Birzman Diversity 17 multitool review

The Birzman Diversity 17 is one of those multitools that looks to pack everything you need into one item. So there’s a chain tool and CO2 inflator, as well as two tyre levers built into the package.

As you’d expect, this leads to a fairly chunk piece, with an overall weight of 180 grams. It bounces around a bit in your jersey pocket. But on the other hand, it does give you a comprehensive range of allen keys as well as the ability to fix flats and chain problems.

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The tools themselves are the wrap style, where the metal rod is bent around the spindle, rather than the more sophisticated and expensive forged type. They rattle around a bit and a jolt can cause them to open.

The seven allen keys cover everything from 2mm up to 8mm, with the latter being a sliding piece that slips over the elongated 5mm key. This works fine for removing and tightening pedals, the large tool body giving plenty of leverage. But it does add the risk that the sliding part could become detached and lost, despite the spring loaded ball to hold it in place.

It’s good to see both a flat head and crosshead screwdriver included, as most bikes use both somewhere and the single T25 torx bit is likely to fit something somewhere on many bikes.

If you have chain problems, the chain tool unclips from the Birzman Diversity 17 body, which itself has the screw in rivet punch. Again, the large tool body makes this reasonably easy to use. There’s a wire chain link hook, to make getting a magic link in place easier.

The chain tool also includes a couple of spoke spanner notches for different nipple sizes. And built into it is a CO2 inflator head for screw-in cartridges with a press-to-inflate presta and Schrader valve connector. Again, it’s a useful add-on, meaning that you can get away without carrying a pump. But being all-metal, the inflator gets very cold when used, so you need to wrap it in some sort of insulation when it’s called for.

Finally, the two tyre levers, which fit into the sides of the Birzman Diversity 17 tool are robust, although they don’t quite fit flush with the tool body, so again there’s a risk that they might get detached.

So overall, the Birzman Diversity 17 multitool provides a good set of options to sort many on-the-road mechanicals, at a reasonable price for its functionality, although at the expense of some bulk.