The multitool is an object of both enormous convenience and annoyance for many mountain bikers but you always need one - just in case.
When trailside repairs are necessary, a multitool is indispensable. Yet for 99.9 per cent of the time, carrying it along on your person is hugely annoying and possibly dangerous.
Storing a multitool in your riding shirt or short’s pocket can induce nasty injury if you fall on the trail, at a peculiar angle, and have the tool compress, or spear you.
There is also the issue of having to remove or add a multitool to your gear each time you wish to go ride. This repetition which can often see riders forget their multitools in haste – or become lazy and leave multitools in clothing, only to have them cycle through the laundry, damaging gear.
A superior solution is the bike mounted multitool, one which you can never forget and don’t have to worry about as a potential injury risk if you do fall. Conventional stowage options for onboard multitools are either the crank hollow or fork steerer tube.
For Wolf Tooth, the American component specialist, most rival multitool designs still retained a high annoyance factor, regarding noise. Storing a multitool in a tubed or circular hollow on your bike can produce rattling if you ride a lot of technical terrain.
The solution from Wolf Tooth, is its new EnCase range of multitools. The EnCase Hex Bit Wrench has no less than 14 functions and sports hex sizes 2, 2.5, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8mm, in addition to T10, T25 and T30 torx bits. There is also a Chain and Tyre plug multitool and with these two components slotted into wither end of your handlebar, there is virtually no trailside repair emergency beyond your remedy.
What makes the EnCase multitool range clever is the way it homes in your handlebar. Rubber sleeves create a secure interface between the tool’s exterior and any handlebar’s inner tubing. This tight interface ensures the tool does not move about and rattle, even if you regularly speed over rocky or rooty terrain.
To add additional securing and allow for convenient access, there are precision machined aluminium bar plugs The Wolf Tooth EnCase multitool system is set to retail for £127.
