Review: Lindarets Terske Travel 6/8/16mm Hex Tool For Cinch Cranksets | road.cc

2022-11-23 20:33:07 By : Mr. Jackie Cai

Like this site? Help us to make it better.

At road.cc every product is thoroughly tested for as long as it takes to get a proper insight into how well it works. Our reviewers are experienced cyclists that we trust to be objective. While we strive to ensure that opinions expressed are backed up by facts, reviews are by their nature an informed opinion, not a definitive verdict. We don't intentionally try to break anything (except locks) but we do try to look for weak points in any design. The overall score is not just an average of the other scores: it reflects both a product's function and value – with value determined by how a product compares with items of similar spec, quality, and price. Din5587 Hex Nut

Review: Lindarets Terske Travel 6/8/16mm Hex Tool For Cinch Cranksets | road.cc

Good scores are more common than bad, because fortunately good products are more common than bad.

The Lindarets Terske Travel 6/8/16mm Hex Tool For Cinch Cranksets is a clever way to get heavy torque onto large hex fasteners without being being huge – it uses your 12mm through-axle as its handle. It's an artisan-grade chunk of design for remote-trail fettling, though not cheap given its niche useage. Also, if you get too enthusiastic you could end up fixing your crank but bending your axle...

Every now and then a genuinely innovative tool comes along that makes you slap your forehead and ask, 'why didn't I think of that?'. This thing wins that prize, as well as the one for Possibly The Longest Tool Name In Cycling, by using an existing part of your bike as its lever to save both space and weight.

> Buy this online here

Lindarets is a US design firm, and often partners with bigger brands like Wolf Tooth - if you ride a Goat Link, for instance, that's a Lindarets design. As with all Lindarets stuff the quality is top-notch. This is beautifully machined from stainless steel, and finished with laser-etched graphics.

Most multitools have 6mm and 8mm hex bolts covered, but the challenge comes when you need to apply serious welly – short tool bodies or soft metals can fail you – or need something larger still. If you have a crankset that takes a 16mm hex (such as the non-drive side bolt and self-extraction caps on RaceFace and Easton Cinch cranks) your ride is over.

Now that's a pretty niche use case, and I'd imagine the Venn diagram of people who ride such cranks and have middle-of-nowhere issues is pretty darn small. But it's clearly not so small it doesn't exist.

For the vast majority of cyclists the interesting bits here are the 6 and 8mm hexes for pedals or cranks, and possibly saddle rail clamps / through axles themselves, and the opportunity to get borderline medieval levels of torque. Being so compact it will disappear into the smallest space in a framebag or seatpack, ready to save the day when needed.

> 11 of the best cycling multi tools — get the right bits to fix your bike's bits

But there's then the concern that you might be left with a tight fastener but a bent axle. Lindarets recommends checking the thickness of your axle walls is at least 3mm, and only using your hands – you shouldn't use a foot and really crank on it, for instance. Relatively high torques are safely do-able without risk to your axle; I tested this on fasteners done up to 40Nm, loosening and tightening them without issue.

One drawback is that you obviously can't install both your own axles with it, as you need one to tighten the other.

This is a clever and easy-to-pack tool that could, in very limited circumstances, save the day. The only things it really offers over a decent multi-tool, however, are a 16mm hex key and some easy leverage. You can get the first and most of the second for less cash with a regular hex key such as this £12 one from Facom, though at 370g and 154mm long, it'll hardly go unnoticed.

Alternatively, the Race Face Hex Adaptor Tool slots onto an 8mm key to make it 16mm, is very small and light and costs £6.95.

If you're planning a huge tour, an overseas trip or just don't like going unprepared for anything and everything – and you ride 12mm through-axles – this could be a ride-saver.

Clever and easily-stashed way of carrying a 16mm hex key almost unnoticeably – so long as you have 12mm axles

If you're thinking of buying this product using a cashback deal why not use the road.cc Top Cashback page and get some top cashback while helping to support your favourite independent cycling website

Make and model: Lindarets Terske Travel 6/8/16mm Hex Tool For Cinch Cranksets

Tell us what the product is for and who it's aimed at. What do the manufacturers say about it? How does that compare to your own feelings about it?

Lindarets says: "Every once in a while we find ourselves on the trail or away from home needing a tool that's really, really hard to fake. Say, for example, the 16mm hex key needed for the non-drive side fixing bolt and self-extraction caps on RaceFace and Easton Cinch cranks. And that's precisely what this is for.

"It works with a 12mm thru-axle (not included) and fixes a problem that doesn't come about often but can ruin your day if it does.

"We added deep 6mm and 8mm hexes to the tool to easily tighten external-bearing cranks. Those are common pedal hex sizes too, which makes reassembling a bike in a foreign hotel that much easier than with a pocket-sized tool (pedals should be tightened to 36-40Nm)."

