I carry a multitool on every ride now, and the reason is one bad afternoon. Two and a half years ago I rode eighty miles out past Chino Valley, and somewhere on the way back the rear tire went flat. I had a bag full of loose Allen keys and no chain tool. I stood on that shoulder for twenty minutes with the wrong tools and a bad attitude. I got the tube changed and finished the ride, but I finished it sore and late, and I took a wrong turn on the way home that added six miles because I was tired and not thinking straight.
That night I emptied the seat bag onto the bench and looked at what was actually in it. The first week of March after that, I bought a Crankbrothers M19 along with four other things I had been putting off, and I have used all of them for about two years and roughly eight thousand miles. The M19 is the one I would replace first if it went missing. It is chromium molybdenum steel, 175 grams, about three and a half inches folded, and it carries a lifetime warranty. What matters more is what it does at the roadside at seven in the morning, when your hands are cold and your patience is thin.
The tool I reach for before anything else in the bag
Hex wrenches from 2 to 8 millimeter, a chain tool rated for 8 to 12 speed, spoke wrenches in four sizes, Phillips and flat screwdrivers, 8 and 10 millimeter open wrenches, and Torx. 175 grams of chromoly steel that has ridden in my seat bag for two years. Today's price is on the listing.
Amazon Check Today's Price on Amazon →One 175 gram tool replaces the handful of loose keys in your bag
Before the M19 my seat bag had four or five Allen keys rattling around, and I could never find the one I wanted with cold fingers. The Crankbrothers tool carries hex wrenches in 2, 2.5, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8 millimeter. That covers every bolt on my bike, from the seat post clamp down to the bottle cage. It weighs 175 grams. I put it on the kitchen scale once out of curiosity and then stopped carrying the loose keys. Fewer decisions at the roadside is worth more than it sounds.
The chain tool is why I bought it, and I have needed it exactly once
A chain tool is the one thing a bag of Allen keys cannot fake. The M19 is rated for 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 speed chains, and my touring bike runs a 9 speed, well inside that. In about eight thousand miles I have needed it once, on a climb out of Chino Valley when a pin started walking out of the plate. Once is enough to justify the room it takes up. The tradeoff is real though: the chain tool is fiddly to work with cold hands, and I would rather not be doing it at dusk.
8 and 10 millimeter open wrenches for the bolts that loosen on their own
Rack bolts and fender stays are the quiet trouble on a long day. They walk loose over chip seal and you do not notice until the fender is rubbing the tire and you are wondering why the bike suddenly feels slow. There is an 8 millimeter and a 10 millimeter open wrench on the tool, and the 10 has saved me twice on the same rear rack. Neither replaces doing the job properly at the bench, but at mile forty it gets you home instead of standing there.
Four spoke wrench sizes, for the wheel that goes out of true
A wobbling wheel turns a good day bad in a hurry, because you cannot ride through it and you cannot fix it with a hex key. The M19 carries spoke wrenches in sizes 0, 1, 2 and 3. My rims take the size they take and I keep a note of it on the shop wall, but having all four means the tool works on Ed's wheels as well as mine. I have used it twice, both times after a pothole I did not see in time on the descent into Chino Valley.
Phillips and flat screwdrivers that reach the limit screws other tools miss
Derailleur limit screws are small, they sit in an awkward place, and they are the difference between a clean shift and a chain that throws off the big ring. The tool has a Phillips number 1 and number 2 and a flat number 2. The number 1 gets more use from me than anything else on the M19, usually to nudge a limit screw back where it belongs after a new cable settles in. Small thing. It is the small thing that ruins a shift forty miles from the truck.
Torx sizes, for the bolts that showed up after we all learned on hex
Newer hardware quietly moved to Torx and it caught a lot of us out, me included. The M19 covers those as well. I do not run much Torx on my own bike, but Ed's does, and I have handed him the tool on the shoulder of the road more than once because I was the one carrying it. That is the argument for a complete tool over a bag of parts: you can help the person you are riding with, and neither of you has to turn around early.
Side grips you can actually hold with gloves on
The side grips are the part nobody mentions in the listing photo and everybody notices at the roadside. They give your fingers something to hold onto while you turn, which matters when your hands are cold, or gloved, or both. I have ridden in thin wool gloves from November through March for five years and my grip is not what it was at forty. I can open the tool, pick a bit and put real pressure on it without the frame folding up in my hand.
Three and a half inches folded, so it lives in the seat bag and stays there
The folded size is 3.5 by 2 by 0.5 inches and it weighs 175 grams. That is small enough to sit at the bottom of the seat bag under the spare tube without me ever thinking about it. I tried it in a jersey pocket once and did not care for it, because it is a chunky little thing and I could feel it against my back on the climbs. In the seat bag it disappears. That is where mine has lived for two years.
Centre drive, so it opens like a pocket knife instead of a puzzle
The pieces pivot on a centre drive, which means you fan out the bit you want and the rest stay where you put them. I have used folding tools that splay open like a dropped hand of cards, and you end up fighting the tool as much as the bolt. This one holds its shape. It is a small design decision and it is the reason I stopped dreading roadside repairs, because the tool does what my hands expect it to do the first time.
Chromoly steel and a lifetime warranty, so it is the last one you buy
The body and bits are chromium molybdenum steel, the same family of material the good shop tools are made from, and it comes with a lifetime warranty. I am sixty seven. I do not need to be shopping for a second multitool. Mine has been dropped on asphalt twice, ridden through two Prescott winters in a seat bag, and the bits still fit the bolts without slop. That is the whole test. If it holds its shape, it has earned the room it takes up.
What I'd Skip
The M19 has no tire levers and no pliers, and I am not going to pretend otherwise. I still carry two plastic tire levers and a patch kit next to it, and if you run tubeless you will want to think through what goes with it. It is also chunky enough that a jersey pocket is the wrong home for it, in my opinion. And the chain tool, the very reason I bought the thing, is genuinely awkward to work with cold hands. I have done it once and I was not graceful about it.
None of that changes my mind. The job of a multitool is not to be a shop. It is to be the difference between a ride and a walk, and for me it has been exactly that. If you want one tool that does everything, it does not exist and nobody sells it. If you want one that handles every bolt on a steel touring bike and hands you a chain tool in the bargain, this is the one that lives in my bag.
I have needed the chain tool once in eight thousand miles. Once is enough to justify the room it takes.
Put one in the seat bag before your next long day
Two years, roughly eight thousand miles, one dropped chain and a rear rack that kept coming loose. The Crankbrothers M19 covered all of it at 175 grams. It is not the smallest tool you can buy and it is not the lightest, but it is complete, and complete is what gets you home.
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