e-rider
crappy member
- Location
- South West
in the last 25 years - NEVER!
A good Multi-Tool
- Thread starter iwchris
- Start date
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Widge
Baldy Go
I just bought a tiny little Lezyne multi-tool for about a tenner..............minimalist and beautifully made and with the usual assortment of allen key sizes but no chain tool. My previous multitool had a chain splitter that was made of ear-wax and disintegrated the first time it saw a chain so I now carry a small 'Parks' splitter as well. That's about all I carry on the road unless I'm going for a a bit of an epic trip.
I've used a chain splitter when I came off last spring and broke the derailleur hanger. Used it to convert to single speed. I've got this tool from Halfords. Apart from being cheap, it's advantage is having the loop 'handle' on the chain splitter means you can use a metal tyre lever to get enough leverage to pop out a mushroom-head rivet easily when at the roadside and every thing is automatically twice as hard and awkward as it is at home. If you do get one I would advise a bit of threadlock/superglue on the bolts that make the hinges as they can tend to loosen, and a general lube and protection with oil or GT85 as it does rust up nicely in the saddlebag over a season.
shouldbeinbed
Rollin' along
- Location
- Manchester way
I had one of those a few years back, competent enough but kept coming loose and getting all flappy, unless it was tightened up so much you couldn't fold a tool out. I ditched it quite quickly in favour of a Topeak Alien.I've been eyeing up the Crank Brothers tool, but Mickle and Scilly Suffolk put forward good arguments to get something else.
It is pretty though:
malcermie
Senior Member
- Location
- Dover, Kemt
Not clear on chain splitters. What would be the reason to split a chain on a ride?
shouldbeinbed
Rollin' along
- Location
- Manchester way
See p2. A broken chain needs the damaged bit removing & replacing with a powerlink to get going again, or your ride is over.
Unlikely but better safe than sorry unless you're a weight obsessive.
Unlikely but better safe than sorry unless you're a weight obsessive.
youngoldbloke
The older I get, the faster I used to be ...
- or as Svenbo points out above you will need one to shorten your chain in event of having to convert to single speed to get home after a derailleur problem. Also a very good idea to carry a spare quicklink too, although in emergency you can rejoin the chain using the chain tool (or re use the existing quicklink of course).
NormanD
Lunatic Asylum Escapee
- Location
- Heworth the other side of life!
I've used mine twice last year .. once to help a friend out when his chain jammed on the inside of the chainset and no matter how much we fiddled in the end we had to split the chain to free it.
Second time is when a poor guy got his tracksuit bottoms totally fouled in his chain / chainset and again the only way to free him was to split the chain and save his embarrassment.
Before that I've had to use it myself once to convert to a single speed to get me home after a hanger failure.
It's one of them tools you consider, you'll have no use for, but when you need one, it's a god send
Re: Chain splitter and spare quick link.
I am also reminded of when I rode the Etape in '08, and in the early stages saw a bloke stood at the side of the road holding his broken chain in the air shouting 'link' (except in foreign). In the fleeting moment I had to look, as hundreds of other riders streamed past the poor guy, his face suggested he'd have given his wife and first born to have had the kit to fix his chain on him!
I am also reminded of when I rode the Etape in '08, and in the early stages saw a bloke stood at the side of the road holding his broken chain in the air shouting 'link' (except in foreign). In the fleeting moment I had to look, as hundreds of other riders streamed past the poor guy, his face suggested he'd have given his wife and first born to have had the kit to fix his chain on him!
