#HTE

Silca’s Seriously Slick New Bike Tools Are Here

Bike and tool lovers take note: Silca refuses to stop making awesome stuff, so look away or start saving. This week saw the first batch of their Kickstarted T-Handle hex wrenches hit the ground, and they look great. Silca has previously been famous for their hyper engineered pumps, and more recently for making the sexiest allen set to grace a wooden box. This new set just builds on that obsessive attention to materials and user needs. 

The sliding T-handle design is hardly new, but they rightly identified that few, if any, offer a way of locking the handle into place while in use. Their detent system gives the user extra leverage and stability in the T position, and the handle-drive bits are formed with the same attention to detail as the main shaft. 

The whole assembly is forged rather than welded, and the length is long enough on larger sizes to reach pain in the assed recessed bolts on bottom brackets or crack tough case pedals. The length and resistance lends well to rapidly switching from using the main shaft and arm, and the material quality lowers concerns about stripping and good contact.

The complete kit includes the 8 most common hexe sizes plus a T25 and T30 torx. The full set comes in a folio case designed to be accessed easily while draped over a bike or stand. Waxed duck canvas is soo 2014 but I’ll let them have it since the blend of portable organization is well thought out and decent looking while open.

At almost $200, it’s a laughable comparison to my beloved and hideously thrashed ball-end Bondhus set, but if I still wrenched all day every day these understated Ts would be on my vision board for a less shitty shop experience. Overkill for fair weather mechanics, but a great inspiration for anyone looking to improve traditional tools.