Tools of the Trade Show

The Anodized Branding

Green, blue, red, yellow and rainbow are some of the recognizable anodizing hues of the tools we use daily. While some of us are loyal to a certain colour that paints our peg boards and tool boxes, it is more often a Skittles-like mismatch shit show that adorns the everyday bike person's tool drawer.

While there is a functional benefit to using one brand to dress up your tool wardrobe, there is often a missing tool that one needs to facilitate a repair from another brand. The pre-assembled tool kits available to the regular public are often archaic in their spectrum perhaps full of cone wrenches and the like.

Sea Otter is a beautiful shit show. A 40,000+ people event that spans a kilometre in diameter and packs a whopping 1000 Exhibitors in to the grounds. As a team of three, we tried to cover as much of it as possible but with so much to digest and talk about, we undoubtedly missed some good stuff.

What we did try to accomplish was to quench our thirst for shiny new tools. So here are some of our findings.

Park Tool

The blue team was again out in full force and had some new tools to show. It is always fun walking through the Park Tool display looking at everything a commercial shop could be using on the daily.

They had a couple of new bits that I liked, the first one being the TPT-1 tire plug tool. I have multiple tire plug tools in my toolbox from failed and successful experiments. The main one I carry with me on rides is the Slug Plug tool. It is slim enough to fit on the door of my Orbea's storage compartment. It is also big enough to be used as a shop tool. This Park one however takes the shop use case to the next level with a sweet anodized metal handle that fits extremely well in the hands. The best part about the new tool is the rubber slide that is built into the prongs that pushes the bacon strip down into the tire while removing the tool. Simple and effective.

• Includes 5 vulcanized rubber plugs (refills available — part #2370K)
• Dimensions: 89 x 27 x 40 mm (3.5" x 1.1" x 1.6")
• Weight: 79 grams (2.8 oz.) with plugs

The new TPT-1 will travel with me in the truck at all times for when a puncture threatens a good time at a ride. It may also come along for some bigger rides as a sure way to fix a flat in the backcountry.

Park Tool had a few more new bits in their booth in the shape of a crimp tool EP-1, TH-3 tap and bit driver, Bottom Bracket tool retention system and a redesigned internal cable routing system for Shimano and Bosch wires.

Park Tool Website

The tool belt of USA - Fix Manufacturing

Fix Manufacturing is a small, rider/skater owned business out of Laguna Beach, CA. Not to be confused with the other tool maker from the same neighbourhood, founder Tony Zentil (sweet ass name btw) came up with a wearable EDC tool for fixing up his skateboard and trucks.

The Fix Manufacturing however is not a monosport enterprise and making specific multi-tools for Bikes, skates, surfing and snowboarding requires an understanding of the nuances of each.

For bikes, Fix will sell you their all time belt tool, which is a belt buckle mounted multi tool, the Wheelie Wrench Pro with or without the dynaplug option, and the E-flator digital tire pump that can fit in the palm of your hand.

All these little problem solvers are available directly fromFix Manufacturing.

Brass is Greener on the other side (Abbey Tools)

This green anodizing identifies quality tools. The crowd-sourced nature of the company means there are solutions to unique and often unaddressed issues that mechanics face around the world.

Abbey tools had a couple of new tools at the show and I was excited about both of them. The star of the show is the new Bearing Extracting tool. Gone are the days of removing bearings like a Neanderthal. This new tool has a beautifully machined expanding collet that goes through the bearing and grabs it from the blind side. While the bearing doesn't have to be a blind* one. The idea is to reduce the use of drifts and punches to remove hub and other bearings and extract those damn things with a straight pull rather than rocking them and potentially damaging the bore

*If you are not familiar with the term, it refers to the bearing's accessibility

The new tool is:

• Compatible with bearing Inside Diameters (ID) from 12 to 20 millimeters.
• Compatible with Bearing Outside Diameters from 24 to 37 millimeters.

Abbey doesn't claim to have invented the tool, admitting they borrowed the idea from the now-closed Noble Tools of the U.K. It's a 300 USD tool but it does cover a nice range of drifts and if saves you the headache of damaging parts with a hammer and sockets, so be it.

