If you’re anything like me, the little things are always the most easily lost. I’m not a cyclist with a walk in bike wardrobe-cum-workshop, with all my necessary bits and bobs conveniently awaiting me pre-ride. And my multitools are usually the first victims of my disorganisation.
Enter: the Crankbrothers multitool. The sleek black body unclips to reveal thirteen high tensile steel multitools. Among those are hex wrenches, a Philips screwdriver head and a torx T-10 and T-26. Oh, and it comes with a lifetime warranty.
You can buy it now for $19, reduced from $26.99 on Amazon. In the UK, you can get it for £20.55, at a lower, but still considerable 13% off. You could also buy it in gold if you’re feeling jazzy.
A multitool should be able to withstand serious use. Lost at the bottom of a backpack for three months? It should survive. Thrown into bike sheds and the back of vans only to end at the bottom of a pile of bikes, cleaning equipment, pumps and mucky end-of-ride clothes? It should emerge unscathed. But my experience of multitools hasn’t been nearly so reliable. One multitool bought from a big brand I won’t name fell apart months into owning it - I needed another multitool to help fix it.
But the sturdy, metal, lightweight design of the Crankbrothers multitool has ensured it’s withstood my tough-love. Predominantly a mountain bike brand, Crankbrothers’ kit is designed for rough use, for off-road beatings and changing elements. A multitool is mostly used in a rush, when tempers are frayed in the midst of an interrupted ride - you want the fix to be fast, and the tool to be reliable and trustworthy.
For those of you experimenting with tubeless, it also comes with tyre plug tools, and a storage case that mounts onto the body. But the feature that most appeals to me – beyond the functionality of its tools – is its weight. Light and self-contained, the tools don’t spin out of their casing seemingly of their own volition, and it fits neatly in the palm of the hand. Now my frontal lobe is fully developed, and my chaos slightly more measured, it lives in my saddle bag, a dependable ride-mate ready to help whenever I need.
“I wanted the smallest, simplest tool that had what I needed,” one review reads. “This fits the bill perfectly. I’m not somebody that focuses on grams and lightening everything. But I did want a compact tool. This is excellent. I’ll probably buy another.”
If you are looking for larger items, at bigger price points (and with bigger discounts!) head over to our Black Friday Bike Deals Hub, where we will be adding our best Black Friday finds from now until December 1.
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