Hi Danielle, the try lobe spoke wrench looks pretty neat especially fitting the blade support as well. Thanks for the video, stay safe girl, best wishe's to you and your's, Stuart UK.
Same here, my goto spoke wrench is Rixen & Kaul KLICKfix SPOKEY Professional RED 3.25 mm for all the DT Swiss and Sapim nipples I wrench outside of the rim. After giving up on finding anytning useful from ParkTools I got the standad SPOKEY Red (non-Pro) model, but then upgraded to Pro with the double stack of metal inserts. I have yet to round a nipple using this tool. But when building new wheels I always build with nipples that screws at the head from inside the rim, like DT Swiss Squorx of Sapim Polyax DoubleSquare. Then using DT Swiss Proline T-handle type nipple wrenches, Black for Torx or Red for Square. Tightening nipples from the head, inside the rim, make it super easy to hold bladed or thin round spokes very close to the nipple, proventing spokes from twisting.
Good to know about the double stack! It's never been my absolute go-to, but there are so many. I opened up my spoke wrench organizer and thought "This will be a 3-hour video" 😁 Stuck with tire-on, one size. My counter argument for the Park bladed tool was that maybe they didn't ever intend for you to use it with a normal spoke wrench (only internal or the small wrenches), but then I saw their own pictures on the site and they totally do. Lots of good workarounds though!
I never do any wheel-building, only a bit of truing, so I'm not a heavy spoke wrench user, but my favourite is the IceToolz you showed really briefly at around 3:08. It's investment--cast stainless steel, and very comfortable to use. Unfortunately, I think it's only available in 3.45mm, i.e. equivalent to Park Tool SW-2 (the red one!), but that's the size I most often encounter here in the UK anyway.
Very original and useful video. Thanks for reviewing the tools and relating your professional experience. I wondered about 2 things: 1) Could the monolith handle be so large (in diameter) that it would interfere with the adjacent spoke on a wheel with 40 or 48 spokes? 2) To take the monolith spoke one step further, why don't we have handles that are completely round (like a knob)? That would be the most comfortable on the fingers. It could be marked at 90 degrees or 45 degrees or whatever to measure how much you're turning.
Thanks! I have seen so few 40-48 spoke wheels I wouldn't be able to say with certainty! I would probably choose a flat spoke wrench in those applications. As far as shape, the concavity gives you leverage to push/pull - more similar to your traditional spoke wrench than a knob but a wider grip to reduce hand stress. My hands, in their current state of disrepair, would not be able to turn a knob comfortably with enough force to true a wheel 🤣 But everyone has different ergonomic needs! I just think a perfectly round tool would lose the leverage of the "push/pull" that spoke wrenches currently offered all provide.
Love your level of detail and subscribed. I love the overview, I spent like 2 hours trying to compare spoke wrenches with image alone and people liking the only tool they own. I am very poor, so I cant afford buy tons of wrenches. I building wheel at home, I work part time as bike mechanic at the city keeping bicycles alive so they transport around. We have the park tools one at work with wheel stand. It is better then all size fit round chrome circle one. I was mostly look at spokey design.
Thanks! If you are working on lower-end bikes or bikes left outside, 3 sided wrenches like the Park will fit more spoke nipples with various levels of rust etc (that's also why they slip and round off spoke nipples too). In Sweden for four sided, the Spokey style is super easy to get and they've reinforced the bottom now (I think maybe Cyclus is the one...) so they fit super tight. That's not to say Monolith can't ship you some, but probably an extra $25USD or so on top of the cost for the import and extra shipping. Lots of good choices on the market!
Great content. Right up my nerdy bike tech talk alley. I use the DT spoke holder for exactly the reason you mention. I also mostly use a 4 sided newer DT spoke wrench unless I need to do quick pre tensioning without holding spokes, then I use a 3 sided Park Tool. The Monolith tool looks great but it would kill my routine of doing a smallest increment of quarter turns. I have to double check the 3.23 vs 3.3mm issue as I mostly build with black brass. I do get a few marks but nothing tragic. Will double check. Thx for the excellent video and keep up the good work. Subscribed.
Thanks! Spoke wrenches are one of the most fortunate of all bike tools - there are loads of choices and very few of them are outright bad. I'm always excited to explore new tools, especially with ergonomics - but sometimes you're just good with what youve got and you've done it for years that way 😄
Any correctly sized 4-sided spoke wrench should make it INCREDIBLY hard to round off a spoke. If the tension gets too high for the mechanical properties of the nipple, you're much more likely to twist it - but at that point it is no longer the wrench's fault 😆
I have an ancient Dudley spoke wrench that I keep at my bench for oddball sizes and e bikes. It fits onto the spoke vertically just like a modern spoke wrench with the tail pointed to the hub. Super convenient for when you just have to tighten 1 or 2 spokes on rusted out bikes since you can clamp down with the knob.