Next up, we have the Wheel building stand. It is simple, functional and is again, kind of pricey. I first saw a version of this at Crankbrother's wheel building factory during my visit couple of years ago.

The new wheel building stand will capture the hub in the centre and the adjustable arms will capture the rim on the outside allowing you to concentrate on holding the spokes and nipples instead. It's a third and fourth hand all in one and if you are the kind of person/shop who builds a couple of wheels per week, it may be a worthwhile investment. Sure you can make one yourself, but this one is made from precision materials and should last a very long time. Cost? 350 USD... it's a write-off.

Abbey also had a single, spoke wrench at the booth. It was nothing to write about until I held it in my hands. The ergonomics and the size were perfect and it was feather light. This was a working proto until the steel-tipped one arrives.

There was also a 1500 USD bench wise with a ball head table mount made by Orange Vice Company. This is not an anvil they say but I'd definitely tap on that once or twice.

Thanks for the Feedback

Feedback Tools make the best bike repair stands in my opinion. Lightweight, sturdy, functional and good looking stands are usually hard to come by. Sure my Park Tool Steel stand can hold a building up if needed but it is nowhere near as portable or easy to use as the stands from Feedback. The Pro Mechanic Bike Stand gets a 20th anniversary colour upgrade this year in some flashy colours. The Pro stand weighs 12.8lbs/5.7kg for portability. While I wouldn't call it particularly light, it folds down to very managable size. I Like the one handed release button and the speed you can attach a bike to it..

There were also a couple of new hand tools from Feedback at the booth. This one might trigger some people but here we are. The adjustable pliers wrench is a 35mm mouth capacity, Knipex-like wrench from Feedback. The scale is clearly printed on both sides and it is 7"/180mm long. At 55 USD this is going to be a tough one considering the Knipex is the same price and built a little sturdier and has better finishes. But bike shops do not carry Knipex, so for those who use bike shops to acquire tools, this one maybe a slam dunk.

The flush cutter and needle nose pliers were also new and nice editions to the non-bike specific tools you can get from Feedback. You can never have too many tools, so it's great to have more options when it comes to small hand helds.

State of the Unior

Unior have not made as massive an inroad into the US bicycle tool market as might have been anticipated a few years ago. If the majestic silverback pictured above has any say, that may soon change.

The majestic silverback in that picture is Bruce Fina. He's the co-founder of Pedro's. As such, he has a bit of a prior history when it comes to tools and lubes and the bike shop landscape. Now, instead of retiring to his secret lair in Austrian alps and frolicking in his vats of money, he is getting his hands dirty once again; helping Unior and Sinter establish more of a presence in the US.

Unior is a Slovenian company, and is also the largest forging factory in Europe. So, in addition to stomping out all their own branded tools, there's a healthy business in stomping out pistons and con rods for the auto and motorcycle industries, as well as supplying forged metal parts for whoever else needs them. This is preamble to say that Unior is a big outfit, and not just some design firm that gets its name stamped onto tools that are made on a different continent.

The tools, well, there are hundreds of them. From very reasonably priced single items that are sensibly designed and ergonomically effective to full tool kits and specialty tools that are fully over the top, Unior have something to answer every conceivable need that a bike mechanic may have. Bearing tools? Facing, cutting, aligning tools? Boogered pedal thread repair kits? Suspension tools? Unior goes deep. Might be the only outfit that can go toe to toe with the Blue Army, and with some judicious selection, there is a lot in the Unior catalog that represents solid value. Definitely worth checking out.

Wera-r you gone?

Here is a fuck up. Wera tools were set up right at the entrance to the show so we made the grave error of leaving it to the last minute to go browse through their stuff. Usually a bottleneck for getting in and out of the fairgrounds, it's not a great place to hang out and look at products. When we returned to see what was new, they were already packed up and leaving. Damn it!

We are as bummed as you are but we'll be looking into fixing this. In the meantime, enjoy this only photo I took at the Wera tent of a curious little girl reaching for the soft-blow hammer!

In the meantime, you can have a look around their website.

Wera Tools