Tell us some more about the technical aspects of the product?

Precision machined from SAE 420 stainless steel

Reassuringly dense and 36g light

For use with 12mm thru-axles with a 3mm minimum wall thickness

How much is that? It's as if you were hanging 25lb of stuff from the handle, 110mm from the centre of the tool (roughly the middle of your hand at the end of a rear thru-axle). Any more and you're going to want a beefier handle.

Some fittings, especially 16mm self-extracting lockrings, are awfully shallow. Take care to ensure full engagement and avoid stripping.

Use only with 12mm thru-axles with a 3mm (1/8in) or thicker wall (6mm max thru hole).

Common sense is your friend: super-light parts don't like to be used as handles, but those with a 3mm wall (3-3.5mm is common) will give you a good margin of safety when the maximum torque value is observed.

This is a hand tool: Don't use a cheater bar, hammer, foot, rock or anything else that isn't your hand to apply force.

If you overdo it and bend your axle, don't put it back in your bike! One, it could get stuck. Two, it could be weakened and fail somewhere down the road. You don't want that and we don't either.

Wear eye protection. Seriously. You only get two and they're awfully hard to fix. You should have specs on while riding anyway.

Tell us how the product performed overall when used for its designed purpose

Precise, solid and bombproof – so long as your 12mm axle is tough enough.

Tell us what you particularly liked about the product

Tell us what you particularly disliked about the product

The price is quite high.

How does the price compare to that of similar products in the market, including ones recently tested on road.cc?

It's more than twice the price of a regular 16mm hex key, though around 10 times lighter and considerably smaller too. However, the official Race Face adaptor (8mm to 16mm) is smaller even than the Lindarets and under £7, which makes this look expensive.

Did you enjoy using the product? Yes

Would you consider buying the product? Yes

Would you recommend the product to a friend? Yes

Use this box to explain your overall score

This is beautifully engineered and perfectly designed, so the price feels fair in that sense – it's a lot to spend on a very niche tool, though, and you need the right bike spec to make it useful. Overall though, it's still very good.

Age: 47  Height: 183cm  Weight: 77kg

I usually ride: Sonder Camino Gravelaxe  My best bike is: Nah bro that's it

I've been riding for: Over 20 years  I ride: A few times a week  I would class myself as: Expert

I regularly do the following types of riding: cyclo cross, general fitness riding, mtb, G-R-A-V-E-L

We’ve noticed you’re using an ad blocker. If you like road.cc, but you don’t like ads, please consider subscribing to the site to support us directly. As a subscriber you can read road.cc ad-free, from as little as £1.99. 

If you don’t want to subscribe, please turn your ad blocker off. The revenue from adverts helps to fund our site.

If you’ve enjoyed this article, then please consider subscribing to road.cc from as little as £1.99. Our mission is to bring you all the news that’s relevant to you as a cyclist, independent reviews, impartial buying advice and more. Your subscription will help us to do more.

They can already commute to the park and ride, and then use the buses into their work place. ...

I hadn't thoought of that. If that's the case then possibly a bit of a design error. If they weren't stood on the pavement would they stick out?  I...

Having the witnesses who could describe the manner of driving probably helped significantly with that.

The article text mentions a bolt under the top tube. So look under the top tube just in front of the seatpost.

Going the other way, 2006 Tour de France winner Oscar Pereira later played in the Spanish third division for his local team, Coruxo ... two goals...

I accept that in the video it could plausibly be confusion (too many possible routes and the markings are relatively minimal at the entrance)....

Can you share that hack? I wouldn't mind the option of mounting mine under the bars

Beyond awful. It looks like some Arabian prince would ride once in front of his mates then keep in gold plated toilet in a palace he never stays in...

This is a really nice gift set at a great price IMO - Garmin 530 and Varia bundle: https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/garmin-edge-530-and-varia...

A compact, light and easy-to-read tool for getting the correct torque in tricky places.

A compact, light and easy-to-read tool for getting the correct torque in tricky places.

An impressively comprehensive tool for its size let down by soft Torx bits and high price

High quality tool that hits the function versus size sweetspot perfectly – it's worth the high price

Editorial, general: info [at] road.cc Tech, reviews: tech [at] road.cc Fantasy Cycling: game [at] road.cc Advertising, commercial: sales [at] road.cc View our media pack

Report an advert on road.cc

Review: Lindarets Terske Travel 6/8/16mm Hex Tool For Cinch Cranksets | road.cc

Stainless Steel Flange Nut All material © Farrelly Atkinson (F-At) Limited, Unit 7b Green Park Station BA11JB. Tel 01225 588855. © 2008–present unless otherwise stated. Terms and conditions of use.