tool fool

[sam]

Early in my bicycle shop foraging days I stumbled upon an extremely light and unbranded multitool, which I've miraculously managed to not lose over the years. Today at Wild Side I was pleased to find another one, this time with a name on it. Even walking home two miles with a large house plant in one arm weeping over my shoulder and a floor lamp in the other, I could almost manage to skip, my heart weightless with frivolous pleasure. Zzzzanzi

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A year after posting that I picked up another one on ebay. In a post-apocalyptic world they can be used as currency.



On a side note, my wife is of the opinion there are too many men wearing purple these days.

[sam]

I recently needed to borrow a larger adjustable spanner from my neighbour to change a bottom bracket. He collects cars. Not matchbox cars like I did when I was a kid. Bentleys. Granted I had more matchbox cars than he has Bentleys.



He's got an old hammer pond on his property. Once upon a time it might have cooled a furnace which produced cannon used by Queen Elizabeth's fleet to defeat the Spanish Armada. Now it's a quiet little reservoir of fish food.

[sam]

Another wrench, this one a minnow. Bought at a Sears in Ohio, where you have to sign a waiver promising that it's going to be used on a tractor.


The phone is for scale, a Nokia being a standard unit of measurement

[sam]

The new best tyre lever in the world, apparently designed by the same people who brought us the Gherkin:

 

So judged after helping me remove Primo Comets from my folder, a test which some tribes in the Amazon use to prove manhood. Pedro broke.

The photo used on the puncture repair page will not be replaced due to Photoshop time invested.

[sam]

My Park Scourge, used for self-mortification and penance when I covet another man's bicycle

[sam]

How is this multitool different from that one? my wife asked in a perfectly reasonable tone of voice after hearing my relief at not having this



confiscated from my carry-on bag by the TSA while returning from the Terrified States of America. She was comparing it to the Zanzi upthread. Her interrogation caused me to stutter, which, added to my lisp, rendered me speechless. Now that I've had time to gather my thoughts, here goes:

• It makes a serviceable knuckle-duster should fisticuffs become necessary if her honour is impugned
• The large allen key can be used to hammer out dents in a frame
• It's more symmetrical

[sam]

I can figure out most things for myself, sometimes with a little help from Google. But this was a puzzler.



BMX hub on a road wheel. I wanted to remove the cog to try another size. The lock or retaining ring has two notches and comes off counterclockwise. You need to restrain the freewheel, typically with a chain whip. With the chain in place, there's no room for this tool



to grab on. I couldn't find one of these



which fits; the Park FR-2 is too small. I had an idea that a pin spanner might do the trick, but wasn't sure there would be enough leverage.



There wasn't. However, with some duct tape (good enough for airplanes! or not) and a piece of wood, eureka:







Thank you Archimedes.

[sam]

Popped round to the hardware store yesterday looking for a tool to remove a screw for a SPD cleat mount cover. The head was too worn to admit a screwdriver. My plan was to decapitate it.

“Let me try something,” said a man with a pair of needlenose pliers, which in another context might be a little scary. I'd already tried pliers without luck, but started to take my shoe off anyway. He told me to keep it on. Then he crouched down and very quickly performed the extraction, earning my gratitude for saving me from the tapping I'd had to endure ever since cutting off the cover to stop it from squeaking. (If it ain't one noise it's another.) The successful operation almost made me feel like dancing.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNKRm6H-qOU" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNKRm6H-qOU</a>