Ritchey CPR-9 Multitool :-(

[Anthony]

I know a few folks on here have them as a lightweight emergency trail tool. What do you think of it?

Mine came today but unfortunately it's being returned for the following reasons-

1) The 5mm key isn't quite long enough, it only engages about 3mm into the recessed rear-mech bolt.
2) The 2mm key, at only 2mm long is useless.
3) There is no 2.5mm key (I should have noticed this in description)

But most importantly-

4) All the tools are machined slightly too small, they are just far too loose to reliably purchase on the allen/torx heads :!: I have tried them all on various different bolts and compared them to my Topeak, Park and Bahco sets and they are just wrong. I daren't even try the 3mm under force as it pretty much wants to round the bolt head just under light finger pressure :?

I would urge you if your using it as an emergency bikepacking tool, to give it a good check over on all the bolts on your bike just to make sure it will actually do it's job when your stuck in the middle of no-where (Mine is the black version btw)

It's a shame as in principle it would appear great. Maybe i just got a bad one?

Anthony

[didnothingfatal]

PoS would be my verdict, far too small for real life use, mine is the black one too. Lightest tool I have found that it is usable is made by Lezyne

[pedalhead]

bummer, they're back in stock at CRC & mine shipped yesterday. WIll take a close look at it & decide whether it's a keeper or not.

[bod]

Hi Anthony,
I've a big fan of it because it's so compact and light.
I just measured the width to them to check what mine's like and the 6 and 5mm are spot on with 4.5mm of paint rubbed off from use on the 5mm one (guess I don't use the 6mm one much).
The 4mm one is about 1/20 of a mm undersize and has just over 3mm of paint rubbed off.
The 3mm is also bob on. 2mm is 1/10 undersize and not to be trusted if you could find a bolt that you could use it on.
The T25 torq looks badly moulded and feel sloppy but I've only got torq bolts on the Mrs' bike so not a problem for me, I have used it when the bolts came loose in the middle of the Outer Hebrides and they stayed tight and didn't get rounded.
It's a shame they don't get rid of the bottle opener (why do bike companies put bottle openers on everything?) and make them all a bit longer. It's never going to be fro regular use but for a incredibly light emergency tool it does the job for me.
Obviously all of this of no use to you at all seeing as you've sent it back :D

[Bearbonesnorm]

I've got a Toepeak Mini 9 ... it's great. Everything you need (except a chain tool), all the bits are well made and it's big enough to get a bit of leaverage on things too.

[pedalhead]

If the CPR-9 isn't any good I'll be tempted to get another one of these (I lost my original one a few years ago)...

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/topeak-toolbar- ... ulti-tool/



It's fairly light and you only have to carry the bits you need. I'd ditch the metal tyre levers though.

[Dyffers]

I agree the allen keys are all a bit small. I'm weighing up (geddit?) whether I can get away with it or not.

As a test it succeeded with all my M5 bolts (I don't have a rear mech), but failed to loosen my M4 bolts on the Hope brake levers, and started mashing the interface.

5/10 from me.

[Nick]

Not sure I'd take risks with tools to save 100g, haven't found anything to touch my Crank Bros 17 Multi Tool, but at 168g it is a bit of a porker. The Lezyne SV10 looks nice for 100g, but is missing the spoke keys.

The Topeak Mini 20 at 150g looks good, tyre levers AND a bottle opener :D

[bod]

Not a lot of love the for the CPR-9 then
Do Hope still use alu bolts? Yeah, I'd probably not risk using on them if that's the case.
I once managed to leave a full set of Snap On allen keys in pannier when I was touring for two weeks in France, didn't notice much difference once I'd filled up with cheese, meat and wine. Wouldn't you know it though, I didn't have one mechanical the whole time...

[Anthony]

I'm sort of glad I'm not the only one. It's such a shame because if it was executed well it would be a great little tool.

I did wonder about making up my own tool like one you picture Pedalhead, but in the meantime I'll be sticking with the well used and trusted Topeak Mini-9.

[didnothingfatal]

Lezyne SV5 & Lezyne Spoke Key, sub 100g.

[Anthony]

The Topeak one weighs 84g, but has the advantage of 2, 2,5, 8mm allen keys and a torx 25. All of which I need for my bike!

It does look like the Mini9 has changed from the nice little model I bought a few years ago though.

[Bearbonesnorm]

One of the best tools I've ever had is one of these (although mine goes by another name). I recall it weighs very little and has stood up to whatever's thrown at it ... shame they're out of stock. :(

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=10198

[Ian]

All mine seem tight enough in any of the bolts. My vernier scale gives similar tolerances to Bod's. I don't have the problem you have with the tear mech though

The only ones I'll end using are the 4, 5 and 6mm. I agree that the torx bit isn't well formed, though I could use a separate one off another tool that fits over the 5mm.

For the weight it meets my expectations.

[bod]

Glad I'm not the only one who thinks this little fella is ok Ian! The torx bit you mentioned sounds interesting, where'd you get one of those?
It's not a workshop tool by any means, I'd say it's a light tool for occasional trail use when an "emergency" arises.

[markenduro]

I like these ones:
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... delID=7456
Probably not the lightest but they have everything you could need apart from a corkscrew, are well put together and are the only decent piece of kit cranky brothers make.