P&K Lie is my favorite, but the slot on the handle scrapes against the spoke, leaving marks on black spokes. I resorted to glueing a little piece of plastic straw into the slot.
Hey great video! Have you ever tried a longer spoke wrench type like the park tool sw-14,to pair with your regular aero spoke? And also have you tried lacing a wheel with the wera kraftform turbo driver, replacing the usual z shaped ones? Im really curious about that one.
Probably a personal failing, I've never felt like the long "wrench" style truing tools gave me enough ability to keep track of turns (they can't turn within the neighboring spokes, so a quarter turn can only occur between 2 and 5 o clock ish and a half turn is not possible). I've used them plenty back in the hayday of the Ksyriums etc because that was the only way to true them. I do think the Wera driver would be an interesting spoke tool! I'm still stuck on the Bicycle Research style manual nipple driver. Most people I know using powered drivers are using a full on drill - the Wera might be a nice middle! 🤘
The best spoke wrench is the Spokey...it is my to go, especially when i think the nipple is about to get rounded.. by far the worst is the park Mickey mouse style.. i am envious of your Phill spoke cutter..
nice channel! I would love to know what tools should i buy for each kind of bike service these days. But especifically for high end MTB Aand EMTB. Especcially Enduro mtb. which park tools are a must? thank you!
That would be a long answer with a lot of caveats! Check out the tool pyramid video, it's about how to build a kit (maybe less specific to each tool). Then, stick with pro-level tools from Park / Pedros / WMFG / etc etc to fulfill what you are actually trying to do. I typically go with non-bike brands for things like cable cutters and hex keys. Bike specific stuff, there are half a dozen great choices for each tool. Just make a list of what you want to do first, then seek the tools for those tasks.
I have Cyclus Tools Top spoke wrench and Cyclus Tools Professional spoke wrench, but I never had the one that you tell everyone has. But as these 2 do the job well for me I'm not going to buy some more, just to be like everyone else.. Though I have heard that real mechanics have a lot of tools, because then they don't have to squat to pick up tools that they drop to floor.. That's why they have also these bike stands that can go very high up. They can still lift bike high enough while staying on a pile of tools.
Black Park, for the win. In second place, Green Park, for those old Mavic wheels, but will also work on DT brass nipples, unless they are starting to round off. PS. I've always used a vice grip with a rag in the jaws, to prevent bladed, or oval spokes from twisting, in the final tightening stages. Using for a Decade??? ..Try 1985....I don't like change.
Super cool *and* you beat me to it! I've just got hold of a set of Monoliths and am going to be doing a Spoke Wrench Shootout shortly in between my episodic 'How to Build Wheels' series! I've some thoughts on the best wrench but - cheekily - people will have to visit the RBW channel to find out more (as soon as they've watched even MORE NSN (loving your stuff!) ;-). Cool fact about early spoke wrenches; I found this video the other day; a modern remake of a 1900 patented wrench by @HandToolRescue: ruclips.net/video/1clBn7WXkN4/видео.html Love your history lesson as part of the video intro :-).
I love the movie clips. Wheel building is a weakness for me right now and there aren't many videos with a spoke wrench focus. I found this very interesting and informative. Thank you
Glad you enjoyed it! Wheel building is a very zen, satisfying discipline when you get into the groove. 100% my favorite part of bicycle mechanics, but I started with 1 person showing me 1 wheel, then borrowed copies of The Art of Wheel Building and The Bicycle Wheel - that was many wheels ago. Everybody starts somewhere!
Best spoke wrench video I have found on RUclips. Great work, thank you.
Well SPOKEn.
Future NS RUclips content writer in the making
Hi Danielle, the try lobe spoke wrench looks pretty neat especially fitting the blade support as well. Thanks for the video, stay safe girl, best wishe's to you and your's, Stuart UK.
Some Spokey clones have a thicker metal insert. For example the Rixen & Kaul "Pro" model. This is my favorite spoke wrench to this day.
Same here, my goto spoke wrench is Rixen & Kaul KLICKfix SPOKEY Professional RED 3.25 mm for all the DT Swiss and Sapim nipples I wrench outside of the rim. After giving up on finding anytning useful from ParkTools I got the standad SPOKEY Red (non-Pro) model, but then upgraded to Pro with the double stack of metal inserts. I have yet to round a nipple using this tool. But when building new wheels I always build with nipples that screws at the head from inside the rim, like DT Swiss Squorx of Sapim Polyax DoubleSquare. Then using DT Swiss Proline T-handle type nipple wrenches, Black for Torx or Red for Square. Tightening nipples from the head, inside the rim, make it super easy to hold bladed or thin round spokes very close to the nipple, proventing spokes from twisting.
