Slovenian toolmaker Unior expands their EU-made bike tool & toolbox lineup with new Master & Home Kits so every type of bike mechanic can be ready for the next repair. Beyond simply packing in every tool you could ever need, the two biggest customizable toolboxes are also available empty so you can build your own pro travel kit. And Unior has many new tools to ease everything from fork & bearing service to un-stucking stripped bolts to simply swapping cassettes…
Unior Master Kit & Home Kit EU-made tools & toolboxes
Following up the popularity of their complete Unior Pro Kit pro mechanic travel case, Unior is back with both bigger & smaller toolbox options. Again, the heavy-duty waterproof toolboxes are built to keep your tools safe & secure, no matter your means of travel… by land, by air, or by sea(?)! The IP67 sealed & lockable plastic cases feature pressure relief valves and are still made-in-France, then fully customized in Slovenia with plenty of pockets and customized foam inserts.
Master Kit super-pro bike mechanic travel toolbox, made in Europe
The new bigger Master Kit comprises roughly 95pc of core pro workshop tools, plus a nice small parts organizer and still plenty of room to add your own specialized tools as well for 1600€. (Compare that with 48pc in the 815€ Pro Kit.)
The big new Master Kit case gets a foldable handle opposite the hinges. It also now adds durable sealed bearing wheels to get you through the airport (& pits) faster and a telescoping handle that slides out of the base. The Master Kit case alone retails for 500€ and includes the two steel trays that hang off the sides of the toolbox, plus internal dividers, the small parts box, and foam inserts.
Home Kit amateur bike mechanic travel toolbox, made in Europe
The new 300€ Home Kit pares the tools included back to 33pcs, again with room for expansion. Even though this tool box is designed more for the hobbyist amateur bike mechanic, Unior doesn’t skimp on quality, with the Home Kit getting the same shop-level tools as you find in the Pro & Master Kits, and the same rugged waterproof, lockable case.
Unior specifically focused on including the core tools most home mechanics would need, without adding any fluff to get the tool count up. They also factored in an extra foam block that buyers can custom cut to make space for the additional tools they need that may be specific to their bike (although, that’s not as easy to do neatly as you’d hope based on my own experience.) Since the Home Kit relies on custom cut foam inserts rather than the sewn in pockets & trays of the larger kits, the case will not be available separately.
Master Shop Repair Clamp
Back more into the professional bike mechanic sphere, Unior has updated their premium repair clamp with a more rugged, more rigid design to work with modern bikes and heavy e-bikes. The narrow 5cm round jaws with replaceable rubber covers should fit just about any bike, while clamping it securely.
Unior opted away from a quick-release design for this pro-level clamp, but it’s still quite quick to use with its spinning handle.
Designed as a replacement for worn-out clamps in aging bike shop stands, the 174€ made-in-Europe Master Shop Repair Clamp was designed to slot directly into any current Unior repair stand with its 45mm diameter round insert. But Unior suggested that it can easily be made compatible with almost any other pro bike stand around the world, hinting that other diameters (of the silver end) could be made available to quickly & easily replace or upgrade worn-out, sloppy, or less secure clamp heads from other manufacturers.
Fork Seal Driver Tool Set
Another new pro shop tool is Unior’s revamped Fork Seal Driver Tool. Available individually for 25€ or in the complete set of eight for 180€, the updated Fork Seal Drivers are designed to help mechanics easily install new fork dust seals with perfect alignment.
The simple reinforced plastic drivers allow mechanics to use the fork’s bushings as the perfect alignment guide, and get a new profile to work with flanged & flangeless seals from almost all fork makers. The drivers come in 30, 32, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38 & 40mm diameters to fit pretty much every stanchion, and get new laser-etched marking to make it easier to pick out the correct size.
BB30 & DUB PressFit bottom bracket bearing removal tool
The new Unior BB30 & DUB removal tool is a simple update to their previous bottom bracket bearing removal tool, for use with larger diameter bearings & spindles (which allow more room to insert the small puller from the opposite side of the BB.) Now moving to a simple interchangeable puller at the end, it can fit the most common large PF bearing diameters to remove PressFit bottom brackets without a hammer. The 60€ BB30 & DUB removal tool comes with pullers for 29 & 30mm spindle bottom bracket bearings and has a rubber face to protect the frame during removal.
New Unior Chain Whips
Even though Unior’s 3-pin Cassette Wrenches are some of the greatest tools for easily removing cassettes, they aren’t a universal solution that will fit every single drivetrain. (They require either a 11 or 12T cog as one of the smallest two gears, or a separate 13/14T version, or a newer 10T SRAM X-range version.) So if you need something more versatile, a traditional chain whip is still the safest solution.
Putting the chain on the end (rather than the conventional side of the end) gives a bit more leverage than most whips, and a strong magnet at the end of the last link keeps the loose chain from flopping around as much in your toolbox. Two versions are available. The 40€ Singlespeed chain whip uses a heavy-duty 1/8″ chain to remove fixed & single-speed cogs. And the 40€ Multispeed whip uses a section of 11-speed chain to fit pretty much any 6-12sp drivetrain.
Unior Screw Pliers
OK, so the new Unior Screw Pliers that were released earlier this year aren’t exactly bike-specific, but they have plenty of bike applications, especially after some ham-fisted friend of yours may have rounded out a bolt on their (or heaven forbid, your) bike.
With both horizontal & vertically serrated teeth with a curved opening on their ends, the “premium plus carbon steel” drop forged, hardened, and tempered pliers could be the best way to remove stuck bolts with damaged heads, without needing to drill them out. The 170mm long 30€ Screw Pliers are designed to grab damaged bolt heads from 3-11mm in diameter.
New Unior tools, kits & toolboxes – Availability
Unior doesn’t launch products on a model year cycle. And since they manufacture everything in-house in the factories in Slovenia, new products essentially get launched once they are available. So for the most part, every one of the new tools above is available now, subject to local stock from distributors in Europe, North America, or beyond.
The only exception would be the new Master Kit & Home Kit toolboxes as they haven’t officially been launched yet. We simply got an early sneak peek. The first batch of Home Kits are finishing production now, and will be in stock before the end of September. The first run of Master Kits and their separate empty cases will be available in October 2021.
