Good variety of high quality tools in a compact and lightwieght package
Disadvantages:
Tyre levers are average, no ring spanners for older bikes
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
Why would you want one?
Multi-tools have been around for almost ever - I have a turn of the century mutli-tool, complete with knives, a hook for doing up bootlaces, and amusingly a spike for removing stones from horses hooves.
The Hexus has a similar design to the ubiquitous swiss army knife, although rather than blades it has allen keys, and screwdrivers. The Hexus is your get out of jail free card when you need to carry out an emergency trail/road side repair.
What does it do?
While it is possible to use this for general maintenance, I generally prefer to use proper tools for this purpose. MInd you, popped in a pocket, I find it handy for tweaking when test riding the bike after an overhaul.
On modern bikes, you will come across 3 types of bolt/screw.
1) allen head - the vast majority of bolts. 2) philips/slot head - typically used in adjusters for derailleurs, and brakes. 3) torx - used for mounting disc rotors.
The Hexus will fit all these bolts/screws.
It has a chain tool, for splitting and joining chains., It also comes with a handy spring clip for holding the two halves of the chain together. This makes the tricky job of joining and separating chains a breeze. The chain tool is by far and away the best tool on the Hexus. It is so good that I haven't found the need to buy a separate chain tool for home maintenance.
The sides of the tool pop off and double up as tyre levers. They're made from a reasonably tough plastic. Generally they're fine for popping off the beads of folding tyres, but you might struggle on a tight fitting wire bead tyre. A friend of mine did manage to break theirs trying to lever off a tight fitting downhill tyre.
The tyre levers incorporate a stud for depressing Schrader (car-type) valves. I personally prefer to use my fingernail. 2 spoke wrenches, which I haven't used and never will, as they are poorly designed. One of the tyre levers has an allen key. This doubles as a lever for tightening the chain tool as well as for adjusting the tension of the flip out tools.
What doesn't it do?
The Hexus does not have any tools to fit hexagonal nuts and bolts, which are found on older/cheaper bikes.
It's only really suitable for low torque applications. High torque applications need proper tools. For instance, I wouldn't use it for tightening crank bolts, but it would get you home in the event one your crank bolts loosened.
It isn't any use stripping down parts that require specialist tools, such as hubs and bottom brackets.
Would I ever be without one?
The simple answer is no. I love this tool so much that when I lost my old one, I went straight out and without any hesitation bought another one.
The metal tools are all made from good quality Chrome Vanadium Steel, meaning they are hard wearing, and unlikely to break in use. I haven't experienced any failures with using any of the tools in over 2 years of use.
The hexus fits nicely in the hand, with the tyre levers contributing a good deal to the comfort.
The downsides?
The aforementioned tire levers while fine for most tyres will not take lots of abuse. If you have tight tires, you will need better quality levers to get them off.
On a new tool getting the tyre levers off can be tricky. You have to flick one off with your fingernail, and then use it to lever off the other one. This stops becoming a problem after you have been using them for a while.
Some of the tools are not obvious. I had the tool 6 months before I realised that there was spring clip for holding the chain together. I should have read the card listing all the tools more thoroughly before lobbing it in the bin.
Overall
A top quality trail/roadside tool that will tackle 99% of jobs on your bike. And it comes in black grey or yellow, what more could you want?
More details
Price
£16
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