jolly_ross

My manbag has a Leatherman which I love - blade doesn't lock though. It is big, heavy and has v few tools useful for bike - except perhaps for the screwdrivers.

On my bikes, my Alien has a locking blade - which I've never used, in honesty. Quite a few times I've borrowed pliers from friends in bike repairs.

If there was something small and light, with chain tool, drivers, allen keys and locking blade that would be perfect.

staehpj1

Out of curiosity... Those who favor pliers, what do you use them for? The only thing I can think of that I use pliers for on a bike are:

1. Cutting cables, but on tour, you could just roll up the excess until you were somewhere you could borrow a cutter. That or wait until you are home.
2. Crimping on cable ends, but that isn't really a necessity and definitely could wait until home or skipped altogether.
3. Cutting tie wraps, but your knife will suffice if careful. That or just don't cut them off.

So given that none of those are a necessity on the road I am inclined to leave the pliers home.

I guess that they can come in handy for getting wires out of the tire after a flat. For that the tiniest of needle nose pliers would work and many of the pliers in multitools are way bigger than needed for that and some don't even work well in that function. I have always been able to manage without.

Booger1

I carry a small tool kit and a KaBar USMC "buddy" knife,not exactly a pocket knife unless you have really deep pockets.

MichaelW

Use of pliers on tour:
Unthreading a siezed valve retaining ring.
Fishing out the end of a snapped cable from ergolevers
Adjusting the simmer ring of a Trangia burner
Pulling wire out of tyres
Unbending bent things
.............
On another point, any travellers to the UK should note our very strict blade laws (due to knife-wielding youth gangs). The only blade you can carry at all times, by right, without a reason is a non-locking, folding blade under 3.0". Standard Swiss Army Knives are all legal for Everyday Carry (EDC).
If you carry anything non-folding, anything locking or any non-locking over 3" then you need to have Good Reason.
Good Reason is a slippery definition. Generally if you are on the bike or at the campsite, then you have Good Reason. If you take a trip to the pub or shops you no longer have Good Reason. You need to arm yourself with a Good Reason before you carry: "in case I might need it" wont do.
Traditional Leatherman tools may be locking or maybe not, it hasnt been tested in the courts yet. Opinel are locking unless you remove the lock-ring.
The police may offer you a "caution" rather than prosecute, cautions count towards their monthly stats and are much less work. Dont accept a caution without legal advice, it may affect your eligibility for a visa, residency or if you are a professional, the right to work in the UK. People have been cautioned for carrying stupid office utility tools with a sharp edge then found that they cannot get another job as a teacher, nurse, lawyer, dentist etc in the UK.

clayton c

I have an older Gerber multitool that blades open from the inside rather than outward. The pliers are the handiest part of the tool. Handier than the needle nose of my Leatherman Wave.

I also carry a regular folding or lockback knife. I use a baby Granfors Brucks mini hatchet or "pocket axe" if I am to be in the wilds.
I haven't really found a need for fixed blade knife though they wouldn't be necessarily left out if I found a nice one.

MichaelW

What do people actually do with their large knives?

Booger1

Things you can't do with small ones......I go touring where there are big animals and I don't want to take one on with a leatherman......I also go where there are no people for a long ways and I don't want to defend myself with a leatherman either.

If you wake up in the middle of the night with a pack of Javalinas snorting around your tent,your leatherman looks REALLY SMALL right about then.....

I've had stand offs with Javalinas(Fast and Very Aggressive) and coyotes while in the desert.

I'll use it to protect myself from big dogs if I have to,don't like it,but I will if I have to.

fietsbob

Victorinox , and individual tools .. love my Snap On 8,9 and short 10mm combination wrenches .

mistercharlie

Plus one for Opinel knives. Wooden handle which has a slot for the folded blade and a lockring to keep it open or closed. Well made and nice to use. Oil the joint with some olive oil or suchlike when you buy it to loosen it up. Carbon steel can get sharper, but blackens over time. Stainless steel stays clean and shiny but costs a little bit more.

I carry one on and off the bike. My multitool is a Topeak something, with no pliers. If I needed scissors, i'd buy top-quality nail scissors as they are multi-purpose and tiny.

fotooutdoors

I carry a similar multi-tool, plus a Gerber Evo Jr. I am very fond of both. The Evo Jr is the closest I have ever come to my perfect camping knife; moderately lightweight, short enough not to be obnoxious or threatening, but long enough to get to the bottom of a peanut butter jar if needed (the latter being supremely important while touring).

