This year at NAHBS, Abbey Bike Tools had a lot to show, but there was one thing in their booth that was certainly the center of attention. And why wouldn’t it? Take some of the best tools around and give them a custom finish from Speedvagen all in a matching tool box, and you have some the most beautiful (and painfully) expensive sets of tools on the planet. In an exclusive partnership with Sacha White and Speedvagen, Abbey had three tool sets made up fro NAHBS that were up for sale. The price? Just $775, and the last time I spoke with Jason Quade, only one set remained…
All three sets had different paint schemes to showcase what could be done with the tool sets in terms of custom bikes. The idea being that future or current owners of Speedvagen customs could have a tool set made up to perfectly match their bike. Each set includes a custom Crombie tool, chain whip, and pedal wrench along with a set of four allen keys and two torx wrenches. Unlike the standard Crombie tool and chain whip, these aren’t designed to nest inside each other. Instead, they have larger cloth tape wrapped handles to further increase the luxury factor. There is even a matching lock for the custom Speedvagen case. While $775 might be a lot to spend on a small set of tools, if you’re the type to already have a matching Silca pump, these are for you.
On a much more practical note, Abbey was showing off their new saddle Fit Kit which is a simple device meant to eliminate all of the soft points of saddle positioning. The device is placed on top of a saddle and positioned so that the saddle nose touches the vertical divider. Then, you can quickly and easily measure to various points with notches at the UCI setback point as well as 100 and 150mm behind the nose of the saddle.
The kit also includes saddle height bullets for 8 and 10mm bolts as well as the Shimano Hollowtech II preload cap. The bullets are magnetic and stick to the edge of any tape measure with a steel guard and ensure consistent measurement from the exact center of the crank. In addition to measuring saddle height and set back, the plate enables accurate placement of a level. The kit has a target retail of about $150 and should be available in late May.
Definitely in the traveling mechanic category, Abbey was showing off a new Team Issue version of the HAG – with a titanium head. Dropping the weight by 160g, Jason says only 18 were made, and only 8 of those will be for sale on the website at $325.
Finally, we got a sneak peek at a collaboration with Rock Shox that will be officially released at Sea Otter. In the works for over a year, Rock Shox will soon have a full tool kit for their suspension and dropper posts made by Abbey Bike Tools that includes a DU bushing remover, Seal Tool, Reverb and Charger Damper wrenches, and a socket for SID forks. According to Jason Quade, he had already started working on the reverb wrench and seal tool when Rock Shox approached him about the potential of working together. More details when we get ’em from the Otter!
