As an admitted tool nerd, I’m always happy to hunt out new gadgets to work on bike both bike & small. Eurobike is a good place to find the obscure bits & bobbles that will make the life of either pro or home mechanic easier. Enduro has new punches & presses that make bearing work easier. Fabric adds color to your toolbox, plus some light, refreshment & a comfy place to sit. Then Feedback finishes off with a better way true modern wheels or to store fatter bikes….
Enduro Bearings tools Bearing Punch & updated Multi Press
Enduro is truly known for their bearings, but just as importantly they make excellent tools to make sure that mechanics install, remove & maintain those bearings properly to ensure optimal bearing life & durability. Their newest tool is the simple punch, executed with precision to knock pesky bearings out of suspension linkages.
Machines with perfectly fitted diameters & shoulders to ensure total contact with the inner race of common suspension bearings, the Bearing Punch family is the perfect bearing removal tool. Hold onto the knurled end and pop out worn bearings with a quick blow from a shop hammer, and you’ll be ready to service the bearings or press in a new set.
And when it’s time to put those bearings back…
We already took an early look at the Enduro Multi Press back at Sea Otter last spring, but It wasn’t final then, and the tinkerers at Enduro kept making it better. The overall concept remains the same with a few different length threaded rods to make pressing bearings into any suspension, headset, wheel, or bottom bracket.
But besides the move to shiny gold ano handles (and the new travel tool roll to carry it all), the new Multi Press also moves to a standard size 15mm nut on the end. That means that while the gold handles are the nicest way to spin bearings into place, if you get in a tight spot a 15mm box wrench (or even a pedal wrench) that is already in your shop will give you the leverage that you need. Of course every bearing size is supported. And when a new size pops up, Enduro will be sure to add the appropriate adapters.
2020 new bike tools & components from Fabric
Fabric adds a bit of color to their tools in 2020 to make it a little quicker & easier to find the right the right bit. It isn’t anything revolutionary – the same color-coded style finish is available from pro tool makers like Wera to more affordable BLB. But it’s nice to see more options.
The $25/30€ 10-piece Hex Key Set is a simple affair of hardened vanadium steel allen keys, one hex & one ball-end with powder coat color-coding. The $30/35€ 11in1 multi-tool does the same thing with a compact aluminum body multi-tool.
Fabric’s new bike lights
It’s not only new tools for Fabric in 2020, a couple of their lights get overhauled as well. The $36/30€ Lumaray is a big one, or rather a nicely small & tidy one. Version 2 of the light that fits between you Garmin mount and your GPS gets an upgrade inside doubling its output to 60 lumens.
The Lumaray v2 still delivers 270° visibility and a 2 hour burn time on high, or 7-7.5hrs in flashing or low power modes. It now comes with both Garmin & Wahoo mount pucks so it will fit either devices when mounted to any standard Garmin 1/4 turn mount.
It appears that the latest Lumacell lights get a tiny boost of battery life, up to 2.5hrs at full power, but they are more just interesting in their simplicity. $25€ a piece or $40/45€ for the pair, simply plug the 30 lumen white front & 20 lumen red rear directly into a USB port to change, then plug back into the mount that stays on your bike when it’s time to ride.
Fabric’s new Gripper Bottles
Bottles are another little accessory that everyone can use. The new Fabric Gripper bottles gets a lot of little grippy knobs, plus a softer squeezable plastic body and a new silicone cap. The standard big 750ml bottle sells for $9/10€ and a 650ml insulated model gets a closed cell foil liner to keep drinks cold (or from freezing) for $17/20€. Smaller options are also available of each.
New 2020 Fabric saddles: Magic x 50to01 Rasta, Scoop & Line
The new Magic is a classic shaped saddle designed together with the 50to01 dirt jump crew. Fabric calls the saddle the first dirt saddle actually designed to be sat on and ridden to the jumps. It gets a classic road profile, but in a short & padded construction with a slim rear profile to maximize tire clearance when it’s slammed. The Magic Elite Radius is $70€ with chromoly rails and comes in 50to01 Rasta colors or more simple black with red, white, or blue details.
As for the other two, the 142mm wide Scoop & 134mm Line get new $105/90€ Race versions with ti rails, Fabric’s flexible base, and soft form padding. Plus, they come in Flat, Shallow, or Radius profiles to fit every rider. (Team versions add gloss logos). And there are even $42/40€ Sport steel-railed, $80/65€ Elite chromoly-railed, $180/170€ Pro carbon-railed, or $285/250€ Ultimate full-carbon versions of each for every budget.
2020 Feedback Sports updates for thru-axles on truing stand, plus racks
Feedback Sports Is boosting usability of their single leg truing stand with the addition of a more precise thru-axle interface. Using almost the same hardware from their rotor truing attachment, the new threaded rod & tapered cone setup will make working on any thru-axle wheel easier & more secure.
Simply thread the rod through the axle, tighten the cones down, then clamp the rod into the regular fork tip to true your wheel. The new Pro Thru-Axle Truing Adapter will come with the Pro Truing Stand starting in 2020, and will also be available on its own for to upgrade existing stands for ~$20.
Feedback also has a couple of new bike storage updates to their folding A-frame event rack and individual Rakk bike floor stands. An additional Third-Leg support will soon be available for their $300 A Frame event rack. Sure, few consumers will ever need one of these things, but with more heavy enduro bikes & e-bikes, the additional adjustable support leg in the middle means you’ll be able to pack 8+ bikes tight, no matter how heavy they are.
The new $50 Rakk XL has been optimized to work with Plus-sized & Fat bike tires, 2.8-5″ wide. The Rakk is already a modular design with adjustable cones for the upper tire contact, and now with wider lower spacing & a pair of lower inserts that are removed to fir the most giant rubber it will work with the widest tires on the market. The Rakk still can be used for just one bike, or linked together with the integrated bracket for stable storage of as many bikes as you need.
If you are a tool nerd like I am and want to check out other new tool finds, have a look at the latest new tech from Birzman, Fix Mfg & Unior, or just browse our Clothing, Gear & Tools category to catch up…