Good to know about the double stack! It's never been my absolute go-to, but there are so many. I opened up my spoke wrench organizer and thought "This will be a 3-hour video" 😁 Stuck with tire-on, one size. My counter argument for the Park bladed tool was that maybe they didn't ever intend for you to use it with a normal spoke wrench (only internal or the small wrenches), but then I saw their own pictures on the site and they totally do. Lots of good workarounds though!
I never do any wheel-building, only a bit of truing, so I'm not a heavy spoke wrench user, but my favourite is the IceToolz you showed really briefly at around 3:08. It's investment--cast stainless steel, and very comfortable to use. Unfortunately, I think it's only available in 3.45mm, i.e. equivalent to Park Tool SW-2 (the red one!), but that's the size I most often encounter here in the UK anyway.
Very original and useful video. Thanks for reviewing the tools and relating your professional experience. I wondered about 2 things: 1) Could the monolith handle be so large (in diameter) that it would interfere with the adjacent spoke on a wheel with 40 or 48 spokes? 2) To take the monolith spoke one step further, why don't we have handles that are completely round (like a knob)? That would be the most comfortable on the fingers. It could be marked at 90 degrees or 45 degrees or whatever to measure how much you're turning.
Thanks! I have seen so few 40-48 spoke wheels I wouldn't be able to say with certainty! I would probably choose a flat spoke wrench in those applications. As far as shape, the concavity gives you leverage to push/pull - more similar to your traditional spoke wrench than a knob but a wider grip to reduce hand stress. My hands, in their current state of disrepair, would not be able to turn a knob comfortably with enough force to true a wheel 🤣 But everyone has different ergonomic needs! I just think a perfectly round tool would lose the leverage of the "push/pull" that spoke wrenches currently offered all provide.
Every time I watch one of your videos, I spend money
😂 sorry!
Love your level of detail and subscribed. I love the overview, I spent like 2 hours trying to compare spoke wrenches with image alone and people liking the only tool they own. I am very poor, so I cant afford buy tons of wrenches. I building wheel at home, I work part time as bike mechanic at the city keeping bicycles alive so they transport around.
We have the park tools one at work with wheel stand. It is better then all size fit round chrome circle one.
I was mostly look at spokey design.
The monolith one looks awesome, specially the triangle shape, it probaly turn it using more of the wrist
However, it seem to be hard one get here in Europe, at least for me Sweden.
Thanks! If you are working on lower-end bikes or bikes left outside, 3 sided wrenches like the Park will fit more spoke nipples with various levels of rust etc (that's also why they slip and round off spoke nipples too). In Sweden for four sided, the Spokey style is super easy to get and they've reinforced the bottom now (I think maybe Cyclus is the one...) so they fit super tight. That's not to say Monolith can't ship you some, but probably an extra $25USD or so on top of the cost for the import and extra shipping. Lots of good choices on the market!
I never knew there was so much to know about spoke keys. Now I know. Thanks!
Great content. Right up my nerdy bike tech talk alley.
I use the DT spoke holder for exactly the reason you mention. I also mostly use a 4 sided newer DT spoke wrench unless I need to do quick pre tensioning without holding spokes, then I use a 3 sided Park Tool. The Monolith tool looks great but it would kill my routine of doing a smallest increment of quarter turns. I have to double check the 3.23 vs 3.3mm issue as I mostly build with black brass. I do get a few marks but nothing tragic. Will double check. Thx for the excellent video and keep up the good work. Subscribed.
Thanks! Spoke wrenches are one of the most fortunate of all bike tools - there are loads of choices and very few of them are outright bad. I'm always excited to explore new tools, especially with ergonomics - but sometimes you're just good with what youve got and you've done it for years that way 😄
Awesome review...You've sold me on the Monolith!! Cheers, Pjw
I'm not sure though... I think in terms of half turns and quarter turns. Do I need to learn thirds and 6ths? That starts to sound like music theory.
Thanks D. Having alot of trouble finding the rite/good spoke wrench that will stop me from continually rounding off my spokes!
Any correctly sized 4-sided spoke wrench should make it INCREDIBLY hard to round off a spoke. If the tension gets too high for the mechanical properties of the nipple, you're much more likely to twist it - but at that point it is no longer the wrench's fault 😆
Another very interesting and informative video. Thank you for sharing.
Ordered the monolith tool! Good video!!
I have an ancient Dudley spoke wrench that I keep at my bench for oddball sizes and e bikes. It fits onto the spoke vertically just like a modern spoke wrench with the tail pointed to the hub. Super convenient for when you just have to tighten 1 or 2 spokes on rusted out bikes since you can clamp down with the knob.
That's awesome!!!
Simply excellent!
Another one worth a mention is the Cyclus TOP spoke wrench which has 4 sided 3.25 and 3.45 in the one tool
Good looking tool!
