Wera 05004174001 Bicycle set 6, Screwdriver set, 10 pieces

Product Information

Next, we have the bits themselves. In my opinion, these small bits are where Hex-Plus really shows its worth. With some other bit ratchet sets (even some fairly nice ones), I find that any fit challenges are really apparent. If you’re giving your suspension pivot bolts a nice little tighten, for example, the bit can sometimes be hard to remove. This is less of an issue with the Wera tool, and suggests that there might really be something to this Hex-Plus thing. The torque wrenches are particularly good, not least because they offer a service to recalibrate them to a very high accuracy after you've used them for a lot of work/time. Many less expensive torque wrenches don't start out as very accurate and can rapidly degrade even more. For low torque applications like those needed for many bicycle bits, an inaccurate torque wrench is no good thing. they have a built-in ratcheting mechanism that also reduces the minimum turning arc from the usual 60 degrees to 30 degrees, making them good for turning bolts buried in the gubbins-depths. How a tool fits in your hand, how a tool is balanced along its axis, how a tool feels when you twist it, these are all the aspects that Wera tools excel. Wera Werk Hermann Werner GmbH & Co. KG aka Wera Tools, have been changing the way people think about hand tool ergonomics since 1936 and have won numerous awards for their designs. Their marketing department has been allowed to pursue sales attempts without any understanding of the meaning of some of the classifications they're employing to describe the tool sets they're trying to sell. Their "woodworking" set, for example, is of little use to a woodworker and also includes a couple of token woodworking tools not designed or made by Wera.

Finally, a couple of accessories that improve the ability to get the abve tools into awkward places: You can get sets cheaper than the ones I mentioned, but that's where you really start to compromise on quality to the point where the tools become less usable.This is purely down to leverage; I have no doubt the ratchet is strong enough, and then some. It's well designed, with no sharp edges, so applying all the leverage you can is no problem. Wera are “Tool Rebels” who dare to do different! When it comes to hand tools, Wera are innovating in ways that no other German tool company does. Specialising in accessories and hand tools, Wera’s expertise shines when looking at the smaller details.

For years I used a variety of adjustable spanners, of the standard kind, on bikes and many other things. They've all gone to the charity shop now, replaced by these: The things are very well made and ergnomically "right". They come calibrated to a high standard and can be re-calibrated (for a fee) by a Wera agent situated somewhere in Derbyshire, for we Blighters. they self-adjust across the range of their jaw-gap, making it irrelevant whwther the bolt head is metric, imperial or any other standard width. If you do a lot of home maintenance, a long-handled set of hex keys like this is a huge help. A multi-tool or the usual little keys of the type that simply materialise in your toolbox – be honest, you never bought a single one, but there they all are – will only make every job harder and longer. I've found Wera's HexPlus shaped allen keys can really save a soft bolt that's starting to round out. They're a great product and well worth spending a small premium for IMHO.

Wera Kraftform

The ideal use case could be as a smallish kit that you keep in your vehicle, that lets you complete some parking lot bike repairs, and allows you to build your own little haul along set (via the small plastic holder) as well. As a cheapskate, I try to be mindful of how I speak about cost. In all honesty, I wouldn’t fork out the money for many of the things that I wind up reviewing, so it often doesn’t feel right to judge things on absolute cost. When I do judge on cost, it tends to be on a relative basis. Does a product offer more (or less, as it sometimes does) than a comparable product available at a lower price? It’s a much more fair judgment of value when done this way. This can be especially challenging with tools, as it’s hard to judge quality just with a visual inspection, and “value” isn’t often apparent for many years. So, let’s just get it out of the way that you can obviously find similar tools for less money than you will pay for these. None of us should have a problem with that. So, let’s have a look at the MSRP’s for these tools. I’m also really enthusiastic about the carrying case that Wera provides. It seems like most companies jam their tools into a crappy plastic holder (Wera does this as well, with their non bicycle specific metric set). This soft sided holder adds a bit of bulk, but it’s so nice to be able to lay your wrenches out flat on a table where you can easily slide them in and out of the elastic straps that hold them in place. One could argue that your tools are also better protected as they are fully surrounded when the case is closed up. BS 15 seems a poor tool collection compared to the more standard mini-tool collections from Topeak, Lezyne et al, that have more tool functions, are more resilient and cost half as much. This Wera set covers all the most common sizes, adds the two most common Torx heads, and gets on with doing the job extremely well. It's not cheap, but if you do a lot of work on your bikes it's a worthwhile investment – so long as you value all the neat little details Wera gets right here. Verdict