2 and PZ3 instead of those duplicates would make this set more useful beyond just bicycle maintenance.

Given the quality of these bits, I can't really see that you'd need a spare anyway unless there's some tool abuse going on. And if you do wear something out, you can easily get individual replacements from Wera or from another brand, as 1/4in bits and sockets are universally available.

Aside from Pozi bits, I also missed a 12mm socket when I used this toolkit for jobs around the house. I can't blame Wera for not including it, as it's aimed at bicycle maintenance, and as far as I can think, 12mm is not a thing on bicycles. If I felt strongly about it, I could just buy the extra bits and make the kit what I want it to be.

The small plastic holder that the kit comes with measures 118 x 62 x 11mm and will take the ratchet with nine bits. Including a random selection of nine bits and the ratchet, it weighs 132g.

It's a nice touch, but I'd probably opt for something like Topeak's Mini PT30 multi-tool, taking the 36g weight penalty for the benefit of a much bigger range of tools.

Torque and leverage

According to Wera, its Zyklop Mini ratchet can achieve torque values of over 65Nm. That's a high number, but given that the ratchet is only 87mm long, there's only so much leverage available.

An 8mm hex bit is included in the kit so, theoretically, unscrewing pedals should be possible. Similarly, a 15mm socket is included so, theoretically, undoing track nuts on your fixed or BMX should be possible.

In the real world, I'd say it's ambitious to tackle them with this tool. It's possible, in some cases, but definitely not in all cases.

This is purely down to leverage; I have no doubt the ratchet is strong enough, and then some. It's well designed, with no sharp edges, so applying all the leverage you can is no problem.

> Buyer’s Guide: 9 of the best torque wrenches for bikes

There are advantages to being small, though: it's really useful in confined spaces. And because the ratchet mechanism has a return angle of six degrees, you only need about an inch at the end of the handle to put in a click; something you definitely can't do with the cheaper ratchets I've used.

Another useful feature of the ratchet is the little knurled thumbwheel that lets you do up fasteners quickly before the friction becomes such that you need the leverage of the ratchet.

Idiosyncrasies

I like a set like this for bike maintenance, and have been happily using a very similar one that I put together myself, for many years. I think I originally bought a bog standard, cheap, 1/4in drive socket set from Homebase. The ratchet on that died, so I bought a better replacement off ebay. I also invested in a set of decent quality hex and Torx keys to fit.

> Six essential tools for cyclists who do their own bike maintenance

Compared to my set, I found that the Wera set does things slightly differently.

The lever that switches the engagement from left to right is opposite to the other four ratchets and two torque ratchets that I own.

The ratchets I own are standard 1/4in drive, as in they have a 1/4in square protrusion that sockets fit on directly. You either use an adapter to use standard hex bits, or use socket bits that go directly on. On the Wera, the bits fit in the ratchet, and you use an adapter to use the sockets.

On the quick-release chuck, which Wera calls Rapidaptor, you slide the collet towards the bit to eject it. All other quick-release chucks I have do it the other way around.

None of these things are a problem as such, especially if socket set use is less ingrained.

Tool holder

I've talked quite a bit about the tools, but I also have a bit to say about the holder. Clearly, a lot of thought has gone into it, but I just found it a bit awkward to use.

It's tricky to get the stubby screwdriver, ratchet or Rapidaptor out one-handed, and it's impossible with the bits. You can slide the logo up for the bits to present themselves better for taking out, but it would have been nice to get 180-degree rotation so they are facing out; as it is, if you put the holder down, they click back into their original position.

As the holder has a belt clip, I assume that the holder has been designed this way for use mounted on a belt. You might find it useful to have this set on your belt, ready to use; it doesn't really fit with how I do my bike maintenance.

The socket set has lovely colour-coding, which is the same across the whole Wera range – light green is always the 13mm socket, for example. The sizes are printed on the holder, as well.

Sadly, you don't get the same with the bits. It's written on the bits themselves, but that's hard to make out, especially on the second row. With all the hex bits next to each other, the 4 and 5mm hex bits look very similar, and on more than one occasion I've chosen the wrong one at first.

While the holder is nicely designed and holds all the tools securely, I found myself preferring the standard socket set type setup, where you can easily see all the tools and pick them up with one hand if you've got the other one busy holding onto something.

That standard type case is not as compact at this one, and that is the one advantage this set has. However, given its size and weight (463g all-in on our Scales of Truth), I don't see myself taking it on a ride. For me, it's a set that stays at home, or in the car, so size and weight are less important really.

Value

At £89.99 this is very expensive; there's no getting around that. You can get 1/4in drive socket sets for much less.

A comparable 1/4in drive socket set in Halfords' Advanced range costs £50; a Draper set costs £24 from Halfords, and you can get similar sets from Bergen US Pro on ebay for less than £20.

These cheaper sets don't get anywhere near Wera's quality, but they are plenty good enough for bike maintenance; I've been using one for years.

> Beginner’s guide to bike tools

You can get sets cheaper than the ones I mentioned, but that's where you really start to compromise on quality to the point where the tools become less usable.

You can also pay more: a comparable 1/4in socket set from Unior costs £107.58; it has more sockets, but a smaller variety of bits.

Conclusion

If you're after a cycling-specific set of premium quality tools, are happy to pay a premium for it, and you want it taking up as little space as possible, this is certainly one to consider; it's very good. But if you're not fussed about the form factor then you might want to consider a more standard set – if you appreciate a decent tool, and don't mind spending your hard-earned on it, Wera also sells some very fine standard socket sets.

Verdict

Superb quality set of tools, but expensive, and the holder is a bit fiddly to use