So many ways to hide a mini tool these days, from your fork’s thru axle to under the stem cap, from the BB spindle to your fork’s steerer. Now there’s one more, and it’s for drop bar road, gravel and cyclocross bikes. The Arundel Shameless Plugs use twist-to-tighten plastic plugs to four tools inside your road bar ends, and the kit includes all common bits letting you pick what you need.
The end caps use oversized threads to twist and secure into the bar’s ends, relying on a little extra bar tape to provide the thickness necessary to hold them in place. One side has a fixed JIS Phillips Head screw driver along with a hex-shaped holder that turns the individual bits into a useable tool.
The other side has three slots to hold your choice of the included bits:
- Hex: 2, 5, 3, 4, 5, 6
- Torx: T10, T15, T20, T25, T27, T30
Weight for the system with three bits installed is 74g on our scale. Installation instructions recommend starting with fresh bar tape and leaving a little more than normal to tuck into the bar. That extra padding gives the tools more security so they won’t jostle out. On our test bike, they slot in quickly and easily, but definitely needed the extra few inches of tape to hold tight.
Retail is $39.99, found under the Service Course heading on their website.
It looks awkward to use. That Phillips head doesn’t help. Just a simple T wrench, like the Spurcycle thing you just reviewed, would be so much easier.
What’s wrong with a saddle bag to hold the usual suspects?
the saddle bag
Stuffing your jersey pockets with tools and necessities is a cooler look?
I ride with a Silca kit in my jersey pocket. Not bulky at all and has more than enough tools for any mechanical issue that should arise.
Where do you store your spare tube, patch kit and CO2 or pump? I fit all that into a tool roll including a mini-tool under the seat. But I am not worried what other bike riders think about my setup.
well ya might as well wear a bum bag/fanny pack with your suit
I like the steer-tube solution, but it is an expensive PITA to set up, and also makes your fork difficult to sell when the time comes. There HAS to be a better solution. Crankset spindle toolkit anyone?
It’s a letdown that it can only hold 3 bits.
Absolutely. I’m with you on that one. All the way.
which part holds my drugs
I’ve been using these for a few months, absolutely perfect for gravel. I do a lot of 100+ mile rides out into remote places, what a great place to store a tool that I hope to never use!
Giant ha-ha for any biker who cares more about fashion than being able to fix a minor problem miles from home.
Topeak had a similar product named Ninja a few years back.
Silca Ti-torque is unbeatable.