We all (should) take plenty of care to use a torque wrench at home, but when a trail side repair becomes a necessity, that precaution often can’t be taken. Until now, anyway.
Or, rather, sometime soon. Birzman’s upcoming mini tool with integrated 5Nm torque gauge won’t be out till later this year, but it will provide the common tightness measurement for both 4 and 5 mm Allen keys. The measurement is built into a small thumb button that clicks when the desired torque is reached.
On the other end of the tool is a T25 and flathead screwdriver, giving you the basics, but only the two allen wrenches are tied to the torque button.
They’re shooting for August availability. I played with the prototype a bit and the click is easy to feel, but also easy to push beyond, so it’ll be important to slow down as things start getting tight if you’re very concerned with overtightening things. Basically, it looks like a good safeguard against massively overdoing things.
Two new mini pumps are on the way, currently code named Sheath (foreground) and Scope. The Sheath has a slide out hose with a removable Snap-It Apogee valve that doubles as a CO2 cartridge head. Just affix the head to your valve stem, then thread in the cartridge. Retail should be around $47.
The Scope has a fixed head that doesn’t remove, with no hose. Retail should be $29.
These will be ready around August, too.
