MBR Review - Birzman Studio Tool Box 10 out of 10

The Birzman Studio Tool Box houses its contents in a briefcase and has the added bonus of an extra layer of tools thanks to a removable tray that doubles as a work surface when you’re away from home. With 37 tools, it offers more than any other product on test, and more importantly for mountain bikers, it’s packed full of really useful items.

Take the Disc Brake Gap Indicator, for example. This is a tool that will literally change your life. It’s a thin butterfly of aluminium that inserts between your brake pads and rotor to ensure the perfect caliper position and drag-free rolling. No more squinting and nudging to align your brakes anymore.

There’s also a pad spreader tool and rotor trueing fork, meaning that all your disc brake needs (barring a bleed kit) are covered.

On top of that there’s a saw guide for cutting fork steerer tubes, a headset star nut installation tool and a dead blow hammer.

The cutters are excellent, producing clean, crisp ends in cable inner and outer, and there’s also a needle-nose plier with end-cap crimping tool and diagonal pliers that are ideal for snipping zip-ties.

The split-link pliers make removing your chain a doddle and there’s even a valve core remover, tape measure and half round file.

There are some weak points — the tyre levers feel flimsy, the centre pin on the Shimano HG tool means you can’t use it to remove RockShox top caps, but overall we were really impressed with the Birzman Studio Box. It’s a comprehensive tool kit with a strong mountain bike slant, making it our test winner.

The Birzman Studio kit packs some really clever extras that you won’t find anywhere else.

Of the tool kits, the least impressive is the Park Tool Advanced Mechanic Kit. While you get a lot of items, some feel like they are there to pad out the contents, and there’s a lack of specific mountain bike tools. You can’t argue with the price of B’Twin’s 900 Tool Box, but the quality isn’t that great and it’s missing essential
items such as cable cutters.

Initially we were really impressed with the Unior Pro Home Set, and certainly the quality of the tools is very good, but a few of them didn’t quite live up to our expectations and the fact that several tools fell out every time we opened the case became really annoying.

The top three tool kits were really hard to split, and any of them would make a fine foundation to any home workshop. With its foldout binder, the Feedback Sports Team Edition Tool Kit looks and feels like a pro spec item. We love how you can attach it to a workstand in the field and it comes with a really useful selection of quality tools. Topeak’s Prepbox 18 also comes with a well thought out array of tools, including a handy torque wrench, and a sturdy case that can be expanded with anexternal pouch as you add items.

Which leaves Birzman’s Studio Tool Kit as our test winner. It packs in an impressive array of tools for the price, along with some really clever extras that you won’t find anywhere else.