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Lezyne Port-a-Shop Toolkit

9
£99.99

VERDICT:

9
10
Ultimate travel tool-kit that's more than good enough to use at home too
Weight: 
869g
Contact: 
www.upgradebikes.co.uk

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It might be intended as a portable tool kit to drop in your flight case with your bike, but the Lezyne Port-a-Shop is plenty good enough to be your main home toolkit.

Lezyne have become known for their combination of functionality, quality materials and good design; making tools and accessories you want, rather than just need, to own. The Port-a-Shop toolkit is no exception.

The kit, as the name suggests, is intended to provide a portable workshop, aimed at the cyclist who travels with their bike. Contained within the zip-up padded Cordura case is a comprehensive array of cycle-specific tools, all neatly contained in tailored pockets, each bearing a graphic of the tool it contains for easy and quick identification.

The tool list is impressive for such a compact kit (the case when zipped measures L22cm x W15cm x D5cm).

The main tools are contained within three multi tools.

The first has Allen keys from 1.5mm to 6mm, with the neat addition of a duplicate key for sizes 1.5mm, 2mm and 2.5mm, that are right-angled in addition to the straight keys, for those fiddly and hard to reach bolts.

The second contains Torx drivers from sizes T6 to T30.

The third has an 8mm Allen key, Philips and a flat blade screwdrivers, a clever disc brake wedge for prying the pistons apart when replacing pads, 8mm and 10mm open ended spanners, a tyre lever that is ideal for freeing the bead on tight fitting tyres, and of course, the obligatory bottle opener.

These are not just road or trailside tools though. Lezyne calls them ‘block tools’, meaning the tool’s body is made from a single moulded block of alloy, machined to leave a bracing bar connecting the two sides. This makes the body much stiffer, providing ample leverage for the tool bits when in use.

The remaining tools all pack multiple functions. There is a high quality chain tool with replaceable pin driver (a spare pin is thoughtfully included). With the pin chuck removed, the tool’s body becomes a spoke key with 3.22mm and 3.45mm wrenches along with small and large Mavic spoke wrenches.

The two 15mm spanners have tyre irons at the opposite end, for particularly stubborn tyres, plus yet more bottle openers. Either someone at Lezyne is perhaps a bit too keen on their beer or they have thoughtfully made sure that even when you’re using a tool that doubles as a bottle opener there’s a spare one so your workshop assistant can open another for you without interrupting the job. Now that’s what I call thinking.

Finally, there is a traditional puncture repair kit, with glue, patches, chalk etc; a pack of glue-less patches; and a pair of high strength composite tyre levers.

In action, the tools are workshop quality and big enough to be easily useable, enough so in fact, that I have been using them exclusively since receiving the kit to test despite having a full workshop toolkit. The block tools offer all the strength you could need. The 15mm spanners have happily removed pedals on several occasions; don’t expect them to remove seized pedals, as the leverage is restricted by their size, but a well maintained bike will present no problems.

The padded case, with its easily-identified storage compartments, encourages you to put the tools back in their pockets when you’re finished, so they atre likely to be there when you need them. There is an additional zippered pocket that fits a CO2 inflator and spare cartridges or a bottle of chain oil or anything else of similar size that you might want to include. Bear in mind that airlines tend to frown on carrying CO2 cartridges or lubricants, so don’t ‘accidentally’ leave them in there.

Verdict

This kit is designed to be put in the flight case with your bike when you travel abroad, or chucked in the back of the car when travelling to races and events. All the tools you could need to rebuild your bike at your destination are here, in an easy to pack and carry format. However, these tools perform so well that these are likely to become the first tools you reach for even when in your home workshop.

road.cc test report

Make and model: Lezyne Port-a-Shop toolkit

Size tested: n/a

Rate the product for quality of construction:
 
9/10
Rate the product for performance:
 
9/10
Rate the product for durability:
 
9/10
Rate the product for weight, if applicable:
 
8/10
Rate the product for value:
 
9/10

Did you enjoy using the product? Yes.

Would you consider buying the product? Yes,

Would you recommend the product to a friend? I already have done.

Overall rating: 9/10

About the tester

Age: 44  Height: 6ft 1in  Weight: 155 lbs

I usually ride: Litespeed Icon  My best bike is: as above

I've been riding for: 10-20 years  I ride: Most days  I would class myself as: Experienced

I regularly do the following types of riding: road racing, touring, sportives, general fitness riding, fixed/singlespeed, mtb, Track Cycling

 

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14 comments

Avatar
PaulBox | 10 years ago
0 likes

I bought one of these sets recently to carry in my Camelbak while leading mountain bike rides. I felt that as a leader I wanted to have more than just a multi-tool on me in case of any mechanical issues while we are out. It's a little heavy, but I'll see how it goes.
I swapped out the two large spanners (which are heavy) for a leatherman type tool and the two plastic tyre levers for a Swiss Army knife. I added a couple of my regular plastic tyre levers loose in the pouch. There is a general pocket which will hold other spares (powerlinks, mech hangers etc.).
Overall it is very good quality and nice to have most things in one place. If going away in my car I take my usual tool box with me also to cover bigger issues/tools. I image that it would be a good thing to throw in your bike's flight bag if heading overseas.