Great for those entry level bikes where the nipples could be either size
Great video again ! You show the amateur Spokey, but the Pro has 2 metal parts, so full contact with the nipple flats.
Thanks! It's the OG Spokey I guess - hadn't moved on to the modern options 😁
P&K Lie is my favorite, but the slot on the handle scrapes against the spoke, leaving marks on black spokes. I resorted to glueing a little piece of plastic straw into the slot.
Hey great video! Have you ever tried a longer spoke wrench type like the park tool sw-14,to pair with your regular aero spoke?
And also have you tried lacing a wheel with the wera kraftform turbo driver, replacing the usual z shaped ones? Im really curious about that one.
Probably a personal failing, I've never felt like the long "wrench" style truing tools gave me enough ability to keep track of turns (they can't turn within the neighboring spokes, so a quarter turn can only occur between 2 and 5 o clock ish and a half turn is not possible). I've used them plenty back in the hayday of the Ksyriums etc because that was the only way to true them.
I do think the Wera driver would be an interesting spoke tool! I'm still stuck on the Bicycle Research style manual nipple driver. Most people I know using powered drivers are using a full on drill - the Wera might be a nice middle! 🤘
The best spoke wrench is the Spokey...it is my to go, especially when i think the nipple is about to get rounded.. by far the worst is the park Mickey mouse style.. i am envious of your Phill spoke cutter..
Spokey changed so much about spoke wrenches! Glad they are still being produced
nice channel! I would love to know what tools should i buy for each kind of bike service these days. But especifically for high end MTB Aand EMTB. Especcially Enduro mtb.
which park tools are a must?
thank you!
That would be a long answer with a lot of caveats! Check out the tool pyramid video, it's about how to build a kit (maybe less specific to each tool). Then, stick with pro-level tools from Park / Pedros / WMFG / etc etc to fulfill what you are actually trying to do. I typically go with non-bike brands for things like cable cutters and hex keys. Bike specific stuff, there are half a dozen great choices for each tool. Just make a list of what you want to do first, then seek the tools for those tasks.
I have Cyclus Tools Top spoke wrench and Cyclus Tools Professional spoke wrench, but I never had the one that you tell everyone has. But as these 2 do the job well for me I'm not going to buy some more, just to be like everyone else.. Though I have heard that real mechanics have a lot of tools, because then they don't have to squat to pick up tools that they drop to floor.. That's why they have also these bike stands that can go very high up. They can still lift bike high enough while staying on a pile of tools.
I'm pretty short so my tool pile just lets me get to the average height of most repair stands
1:09 Next thing you know someone starts gluing spokewrenches to their wheels as a joke of a mechanic forgetting his/her tool(s) lol. 😅
Black Park, for the win. In second place, Green Park, for those old Mavic wheels, but will also work on DT brass nipples, unless they are starting to round off.
PS. I've always used a vice grip with a rag in the jaws, to prevent bladed, or oval spokes from twisting, in the final tightening stages.
Using for a Decade??? ..Try 1985....I don't like change.
I like your videos!!
That dog drawing was beautiful/horrible/awesome/terrible all at the same time
i laughed. i cried. it was better than CATS
Is there not a spoke ‘ratchet’ tool??
I've thought about that, as far as I know - no.
Super cool *and* you beat me to it! I've just got hold of a set of Monoliths and am going to be doing a Spoke Wrench Shootout shortly in between my episodic 'How to Build Wheels' series! I've some thoughts on the best wrench but - cheekily - people will have to visit the RBW channel to find out more (as soon as they've watched even MORE NSN (loving your stuff!) ;-).
Cool fact about early spoke wrenches; I found this video the other day; a modern remake of a 1900 patented wrench by @HandToolRescue:
ruclips.net/video/1clBn7WXkN4/видео.html
Love your history lesson as part of the video intro :-).
Watching the guy try to use that tool at the end was PAINFUL 😂 Thanks for the link! Excited to see your shoot out when it comes down the pipeline 🤙
I love the movie clips.
Wheel building is a weakness for me right now and there aren't many videos with a spoke wrench focus. I found this very interesting and informative. Thank you
Glad you enjoyed it! Wheel building is a very zen, satisfying discipline when you get into the groove. 100% my favorite part of bicycle mechanics, but I started with 1 person showing me 1 wheel, then borrowed copies of The Art of Wheel Building and The Bicycle Wheel - that was many wheels ago. Everybody starts somewhere!
🚴🏼🚴🏼🚴🏼
Most do the same thing as long as u get a good tight fit on nipple
Yep! A lot of preference and application decisions
You didn't cover the through the top wrenches .. but you showed them on the bench :(, I watched this for nothing.
Typical commercialism , always trying to sell/buy another thing.......even though a perfectly good thing exists.