The Mechanic's Special - Interbike 2018

Efficient Velo Tools, or EVT for short, puts out a bunch of professional-level mechanic's tools that are manufactured in their Portland, Oregon, workshop using local materials. It's their Right Arm repair clamp that's pictured above, a heavy-duty clamp designed to fit Park Tool’s common cylindrical-interface - just slide the original clamp out and slide the EVT unit in place. Why would you want to do that? The Right Arm's jaws are very short, meaning that you might not have to mess around with your seat height as it requires just two inches of exposed seatpost. The leather-padded faces are shaped to work with any seat post that's out there, too, up to a 110mm cross-section like used on some aero triathlon and time trial bikes.

There are only three moving parts to the Right Arm (the handle and the spring-loaded clamps), and the handle spins on a sealed bearing that makes the whole thing feel buttery smooth. Like their other tools, the Right Arm is designed for professional shop use, and at $350 USD for the unit, I bet that it'll be mostly shops that end up pulling the trigger.


It provides 18lb of lifting aid, which might not sound like much, but it was enough to make the old, heavy bike on the stand feel as if it weighed about 10lb. Ever had someone spot you during a failed max bench press? They barely need to lift the bar with just their fingers to allow you to easily raise it up, and it's the same idea here. The Right Arm clamp slides up and down on massive brass bushings, and EVT says that the mechanism ''is air-damped to control speed.''

Want one? It's $2,000 USD, weighs over 200lb, and there's a three to four month wait time, but it does come with an ''unparalleled lifetime warranty.'' I know that the PB workshop, AKA my workshop, doesn't need one of these, but I also don't care. I want it.




I spent far too long geeking out over tools in the EVT booth, so here's one more to check out: Their Bleedin' Gauge. There are plenty of plastic tire pressure gauges out there with a digital display, but EVT took a far different route with theirs. The body is CNC machined, and it uses an analog gauge that's available in five different ranges to best suit your bike. Have a fat bike? Then you'll want the 0 to 15 PSI model. The other ones read 0-30, 0-60, 0-100, and 0-160 PSI.

The gauge gets its name from the bleed screw on the side of the body, with the idea being to over-inflate your tire by a bit and then bleed it off slowly until you're exactly where you want to be. It's also rebuildable without any tools, and the filter (to keep sealant from gumming it up) is just a simple cotton ball. If you think that this little gadget is going to be pricier than your plastic gauge, you're not wrong; it's $110 USD. There are no electronics to mess up, batteries to wear out, or LCD screen to die, so while it's not inexpensive, it should last a long, long time.





And speaking of not really needing but really wanting, here's Off Street Only's hand-operated shock dyno. There are no computers involved here, but the idea is to let mechanics mount up a shock to check things like damping adjustment range and resolution, IFP clearance, any friction or sealing issues, and even aid in new air can installs.

It's made to be bolted down to a sturdy table, and the steel handle is long enough to give even a weakling like me enough leverage to run a shock through its stroke.




Pretty much any shock will fit on OSO's hand dyno, and it comes with different shock pins and all the hardware to test anything from a pint-sized air shock to a massive downhill damper. There's even an adapter kit to fit the proprietary shocks that some Specialized bikes use. This is not an inexpensive unit, so you'll probably need to be a real suspension dork (I mean that endearingly, of course), and work on a lot of shocks, to justify the $949.95 USD price tag.





I don't need it, but wouldn't the PB workshop look pro with this thing bolted onto the edge of my workbench? Maybe I do need it.





You get one guess as to where Whistler Performance Lubricants is based. Hint: It's just down the road from PB HQ in Squamish. There are a ton of lube options out there, but WPL puts the focus on bio-based and bio-degradable products from renewable sources, and they say that they skip any harsh chemicals. Their catalog includes both wet and dry chain lubes, fork seal lube, grease and degreaser (they hate each other), bike wash, and even suspension fluid.

Posted In:
Reviews and Tech Interbike