Lezyne Caddy Kit S

Lezyne have taken their Caddy Sack (updated since we reviewed it in 2010) and stuffed some goodies inside, giving you all you need to sort a puncture when you're out the road: a "Smart" patch kit, a simple CO2 inflator with a couple of 16g cartridges and Lezyne's effective Power levers.

It's not doing anything terribly clever, but it makes life a bit simpler by keeping those bits conveniently all together, so you can grab the pouch and go, rather than looking for them all individually. You save a fiver or so over buying it all separately, although this is less true if you've already got a CO2 inflator, say.

The Caddy Sack is sized to fit comfortably in a jersey pocket, and also has space for some other small bits and bobs if you want. I stuck small 4mm and 5mm Allen keys in there. With some careful packing you'd just fit a 19-23 tube in too.

Obviously it's doing a pretty similar job to a saddle pack, so it comes down to a question of personal preference whether you'd rather use one or the other. You could put one inside the other, which isn't as daft as it sounds if your saddle pack is as basic as mine and offers zero weather protection.

Some folk don't like spoiling the lines of their bike with something as gauche as a saddle bag, so this could be just the ticket if that's you. Equally, if you've a stable of bikes then it could make sense, saving the time of switching a saddle bag from one to the other.

The CO2 inflator included is the Twin Speed Drive, which is the entry-level model in Lezyne's range of tiny CO2 devices. It uses threaded cartridges and an insulating jacket is included to slip over the cartridge; things can get quite cold when you release the CO2 into the tube. The head is a simple push-fit onto either Presta or Schrader valves, and the o-ring which makes the seal is replaceable when it wears out. There are a couple of 16g cartridges included in the Caddy Kit, but clearly you're going to need more. They're pretty easy to get hold of anyway, either online or in bike shops.

Unlike the more pricey Control Drive, there's no knob or trigger to control the flow of gas, so the procedure is as follows: screw the cartridge fully home, push the inflator on to the tyre valve and then unscrew the cartridge a half turn or so, allowing the gas through into the tube. It's a bit counter-intuitive and I wasted a cartridge trying to figure it out before looking online to find out how to use it. Sometimes the gas starts leaking as soon as you've screwed the cartridge in, but when this happens you can still easily get it onto the tyre valve in time that you don't lose much.

You've less control than with a turn- or button-operated valve, it's true, but most of the time if you've got a 16g canister you're just going to want to dump all of it into an empty tube, typically giving around 100psi in a 700x23 road tyre or around 30psi in a 26in mountain bike tyre. So it works, but I'll admit that once I'd used it enough to write this review, I took the Twin Speed Drive inflator out and replaced it with the Hammerhead which I much prefer.

The Smart Kit comprises six of Lezyne's glueless patches, a stainless steel scuffer to rough the surface of the inner tube before applying the patch, and an emergency tyre boot (which is basically the self-adhesive backing to the instructions), intended to give you a chance of limping home should you get a really big gash in your tyre. Generally speaking, I'm old-school when it comes to patches, favouring the classic Rema Tip Top and some vulcanizing solution (not least because it works out a fair bit cheaper), but Lezyne's glueless patches are a really good alternative.

As VecchioJo found a while back, these patches stick strongly and reasonably permanently to the tube. They're quite a bit thinner than Rema patches but the synthetic rubber they're made of is pretty strong, and it stretches as the tube inflates, helping it stay in place better. I've used them on and off over the years and found that they work fine unless your puncture is right near the seam of the tube, when it can be harder to get a good seal than when using traditional patches and glue. Unfortunately, unlike Tip Tops, it doesn't look like you can buy these Lezyne patches in bulk, so once you've used up the six included here you'll need to get another Smart Kit if you want more, working out at a steep 50p per patch.

The levers included are the Power Lever model, made of what Lezyne describes as a "fibre-reinforced composite matrix", which is tougher than mere plastic while managing not to gouge chunks from your posh rims or destroy an inner tube like metal levers can. I was a long-term exponent of the careful application of a metal tyre lever, right up until the time when I got some really nice wheels - now these are definitely my levers of choice. We recently tested the hormone-enhanced Power Level XL which is essentially the longer brother of these levers; for most tyre/rim combinations the standard length lever is more than adequate. There's a well-positioned hook at the other end of each lever, which hangs onto the spoke, while you work on the next bit of the tyre. Anecdotal evidence suggests that if you try hard enough, those reinforcing-fibres won't prevent you snapping these levers, but I've used a set for around four years on a huge range of road tyres and rims and not managed that, so I imagine you'd need to be pretty brutish.

Should you be in the position of already having all or most of the contents of the Caddy Kit, but lacking something to put them in, the good news is that you can still buy the Caddy Sack, empty like a stocking on Christmas Eve, for £9. Lezyne describe the Caddy sack, carefully, it seems to me, as being water resistant (rather than waterproof). I found that on a typical rainy ride it was more than capable of keeping the rain out, but I probably wouldn't trust it enough to intentionally immerse it with something delicate inside. There's a simple rolled opening which is held in place with a strip of Velcro. As may well be pointed out in the comments below, £9 would buy you any number of ziplock bags which would be as or even more effective at keeping their contents dry. You pays your money...

Furthermore, (Lezyne are really keeping all bases covered here), should you have a bag, pocket, saddlepack or bumbag but nothing to defend against the puncture fairy, Lezyne's distributor Upgrade Bikes also lists the Lezyne CO2 Repair Kit, which has all of the parts of this Caddy Kit bar the pouch, priced at £16.99.

The market for the Caddy Kit as reviewed here is likely to be those who don't already have a CO2 inflator, and if that's you, then it's a nice upgrade over just getting the inflator on its own. The patches and levers are of good quality and while there are definitely better CO2 inflators out there, this one works well enough.

Verdict

Neatly keeps your puncture equipment together; effective patches but there are better CO2 inflators