Avatar
andyp | 10 years ago
0 likes

'I've never seen anyone use one in putting their pedals on/off. '

Have you ever seen anyone other than yourself working on a bike?  3
I would use my fingers, but a) they're not hexagonal, and b) I can't get the purchase I would with a hex key.

Avatar
MKultra | 10 years ago
0 likes

All my Shimano pedals use hex and that is what I remove or fit them with because they don't need wellying up that tight in the first place. Be it a spanner with flats or large hex with a handle the same problem persists that the leverage required for removal of a possibly seized or over tightened pedal is not always compatible with a short handled hex key or pedal spanner you can put in a small kit.

Avatar
andyp | 10 years ago
0 likes

'If this is the aim of the kit "rebuild..at your destination" then it fails as it has no pedal spanner'

how many pedals can't be attached/removed with the use of a hex key these days? Not many, I'd wager.

Avatar
Colin Peyresourde replied to andyp | 10 years ago
0 likes
andyp wrote:

'If this is the aim of the kit "rebuild..at your destination" then it fails as it has no pedal spanner'

how many pedals can't be attached/removed with the use of a hex key these days? Not many, I'd wager.

I only ever use a pedal spanner, a hex would not suffice.

I've never seen anyone use one in putting their pedals on/off. You might as well use your fingers.

Avatar
DeanF316 | 10 years ago
0 likes

How to ruin a alumium wheel rim use metal tyre lever. £100 for a pity basic tool a few allen and torx keys. All you need to do is buy a decend chain breaker then buy the allen keys and spanners for a local tools stockist or on line to same a pack.

Avatar
Colin Peyresourde | 10 years ago
0 likes

No rear cassette nut or crank wrench. It does look like a glorified saddle bag, which I guess, is what it is supposed to be. The spammers look a little short for changing pedals.

This doesn't seem like a great review because it doesn't really say when this kit would be good. If I'm changing my rear cassette it's a no go. If I'm changing pedals, adjusting seat height and doing some last minute assembly before a sportive then great. But do I need all that kit - and the fact that they have puncture repair kits seems superfluous. I'm more likely to need that out on the bike.

Avatar
Chuck replied to Colin Peyresourde | 10 years ago
0 likes
Colin Peyresourde wrote:

This doesn't seem like a great review because it doesn't really say when this kit would be good. If I'm changing my rear cassette it's a no go. If I'm changing pedals, adjusting seat height and doing some last minute assembly before a sportive then great.

"This kit is designed to be put in the flight case with your bike when you travel abroad, or chucked in the back of the car when travelling to races and events. All the tools you could need to rebuild your bike at your destination are here, in an easy to pack and carry format."

Avatar
vorsprung replied to Chuck | 10 years ago
0 likes

If this is the aim of the kit "rebuild..at your destination" then it fails as it has no pedal spanner

I agree with whoever said it lacked a splined socket/chain whip/hypercracker for getting the cassette on and off. Friend of mine went MTBing in Utah, when he came to unpack the bike it had been damaged in transit and the bearings in the rear wheel had to be replaced. A drive side spoke could also easily get damaged in baggage handling and then need the cassette removing to fix it.

My "on the road" kit might be considered heavy but can fix more stuff than this:

* Topeak Alien RX16, for chaintool, allen keys, knife, screwdriver, spoke key
* Two steel tyre levers
* A small Screwdriver
* A small pair of point nosed pliers with a cutter
* An adjustable spanner

And these spares
* m5 nuts and bolts
* tyre boot
* 2 inner tubes
* some cable ties
* "powerlink" chain joiners
* puncture repair kit
* gear cable

Avatar
Miles253 | 10 years ago
0 likes

Wish I had bought a dedicated set like this, my tool box consists of a mismatched array of random tools

Avatar
paulrbarnard | 10 years ago
0 likes

Well there's my next birthday present sorted then. Look ideal.

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parksey replied to paulrbarnard | 10 years ago
0 likes
paulrbarnard wrote:

Well there's my next birthday present sorted then. Look ideal.

+1

Shame it's not until September though...

Avatar
Jon Burrage | 14 years ago
0 likes

I agree with JonMack, have been looking at this in the lezyne catalogue and was tempted before, even more so now.

Avatar
JonMack | 14 years ago
0 likes

Great review, considering picking one of these up in the coming weeks.

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