Way back in the summer I took a trip up to Manchester to visit the Bespoke Bicycle Show which was hosted in Victoria Baths. It was a lovely venue, if a bit delapidated. The show it self was a shadow of its former self when it was in Bristol but there were some interesting exhibitors non the less. After an argument in the carpark I popped into the baths and immediately went straight into the deep end of the pool, thankfully this is where the show was and no, it wasn’t under water!

I was drawn to one exhibitor straight away though, I say exhibitor because stood by a wooden table, a table that was conspicuously empty of anything apart from a Japanese guy who was leaning on it looking a bit lost. Turns out his name was Koh and he owns and runs Equipt-Japan. Frustratingly for him, he had made it all the way to Manchester but his stock hadn’t. It was still in transit and he was hoping it would arrive by day two of the show! Not ideal, what was ideal though was that the only UK stockist of his items was Keep Pedalling in Manchester and he’d raided their display and had one example each of his multitool, the Sardine and a pedal spanner, the Cucumber. We stood and chatted and he offered to send me two of his tools when he got back to Japan. a few weeks later a package arrived at my doo containing a Sardine and a Cucumber…..

The Cucumber is one hefty lump of machined aluminium and because of this it’s a workshop or back of the car/van tool rather than a carry with you item. It has a 6mm and 8mm bit at one end , these pivot making it easy to use at different angles. Perfect for through axles or pedal fitting or removal

There’s not a lot to say, it works perfectly, has enough leverage for the most stubborn of pedals but the shape also allows a little finesse when using as an axle tightener/loosener. It comes in a miriad of colours, one of which is green and in my opinion that colour is the only thing that resembles a cucumber. Name aside though its an efficient tool and something that will definately stand out in your tool box.

The Sardine on the other hand is a different kettle of fish (yes, i did that on purpose and I’m probably going to have to explain it to Koh) it is a mutltitool designed to be with you on every ride. This is where the shape (it’s not fish shaped at all) is a winner. the long thin profile makes it sit in any bar, frame, saddle or top tube bag very neatly. if you don’t want to hide it away though it comes with a plastic mount that will sit behind a bottle cage or any two bolt mounts on your frame. I put this one on the top tube as it made taking pictures easy, in real riding I wouldn’t mount it there as I might catch it with my knee given my knee-in riding style.

The Sardine comes with 3, 4, 5, 6 and torx T25 bits that swivel out of the ends or from the middle. The middle one also locks into the plastic bike mount via a notch. The tool is very useful, as any multitool is but where it wins for me is that the shape means it’s not bulky like a lot of multitools and you can actually get some leverage unlike a lot of tools that have stubby little allen keys on them. It doesn’t have a chain splitter but I’ve yet to use a chain splitter on a multitool that I haven’t sworn or shouted at so I’m actually happy that I’d have to take a separate tool for that. It weighs around 40g so there’s no weight penalty for the length of it (95mm) the swivel bits mean you can hold it like a pen/screw driver or grip the handly like a spanner. Try doing that with a foldable tool that is designed to be folding or small rather than having function as its prime goal.

This leverage came in handy tightening an errant disc rotor bolt up when out riding.

Both the Cucumber and Sardine are not cheap coming in at £89 and £55 each but if you want something a little different to the normal run of the mill tools to stand out in your bike tool kit or on your bike then spend the extra because not only do they look good they also work too.