Knipex Pliers Wrench XS

The Knipex Mini Wrench Pliers (with Steel Handle) are a tiny, lightweight answer to pretty much any nut-tightening ask on your bike, up to 21mm. Being able to act as a crimper, plier and adjustable spanner makes the high price somewhat easier to swallow – though to be honest, Knipex itself sells these direct for half the price.

> Buy the Pliers Wrench XS from Knipex for £35 here

These may be called pliers, but really this is a 21mm adjustable spanner – with plier-type handles – that weighs far less than your phone and, at just 100mm long, is able to slip into a tight jeans pocket. And while they're expensive and don't seem all that necessary, they really are a justifiable investment covering a multitude of uses on your bike.

You may think that these days there are very few nuts on bicycles (make your own World Naked Bike Ride joke here), but during the review I racked up a long list of applicable uses for bikes new and old:

• SKS mudguard nuts
• 15/17mm Shimano bearing cone locknuts
• Thumb Shifter pod bolts
• Downtube shifter band-on bolts
• 15mm Pedal flats
• Axle nuts
• Pedal cone nuts
• City bike saddle clamps
• Seatpost bolts
• Pannier bolts
• Kickstand / centre stand bolts
• Hose Clamp nuts
• Any nut needing holding still whilst tightening a screw / cap screw / bolt

And in addition to all that, they're brilliant for crimping cable ends.

Probably the easiest way to describe how the pliers work is to say they are like a tiny set of vice grips, except they don't lock closed, and they adjust at the pivot point in ten steps. As you move the jaw's pivot point you change how close the handles are when gripped, so you can have a wider or narrower grip to suit how much force you want to apply. A critical point is that the jaw surfaces remain perfectly parallel, so force is applied evenly, reducing the chance of slipping or marking the edges.

Knipex says these are good for up to 21mm, but at that point the handles are a fair distance apart and you may feel them hard to lever against. If you want to be able to wrap your fingers around the two handles clamped as close as possible, you're limited to 15mm.

Obviously with 10 different locking positions but a range of 21mm, you can see how by going smaller or larger in starting jaw width, you can then decide how closed or open the handles are when applying force. Wearing gloves improves your ability to apply pressure without the bare steel handles digging into your palm.

Small torque

I tried this version on a number of traditional 15mm axle nuts, a width that also matches the flats on most pedals. As 15mm is the distance at which you can have the handles fully closed, it's possible to apply a fair amount of welly to an axle nut or pedal – certainly enough to get you home, and close to a serious spanner or 6-8mm hex key (I know because I tested it on an e-road bike with a rear hub motor that had 15mm nuts inset with 8mm hex sockets; I tried both methods on the same fastener). I was comfortably able to apply around 15-20Nm of torque, more than enough to secure the wheel in place.

The cycling utility of the Knipex Mini Wrench Pliers comes in the combination of the 0-21mm range, low weight and small size, plus the narrow (2.5mm wide) jaws. They're narrow enough to deal with fiddly applications like cup-and-cone hubs, threaded pedal nuts (where you remove the endcap from a pedal and tighten the nut) and shifter pod nuts.

Complete tool

If you need to grab the end of an inner cable to pull it taut before tightening a pinch bolt, there's more than enough force to do so. You can also pair the pliers with an assortment of hex bits, and use it as a bit holder to tighten or loosen cap screws. Again, the force with which you can hold a hex bit is quite sufficient for most tasks, meaning you don't need a separate tool.

Value

Which brings us to the alternatives. For the size, weight and utility, I'm hard pressed to think of anything that can replicate the exact function. Yes I could quote any number of adjustable spanners as alternatives, but they really aren't the same.

Really the only comparison is with Knipex's own alternatives, such as the longer (150mm), chunkier 'M-Grip' handled version of the same tool, for £12 more. if you suffer from grip challenges and weight/space is less of an issue, this might be the version to go for.

Alternatively, the plastic-dipped-handle version of the 150mm tool is £39.95 on Knipex's Amazon store, and offers a bit more comfort without any meaningful extra bulk. This bare metal 100mm option is £35 in the same place.

Overall

No, I don't think it's a tool for a commuter, or couple-of-hours-ride-from-home cyclist. But if you're planning a trip or expedition where self-sufficiency is critical, or have a bike well-festooned with racks and whatnot that get shaken loose from time to time, this might well be one to suggest goes under the Christmas tree or on that Significant Birthday list.

Verdict

If your bike's covered in nuts and you need to repair on the road, this may be the tool for you