About SPURCYCLE
“The promise to be lighter, faster, and stronger is for other brands to trumpet. We simply intend anything we design to be a lasting favorite among daily cyclists. Of course, that’s not an easy mark to hit. Concepts for our bell project began after crossing a crowded Golden Gate Bridge over many sunny weekend mornings. Sketches and models evolved over more than a year of iteration in our prototype shop before all the details were dialed.”
These are the words of Nick and Clint, founders of SPURCYCLE.
The success of SPURCYCLE’s bell plopped the company firmly into the spotlight of the cycling world. Cool and svelte, even pavement going roadies have been clamoring to install the bell onto their handlebars.
Resting on one’s laurels isn’t in the vocabulary of SPURCYCLE, and late 2017 saw the release of an uber-svelte and highly functional toolkit, simply known as the SPURCYCLE Tool.
I was privy to a pre-release version of the Tool which ultimately went on extended walkabout (more on that later), but the images you see before you are of the production variant that I later bought and paid for.
The Tool comes equipped with 10 swappable, chrome-coated S2 steel bits.
The included bits are allens for 2mm, 2.5mm, 3mm, 4mm, 5mm, 6mm and 8mm, T10 and T25 torx, and a #2 phillips head.
The bits pair with an adjustable T-handle, constructed from Grade 5 titanium.
The T-Handle happens to be machined in Richmond, California.
All of goodness this is stored inside a stitched X-Pac carry case, made in San Francisco. Outside dimensions measure 95mm wide by 30mm deep.
I didn’t test this part of the case’s functionality, but SPURCYCLE claims you can fit your extra expresso money inside the case, alongside the Tool.
On my trusty gram scale, the case, bits, bit holder and T-Handle weigh 90.5 grams. I don’t have a potential competitor’s multi-tool with 10 bits at my disposal to compare, but SPURCYCLE’s Tool is light. It stows easily into one’s jersey pocket, leaving plenty of room for other gear.
Low weight and a small footprint are all well and good, but how does the SPURCYCLE Tool actually perform? I don’t have a video of the tool in action, but I do have plenty of photos of the tool as used with common size bolts on a recent review bike build.
Above, the T30 torx bit that clamps the stem to the steerer (out of focus) was the only bit that alluded me on this 3T Strada road bike. Had to resort to my torx multi tool for that bolt.
With the exception of the T30 torx bit used to tighten the 3T ARX stem steerer bolt, I used the SPURCYCLE Tool to do final adjustments and a tightness check over this build. The T-Handle’s lever is adjustable for those times when you need extra leverage, and circlips keep the lever in place.
In the field, the SPURCYCLE Tool works just as well as in the clean environment above. In fact, the Tool accompanied me to Australia earlier in 2018, and this is where my walkabout story comes in.
The early portion of my Australia trip saw me moving about a lot, unpacking and re-packing a case or two. A small item such as the Tool is easy to lose, which is exactly what happened. After languishing in my rear jersey pocket for about two weeks, the Tool went on walkabout somewhere in my luggage, or was left behind in a hotel room?
Saddened by this, it was at this moment I wished the Tool’s case was available in a bright colour – red – pink – bright green – in the hope I could eyeball it. Dark coloured objects such as my phone, the Tool and other stuff always disappear at my house, and only reappear after a few minutes of searching. This getting older business and forgetting where I left stuff really sucks.
Move forward to Sydney International Airport, where I entered the final security checkpoint for the International terminal and boarding of the plane to the US of A. The security agent grew frustrated at my carry on backpack, which has been torn asunder, searched twice, and scanned three times in the X-Ray machine. “There’s an object in that backpack I cannot find but appears in the X-Ray”, she said. I thought to myself, “WTF is she on about?, that bag is empty”.
The agent rummaged around in the bottom of the bag one more time, and this time found the extra special secret compartment, where stuff that should be in the main bag compartment, seems to collect. The SPURCYCLE Tool came into the light. Bollocks! I thought to myself, “Yes!, she found the bloody Tool”. The security agent was less than amused, and impolitely advised me it couldn’t fly, and promptly threw it into the bin before my very eyes.
$hite!
Found, then lost again, permanently. This event was of the same magnitude as the time another airport security agent tossed a large and unopened jar of my carry-on Vegemite stash into the same bin. Not happy.
The moral of this story is; if you fly with the SPURCYCLE Tool, pack it into your checked luggage. Ditto with Vegemite.
The final word on this review. The SPURCYCLE Tool is a superb bit of gear, and is now my goto toolkit for any bike ride, gravel, roadie or otherwise.
Priced at $US 69.00 the SPURCYCLE Tool isn’t cheap, but it is diminutive, jammed with tools, lightweight and USA Made! You have to love that.
Nice tool set but it would be nice to have a chain tool included.
Agreed! You can survive just about anything out in the sticks but a broken chain.
Isn’t TSA great!
Looks very classy. Are there magnets to keep the bits in place?
I too was wondering how the bits are retained
Possibly friction fit?
Yes H. C, It will fit