It has been a busy run here, and this week had some more incoming tools I want to test out.
The easy one is the new silicone folding coffee cone. I have been looking for something a bit more portable that does not weigh a ton, and can squeeze into my cook kit. we will see how it goes.
The other tool is a bit more interesting. The Fix it Sticks are an interesting twist that I hope to have replace my long carried Alien tool.
They ran a successful Kick starter campaign to get these things out into the world. They have even more tool options, but I stuck with the basic 4/5/6 since that is what I needed. Hopes are high for these. The tool bits are press fit with an epoxy as backup. the body of the tool is aluminum and lighter than you night expect. For the range of torques needed on the bike they should be more than robust enough, time will tell. They take up about as much room as a set of tire levers and pack up neatly and rattle free in a upcycled tube
Thinking about how light they felt, and how heavy my decades old Alien tool felt I decided to pull out the scale (a task reserved only for shipping around here most of the time)
Comparing the pile of tools to the alien it looks like I will shave about 38 grams. While that is just a little bit, there were a ton of redundancies between the Alien and the rest of the tools in that pile I often carried any way. Whey these neat little sticks will really do is convince me to jettison the 305g multi tool and eventually the backup allen keys, shaving almost 3/4 of a pound in the long run.
While that may sound like no big deal in a world of weight be damned bike touring, it means that I can effectively add my camp stove and cooking kit to the bar bag at all times with no weight penalty. That is the point of counting the grams! it is possible to carry the things you want and need without massive panniers and or a super stout bike. With careful selection of your gear you can quite possibly have you comforts and not need a sherpa (or a car) to haul it around. I am not cutting the handles off of my tooth brush, yet, but I am starting to think more about the stuff I haul, and what it weighs.
Enter the Rambler, light weight touring, and some fun.
Hey Rob. I’m on the same path in regards to on-the-go coffee-making (bike camping in my case). I bought a very similar silicone coffee cone but was surprised by how much it weighed:
http://tinyurl.com/c3vgo8h
I think I’m going to take a knife to it to see if I can reduce it some.
“The things you want without a sherpa or a car.”
nicholas
I have the same Topeak multitool, they sure are a porker but it’s a comfort to carry every tool known to man (except torx, because disc brakes hadn’t been invented when I purchased it). I will grab something lighter one day if I see it on sale.
Don’t you feel naked without a chain-breaker for instance?