What's in YOUR toolbox? Let's hope it's a Park AWS-1 wrench...
Written: Mar 05 '04
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Compact, comfortable to use, all three sizes common on most bikes.
Cons: None at all.
The Bottom Line: From basic to advanced bike maintenance and upgrades, the Park AWS-1 is the perfect time-saver. A great first tool or a valuable addition to your bike-tool box.
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| openroad's Full Review: Park Tool AWS-1 Allen Head Tri Wrench |
----- Park AWS-1 Hex Allen Driver -----
Almost all modern bikes use metric fasteners, from road and mountain bikes to everyday commuter and cruising bikes. The majority of bolts that secure commonly adjusted components are have allen heads, and if you plan on doing any adjustments yourself you’ll need a set of metric allen wrenches. Park Tool is the largest supplier of bicycle specific tools in the industry, and makes everything from headset presses to spoke wrenches.
One of their most useful tools for me has been the 3 head allen wrench, or what I call the “spider”. The spider comes with 4mm, 5mm, and 6mm allen heads and is perfect for adjusting seatposts, deraileurs, rim or disc brakes, stems, shifter and brake cables, and almost anything else on your bike. These three sizes are the most common in the bicycle industry and are found on bikes from many different manufacturers. The tri-handle design gives you extra leverage to loosen very tight or corroded bolts, and the poly-coated center section is easy to grasp. This tool is under $10 in most bike shops, and is very useful both in on your bike and even in your garage. The center of the tri-wrench is a molded nylon materiel, and the first two-thirds of each allen shaft is coated with a rubberized materiel. These two features make the wrench easy to hold and easy on your hands, which is much appreciated when forcefully twisting on a tough bolt.
Park also makes the AWS-3 “spider” wrench with smaller 2mm, 2.5mm, and 3mm allen heads, and the AWS-8 Balldriver wrench for angled operation in tight places. This series of wrenches isn't bike specific, and can be used for any job you come across that requires metric allen wrenches. If you need to adjust various parts on your bike from time to time, or want to start tuning and upgrading your bike, you’ll be glad to have the “spider” on your side.
Thanks for reading, and feel free to comment!
Openroad
Recommended:
Yes
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