The Ultimate Multitool

Giant Phil

Hello

I'm beginning my second year Product development course. We've been given a broader spectrum to play with, so I thought I'd go right at home with cycling.

In essence, what I want to design is the ultimate compact bike tool which would allow its user to repair a puncture and include a standard multitool, Allens 3 4 5 6 8, Chain tool, spoke key and screwdriver. To keep things as small as possible I’m thinking glueless patches, a CO2 powered mini pump and minimalist levers.

I’ve also got plans to integrate this into the bottom of a bottle, bottle cage or purpose built saddle pod.

I’d love to know what you guys think regarding the general concept, has it been done before? I want to make this thing seriously small, small enough to fit in a jersey pocket, but have all the functionality of all the stuff I cart around as separate items.

I also have a few other questions as part of my research

1. What kit do you carry for on the go maintenance?

2. How do you carry it?

3. Have you ever been caught without something you needed, tubes, pump etc

4. What would be the maximum you’d be willing to pay for such an item?

Thankyou for reading, any comment at all would be amaze!

Phil

Monty Dog

1. As little as possible - depends on the bike and the ride - I'll carry a lot more for a 100-miler offroad in winter than for a 3 hour ride on the road in summer.

2. Pockets, seatpack and mounted to the frame

3. Broken chain - carry a spare chainlink now

4. £20 for a multitool - anything more expensive is too heavy

You might want to add Torx T25 to your list - needed for some brakes and chainring bolts.

geoff93

Why not come up with something new rather than just an item which big manufacturers with big budgets have already made. I don't mean to sound negative, its just already done!

RDW

Re-inventing this particular wheel and improving on the prior art could be a tough job.

This gadget won some sort of product design award and includes all the tools you mention, including the tyre levers:

http://www.topeak.com/products/Tools/hexus2

That just leaves a tiny and well-designed CO2 pump:

http://www.genuineinnovations.com/air-chuck-elite.html

and the glueless patches:

http://www.parktool.com/product/super-patch-kit-gp-2

They'll easily fit in a pocket, but if you need something to keep them in:

http://www.pro-bikegear.com/publish/con ... 00330.html

mikebikemike

There are so many nice multi-tools out there that you'll be doing well to find something novel. Maybe a pump with a detachable handle that turns into a multi tool?

After todays ride I'd like a multi tool that turned into cornish pastie 20 miles from home.

shouldbeinbed

its all been done before and 5 minutes in any bike shop from Halfords upwards would have shown you this in spades.

sorry to sound like Duncan Bannatyne on a day when he's run out of pile cream and his dog's just been run over but the plethora of design students that come on here asking for advice and suggestions and thinking they're onto the elixhir of life or the method of turning base metal into gold when they're 30 years too late and even the briefest of trips to the poorest of shops would show them this in glowing neon letters 30 feet high gets on my nerves.

find your basic ideas and do some product research yourself first, then come to the target audience, once you've found there is a niche in your chosen market, for refining the thing.

bottle toolkits were around briefly years ago and you don't see them now for a good reason, it rhymes with they're trap & takes space on your bike from the only place a bottle can go and for tools that is better utilised elsewhere.
Why would I want a taller much heavier bottle to pull out and put back that is going to be harder to tip up and much more likely to be dropped when drinking on the move and will be more of a faff if you do break down dismantling your bottle to get at your tools.
Theres brilliant devices out there called saddle bags and wedges and bar bags and frame bags that stuff fits in already I've found when I have in my nievety bought these with kit included, I've invariably cannibalised it or taken out the padding and foam cut outs etc leaving me with something I could have bought cheaper and been just as effective. Puncture kits and instant patches are tiny, ubiquitous and cost pennies, co2 kits and compact pumps too.

for your multi tool: buy a Topeak Alien, peel the branding off, go to the pub for 6 months and hope no one notices.

also for reference: locks and lights have been done to death and very few bikers want them integral to the frame.

think seasons and the differences between dry and wet and icy and snowy tarmac roads & hard trails etc. Theres an idea or two yet to be had somewhere in there.

Velonutter

I have one of these from Topeak: -

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... delID=7223



Seems to do most of the things you are designing, but sadly is now discontinued.

Barteos

Velonutter wrote:

I have one of these from Topeak: -

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... delID=7223



Seems to do most of the things you are designing, but sadly is now discontinued.

It's still available just under a diffrent name
http://www.extrauk.co.uk/product/detail ... ools/1293/

Cleat Eastwood

Ignore the naysayers, if you don't have a go you'll never learn

I like the idea of being able to attach something to the bottom of a bottle cage, maybe like a one inch deep round container to store tools etc.

Most of the tools are quite heavy if you could find a way of lightening them, that might be an idea.


1. What kit do you carry for on the go maintenance? - multitool thing and pump/innertube

2. How do you carry it? Small enough to fit in pockets

3. Have you ever been caught without something you needed, tubes, pump etc - yes a pedal spanner.

4. What would be the maximum you’d be willing to pay for such an item? about 20 squid


Best of luck anyway.

cougie

1. What kit do you carry for on the go maintenance? Allen Keys, Reversible screwdriver, chain tool.

2. How do you carry it? In a pouch in my back pocket

3. Have you ever been caught without something you needed, tubes, pump etc usually destroyed tyres do it for me.

4. What would be the maximum you’d be willing to pay for such an item? £10 or so

I've had a few multitools - but find them to be useless in practice. Very hard to get at tricky bolts with a cumbersome item like that, and the chain tools are just way too fiddly.

I use my separate allen keys all the time - and they take up less space than an expensive multitool. I think they were free with a bike magazine !

Mark Bom

These are my answers to your questions, hope they help.

1. What kit do you carry for on the go maintenance? - Selection of loose Allan keys, flat and Phillips screwdrivers from broken section of a multi tool. Tyre levers, puncture repair kit, spare tubes, chain links, mini pump.

2. How do you carry it? - Everything in a leather zip up pouch (similar to Rapha, but cost about £3 many years ago), carried in rear pocket of jersey with pump.

3. Have you ever been caught without something you needed, tubes, pump etc - No, but soon to add chain splitter to tools.

4. What would be the maximum you’d be willing to pay for such an item? About £20 unless it was exceptional and would change the way I carried my tools drastically.