B'Twin Chain Whip

Every now and then someone sends in a thing that's just brilliant and you wonder why you've never had one before, and you can't imagine ever being without it again - the B'Twin chain whip is one of those products.

It's not a chainwhip, in that there's no chain. instead you get a double-sided tool with two holes, and on each set there's a set of three pegs that locate into your small sprocket. It works with 11, 12, 13 and 14 tooth sprockets so there's not any I've ever fitted that it wouldn't deal with. once the pegs are engaged you stick your chain tool through the middle and undo the lockring. because there's no chain it works equally well with any type of cassette from 11-speed all the way down.

Honestly, it's brilliant. I've never had much trouble taking off cassettes with chain whips but they do require a little bit of finesse. This B'Twin tool you just slap on and go. The only thing you need to know is how many teeth your little sprocket has. The handle is plenty long enough to get plenty of leverage even for the wheel with the alloy freehub that you have to do up *really* tight to stop the cassette eating its way through it.

And it's only twelve quid.

My only niggle, and this is really picking hairs, is that it's a pity the 11 – the most common one you'll use – isn't on the hole furthest from the handle to maximise leverage. But I can't really mark it down for that because I've not struggled getting any cassette off. I can't really mark it down for anything.

Verdict

The simplest and most effective chainwhip i've ever used