Want To Fix Your Bike? This Unior Home Tool Kit Might Have Everything You Need

The Unior Pro Home Tool Kit is an 18 piece tool kit designed to meet the needs of most home mechanics. There’s a separate kit aimed specifically at road bikes, and another at suspension servicing, so depending on the bikes you ride and the level of local bike shop avoidance you’re engaged in, you may find there are gaps in your armoury. For the most part however, this kit will attend to your needs, and with its handy case you can either keep your garage tidy, or be well equipped at the trailhead or on holiday.

What’s Inside?

Etoile* handmade bicycles at Bespoked 2022

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Listed as an 18 piece tool kit, it does indeed contain 18 separate tools inside the foam padded box. Pleasingly, this doesn’t equate to 18 functions, as there is a trio of 3-way hex and torx wrenches with arguably nine functions between them. None of the tools is specifically a bottle opener (though the array of implements provides an excellent opportunity to test one’s cap-popping skills), and the two tyre levers count as one tool – so there’s really no smoke and mirrors about what you’re getting, unlike in some other toolkits you night see.

Like lists? Here’s one for you;

• • Three-legged hex key, sizes 2, 2.5 and 3mm
  • Three-legged hex key, sizes 4, 5 and 6mm
  • Three-legged torx key, sizes 10, 15 and 25mm
  • Lockring Wrench
  • Freewheel remover (that’s what Unior calls it, it’s effectively a cassette holder/chain whip, compatible with 11 and 12 tooth sprockets, there is separate tool available for purchase if you need 13 and 14 tooth compatibility)
  • Freewheel remover (again, Unior calls it this, but it’s the wrench for lock ring removal)
  • Chain breaker tool
  • Crosstip screwdriver
  • Flat head screwdriver
  • Hexagon wrench, 8mm
  • Two tyre levers
  • Triple spoke wrench, fits 3.3 mm, 3.45 mm, 3.7 mm, 3.96 mm, 4.4 mm and 5mm spokes (note, there’s no Mavic spoke fitting)
  • Pocket wheel truing tool
  • Brake disc spreader
  • Steel Wire Cutter
  • Rotor Truing Fork
  • Master Link Pliers
  • Chain Wear Indicator

All of this comes in a case with foam cutouts for each tool. If you do happen to be missing a tool, each cut out is labelled with the code for the tool that goes there, making it easy to look up and check what’s gone walkabout, or reorder it if it is lost forever.

While the foam does help you keep track of all your tools, it’s not actually very good at holding the tools in place, making for annoying instances of the tools falling out as you open and shut the case. This is particularly frustrating when you’re trying to close the case, as it won’t close if everything isn’t just so, and trying to force it damages the foam, further reducing its effectiveness at holding the tools.

On The Tools

The tools themselves are excellent. We took them on our road trip to Austria, where they came in handy for all those little bits of bike set up that need doing after you’ve flat packed a pile of bikes into the back of a van. We’ve used them for all kinds of little jobs in between, then took them for a final big outing to Antur Stiniog for our brakes test, where they were used flat-out for three days while riders swapped bikes swapped and eight sets of brakes were rotated between bikes. The kit has been more than up to the job, and we admit we haven’t had cause to use every tool in the box – but it’s nice to know some trailhead wheel truing could have been done if needed.

It’s only really since the rather wet outing in Wales that the tools themselves have shown any sign of wear and tear. A few small rust patches have appeared on the tips of the hex keys, but most worryingly the axle on the wire cutters has gone rusty. The little lock catch that holds them closed is also getting a bit sticky, so both are going to need a bit of regular lubricant to keep these snippers smooth for the long term. Rubbing your tools down and drying them with an oily rag after every use would probably help stop this happening, but in the car park after a muddy ride this isn’t necessarily at the forefront of your mind.

These few rust patches aside, and the annoying foam that doesn’t fit, we’ve really no complaints about this tool set. Perhaps there are jobs where you’re going to need a full set of Allen Keys, with the length and size range that’s needed for some tricky to reach or teeny tiny bolts – such as brake lever adjusters or brake mount bolts – so for a really thorough tool box it would be nice to see these included. But then no doubt you’d soon find some other standard or thingamajig that needed another tool. This provides a very good basis that will cover most of the jobs you’re likely to do yourself – and perhaps you should show your local bike shop a bit of love and give them the chance to fix anything this box can’t tackle.

Overall

A solid set of tools for use in the workshop or trailhead. Portable enough to take anywhere, but good enough that you won’t need a separate set of garage tools.

Review Info

Hannah Dobson

Managing Editor

I came to Singletrack having decided there must be more to life than meetings. I like all bikes, but especially unusual ones. More than bikes, I like what bikes do. I think that they link people and places; that cycling creates a connection between us and our environment; bikes create communities; deliver freedom; bring joy; and improve fitness. They're environmentally friendly and create friendly environments. I try to write about all these things in the hope that others might discover the joy of bikes too.

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