Seeking small, light multi tool with pliers and blade

[Darell]

That is gnarly, I always take a tire and a tube with me. I figure since you only lose a few seconds on a very steep climb for every pound of weight it is worth it.

Well, every ride is different. For long ones, I'll carry an extra tire and two tubes. And a shift cable. And a second pair of socks. And a patch kit. And two co2 canisters. Fiber spoke. And a bigger pump. And more tools.... For shorter rides, I'm not going to carry all that. As for a "few seconds on a very steep climb" I guess that all depends on what "very steep" means, and the BIG difference is for how LONG are you climbing that "very steep" hill? I regularly climb over 10,000' on my rides. I'm not going to bring the kitchen sink with me after all the effort I put into maintaining my body weight! I already ride a steel bike in crowds of ultra-light carbon.

If I would have picked that go in my tire with any kind of speed, use would have almost certainly messed up a lot more than my tire though.

We were going better than 20mph. It sure sounded cool when it happened.

And I love reading about cycling horror stories, prepares me for what could happen.
Neal

Well, that's just it. What could happen? It is why I want some light pliers to take with me on my road bike. There are many times when I've found that I need to pull something with more grip and strength than my fingers could ever manage. You say you carry a tire with you... do you also carry a spoke? A spoke wrench? A master link? A chain tool? An extra derailleur hanger? A pedal wrench? You can't prepare for everything, so you have to choose the most likely. I'll choose a tool (chain tool, pliers, etc) over a spare part (chain, tire) just about every time. The tools can be used for several tasks, where the parts can usually only be used for a single fix. I always carry pliers with me on the mtn bike. And I've used them to yank chain out of being wedged between the cassette and the rear drop out. I've used them as a spoke wrench. I've used them to pull bits of cable out of my shifter. Each time, this simple tool has literally saved my ride out in the middle of nowhere. Walk 15 miles in bike shoes... or ride out? Well worth having the pliers.

One thing that is permanently in all of my bike kits that most people ignore: tweezers. I've used them to get thorns out of tires AND out of me. I've pulled countless bee stingers out of me, and one tick. So here again, a small, light tool meant that I could salvage my heavy bulky tire.

 

[neal71]

My multi tool has almost every tool I could ever need for my bike. I can disassemble and reassemble almost the whole thing with it. My speedplay pedals actually use a hex wrench or a regular pedal wrench. Only thing I couldn't take apart would be my BB, but if that breaks, my guess would be that I would be very broken as well. I live in Dallas so I guess I never really have to be more than 5km from the nearest bike store.

 

[Darell]

My multi tool has almost every tool I could ever need for my bike.

Does it have pliers? I have several great bike multi-tools as well. None of them has pliers or a blade. It turns out that you don't just need to carry tools for the *bike* - see tweezer account above.

My speedplay pedals actually use a hex wrench or a regular pedal wrench

If you can get enough torque to remove your pedals with a multi-tool, then you either have a pretty big tool, or your pedals are not torqued on properly!

I live in Dallas so I guess I never really have to be more than 5km from the nearest bike store.

You don't do all of your riding in town, do you?? If I did that, I wouldn't carry anything with me... just like I don't carry anything on my town bike already...

 

[neal71]

Not all of it, but Dallas is very big, can easily get 60 miles in without really ever leaving the city. When I go out of town usually it is outside of Denton where I go to school, luckily I always ride with someone and can always get a ride if I need someone to pick me up.

Neal

 

[8secondride]

Here's another decent quality one for cheap:

http://www.meritline.com/16-in-1-multi-function-outdoor-tool-pliers---p-49034.aspx

I have this one - http://www.meritline.com/6-in-1-mul...r-with-bright-led-light-silver---p-25417.aspx - and for a leatherman knock-off, I'm pretty impressed with the quality. It's stayed together, none of the tools have broken on me, and the pliers are pretty substantial. But since you're not sweating the cost, I'm sure there are better choices than whatever meritline has.

 

[chmsam]

When I was a kid biking a bazillion years ago I used to take a tool kit with full sized tools among other things because there were no specialized bike tools for riders back then. Woulda killed for a regular Leatherman let alone a Squirt. Hey, at least the wheels weren't made of stone (but bikes for the average rider weighed almost as much anyway). Rides of 30 miles or more made a man outta ya.

If the Squirt P4 isn't small and light enough (2.25" closed and 2 ozs.) I can't think of anything else. Keeping the weight down is good but maybe there is a limit on how small and light. Have you considered possibly stripping down a Squirt? They're probably too small to drill out to reduce weight but maybe there's a tool you could remove or replace.

Good luck with your search.

 

[Darell]

If the Squirt P4 isn't small and light enough (2.25" closed and 2 ozs.) I can't think of anything else. Keeping the weight down is good but maybe there is a limit on how small and light. Have you considered possibly stripping down a Squirt? They're probably too small to drill out to reduce weight but maybe there's a tool you could remove or replace.

Good luck with your search.

I fully realize that I sound crazy. And I'm OK with that. If we don't strive for our vision of "just right" then we're forever stuck with what we have, ya know? The Squirt IS a great solution, and I am now using exactly that for this situation. I don't need it much smaller. But it does have a bunch of tools that I'll never need. This whole process made me think about a new product - a "bike tool" that you could build a la carte. Chose only those tools you want, and somebody builds up your custom piece.

A guy can dream.

 

[Darell]

I have this one - http://www.meritline.com/6-in-1-mul...r-with-bright-led-light-silver---p-25417.aspx - and for a leatherman knock-off, I'm pretty impressed with the quality. It's stayed together, none of the tools have broken on me, and the pliers are pretty substantial. But since you're not sweating the cost, I'm sure there are better choices than whatever meritline has.

Thanks for sharing. Great price!

 

[chmsam]

It's not crazy in the least.

Like I said though, why not make life easy and just strip out and/or drill out a multitool that already exists? Not saying that the Squirt is the only one but using that as a basis you'd have a tool weighing less than 2 ozs. and frankly anything shorter than that (2.25") is probably going to be too small to use effectively.

As for building a specialized item there's probably not enough business in that market to make a go of it but it might get someone bike toolmaker sainthood status for the effort.

Good luck.

 

[DisrupTer911]

How about the Leatherman Freestyle?

similiar to the Skeletool in design but no screwdriver/bottle open/carabiner.

http://www.leatherman.com/product/Freestyle

 

[Darell]

How about the Leatherman Freestyle?

similiar to the Skeletool in design but no screwdriver/bottle open/carabiner.

http://www.leatherman.com/product/Freestyle

Mike up there in post #8 suggested the same unit. Very nice... but twice the size and weight that I'm looking for. Really the bar has been set at the Squirt at this point. It is what I'm carrying currently. I haven't had a need to deploy it yet, but I'm ready for action!

 

[Quest4fire]

OK Darell, Try this one on for size (Pun intended!). The Swiss Tech Micro Plus Ex. Closed it measures 5/16" X 2" X 1-1/2". It will fit in one of those old plastic, pucker-opening coin purses with room to spare. Here is a picture. I own one of these and it is able to bring a surprising amount of grip for its size.

 

[Darell]

@Quest -

Thanks for the input! I'd like to try one of those in person - the handles look WAY more comfortable than most of the mini ones. The only real downside for me is that there is still no blade. :-(