MMACH 5

Is there such a thing as just a folding pair of pliers, without any of the other tools included? Just curious.

zoltani

Victorinox Swisstool

I like how the tools are on the outside so the knife can be flush with a cutting board, way better than the gerber I had.

The pliers come in handy for all type of tasks and repairs, not necessarily bike repairs.

rogerstg

+1, well- except for the valve retaining ring because I never use them.
For me, they also take the place of 8 & 10mm wrenches, spoke wrench and chain tool.

cyclist2000

When touring I carry the Swiss Army knife like one of these except it has a pair of pliers in there too. I also carry a Topeak Alien Mini tool. the only thing that I would like on the swiss army knife is a metal file.

cyclist2000

I like pliers to pull the end of the cables taut, so I don't have mushy brakes or sloppy shifting

ka0use

instead of folding, the jaws retract into the handle.
stainless with a coating, maybe powder coated.
got it 2 or 4 weeks ago off amazon.com.
it is a gerber model 600 blunt nose, black.

no detonator crimper, just a crimper behind the plier hinge,
and has a carbide barb- and razor wire cutter
for those difficult to get into places. or maybe OUT of
them!

bud16415

.

ka0use

whoa. dude. i have GOT to get one of these for my 'other' toolbox- it has everything but wrenches and sockets in it. those are in 2 other boxes (sae, metric). i don't have ANY locking pliers- but i do have 3 hammers!
now if i just had a car with the muffler falling off i could lock it in place for 2 years with this baby right here.

Tractortom

I have been carrying this SAME PLIER since about 1990-91, daily. I have gone through three holster for it, but find I use it DAILY at work and at home and anywhere else I am. I also carry a Gerber lock-back folding knife with a spring assist blade, clipped into my right side front pocket corner. With these two items, I can get out of most trouble that I have found my self in. I highly endorse both!

Tractor Tom in Okeechobee, FL

Carbonfiberboy 

Leatherman Juice S2. Plus a small allen multi-tool. Plus a loose 8mm allen for pedals and cranks. Plus a dedicated spoke wrench. Plus a dedicated chain tool. I don't like the one-tool does all approach, because they usually do all poorly.

MassiveD

As a woodworker, I have hundreds of razor sharp tools, and collect a few knives, and have all the gear to make them. That said, I really don`t see the point to most of these tools for on-road touring. I don`t even have an EDC knife. City life does not justify it, and in the country, I always have a workshop nearby with real tools.

I have carried a Cold Steel spike when touring in places where a bit of paranois wasn`t so silly, they are pretty close to a Sykes Fairbairn killing knife, but much lighter.

I carry bolt and part specific tools. Nothing general. I build out my bikes so the tools required are the most minimal possible, and I do not carry anything that does not have a specific purpose. I just match tools to everything on the bike I would ever touch, and then disgard any for stuff I don`t know how to fix, or more likely don`t see a remote possibility of needing to repair. For instance I have carried a full pedal wrench since there are tours where the pedals need to come off for parking. But most everything else is allen keys. I spend big bucks on parts that do not require tools, or dupes, to fix, rather than spending it on Leathermen that probably won`t help much.

Leatherman tools are way too heavy for anything I could see coming up that would justify the weight. I had a problem once with a fender stay that was tripping me up on slow turns. I just wheeled my way into a home depot and used the bolt cutters. Goodness knows they have enough of my money.

The ideal knife for touring use is either a small pocket knife with delrin body or an olfa boxcutter.

bud16415

The tool shown isn’t quite large enough to reattach an exhaust pipe. I agree Leatherman tools and tools like this vice grip tool or even a multi bike tool will add up in weight to your rig. This vice jaw opening will grab my cassette socket, turn and tighten my crank removal tool, tighten pedals. Etc. The hex adapter will suit lots of useful sockets / Allen (metric) some of them DIY tools. The combination of two plier tools allows one to do much more. With a Leatherman plier and a vice grip you could use a coat hanger and a soup can to make that exhaust repair and not have to leave your nice tool hanging under the car.
There is no need to carry any tools except a cell phone and a credit card or if you are a tool person carry as much as you like. I don’t measure every ounce and my trips are relatively short and don’t try for long distance days so for me the weight isn’t as big of an issue. Some people carry laptops and DSLR cameras it’s all a matter of what the worth is to the person how far they will be from help and if they want to ask or pay for help.
I never fought any wild animals with my vise grips but if I clamped it to a stick I could get some reach advantage :-)