Gorilla Grip Hex Key Set - Review
You won’t find it in bike shops. It doesn’t bristle with 1,001 cool tools—theres no fish gutter, chainbreaker or Navy Seal-approved knife at all. It isn’t crafted from either carbon or titanium. You could call the Gorilla Grip (aka, "Bondhus HF7M") downright retro. Less charitable types might deem it outdated. Me? I carry one everywhere I go. With its sticker price of $15 USD, I can afford to.
This is what the Bondhus HF7M has to offer: seven well-made hex keys, sized 2, 2.5, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8-millimeters. While there’s no shortage of similar tools out there, few actually match this one's bullet-proof quality.
Bondhus makes some tall claims about the strength and wear resistance of their tool steel. The good news--it actually pans out. The tool also comes with a lifetime guarantee. Not stoked? Send it back and they'll fork over your cash.
Plenty of multi-tools include an 8-millimeter hey key. Most of them are too stubby to actually get the deed done. Wrangling up the appropriate torque is not a problem with the Bondhus.
The handle is nearly indestructible, there’s little to no slop in the keys and the keys take a hell of a beating. Bondhus claims their “ProTanium” high-torque steel is 20 percent stronger and offers twice the wear resistance of “normal” tool steel. Similarly, their “ProGuard” corrosion-resistant finish is touted as being five times more effective than their competitor’s finishes. Big claims, sure, but there’s something to the whole Now 20 percent tastier! spiel. I owned my first Bondhus for more than 15 years and only parted ways with it when I yard-saled one day and the thing flew out of my jersey pocket. Despite more than a decade of being abused, it was in nigh perfect condition.
For what it’s worth, the tool comes with a lifetime guarantee—if it breaks or bums you out, send it to Bondhus and they say they’ll give you your money back.
I’ve lost count of the number of times that I’ve watched riders grunt and curse while they tried to loosen a stubborn pedal with their fancy multi-tools. Short handles and stubby 8-millimeter hex wrenches are not your friend when it’s time to get serious about removing a pedal or crank arm that someone has helpfully tightened with a breaker bar. That’s when I pull out the lowly Bondhus and get the job done.
In short, it’s simple. And it works. For years. It’s also affordable—no more than $15 at your average hardware store (or on Amazon.com). Yes, Park Tool offers the very similar AWS-10 and AWS-11 tools. Both are good options, but the Bondhus features a more useful spread of keys. The AWS-10 maxes out at 6-millimeters and there are plenty of pedals out there requiring an 8-millimeter key. Similarly, while the AWS-11 offers up both 8 and 10-millimeter keys, it doesn’t sport a 2 or 2.5-millimeter key and there are cases when those two come in handy. The Bondhus is kind of the Goldilocks bowl of porridge… just right.
Pinkbike's Take:
 | The tool's great shortcoming? The lack of T25 and T20 torx keys. Five years ago that didn't matter. Today, given SRAM's love affair with the star-shaped fittings, it means I have to drag another tool along on the ride. That sucks. A chain breaker wouldn't hurt either. Still, I always reach for the Bondhus. Reliability and durability count for a lot in my book. - Vernon Felton |
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On an unrelated note, I have had two sets of the Bondhus allens for 15+ years......this set and the ball end set. Will never buy anything else......and don't know if I will ever have to, they just don't die. The allen range is perfect as well.
The tool was some sort of ancient native bike trail object. Stealing it enacted a curse.
"Yes, Park Tool offers the very similar AWS-10 and AWS-11 tools. Both are good options, but the Bondhus features a more useful spread of keys. The AWS-10 maxes out at 6-millimeters and there are plenty of pedals out there requiring an 8-millimeter key. Similarly, while the AWS-11 offers up both 8 and 10-millimeter keys, it doesn’t sport a 2 or 2.5-millimeter key and there are cases when those two come in handy. The Bondhus is kind of the Goldilocks bowl of porridge… just right." A small distinction, but that 8-millimeter hex key comes in handy. Cheers.
I just received my Bondhus Gold Guard ball ends.
Wicked quality. Should last for years!
However, I found over time that the extra padding in the palm to be a bit of a hindrance. So you may wish to remove it. I just cut the threads with a utility blade.
Mechanix wear or Dakota gloves..
Lol whats the imput on bike specific grease for 20$ a little bottle, vs real grease for 5 bucks a tube?
You can get the metric hex + the torx one for about 25usd total, them swap a hex key for a torx one... done.
www.bondhus.com/bondhus_products/tool_categories/fold_ups/hex.html
www.bondhus.com/bondhus_products/tool_categories/fold_ups/star.html
they even come as packs lol www.filmtools.com/bondhus-12544-hf15-set.html
on the other hand it seems to be 170gr which is quite heavy for what you get.
The tools have to be accurate. I've seen hex tools where the hex shape just wasn't regular, not all sides were equal length, let alone the proper size!
Ergonomics in adverse conditions. If you need to take the tool out on the trail, chances are you crashed and have to fix stuff. In which case you may be injured as well or just wet and cold. Tiny/short tools are just too hard to work with then. There may be good ones, but I never had good experience with the chain breaker in a pocket tool and from then on just take a pocket chainbreaker from Park Tool along. And of course the tools have to be long enough to actually reach the bolt. I don't trust myself with loose bits, too afraid to drop them.
Reliability. I'm not too concerned about wear on these tools actually. When at home, I just use the full size tools. The pocket tool is being used sparingly, only when I'm out and need to make adjustments. So maybe the requirements for a bike reviewer are much different to those of us simple riders. They may take use it several times a ride to make adjustments, but not because they crashed or broke something. What is important though that once you do pull it out of the camelbak (or that container in the frametube if you have a Specialized bike), it is ready to use. It has happened to me that I just found a bunch of separate tools and washers in the bag. That's unacceptable.
So it that respect the tool reviewed here seems great. But for me its resistance to wear doesn't weigh up against the lack of T25 and the Phillips tool that other multitools come with. Then again it may be different for everyone. If you use a centerlock rotor, you may not be interested in T25. But I need T25 for my brakes and the Phillips for the L and H screws so that would have me bringing another two separate tools or even another multitool. The crankbolt is 10mm, no one puts that in a multitool. It would actually be great if you could just get a menu of available tools and have them custom assemble a pocket tool for you. I've seen Wiha tools do this with their Pocketstar for the likes of Magura and Festool, but probably not individualy. I'd be willing to pay a bit extra for it though, even if they wouldn't bother assembling and just send me a bag with the separate parts.
Back to the phillips heads. On my mountainbike I find them as L and H screw for the derailleur end stops and to open the shifter to replace a cable. These aren't places where you'd apply a torque high enough to damage the head. Still, a slotted head could do just as fine but I don't hold any gruesome grudges against whoever thought to mass produce them
this tool is a great idea for my "vacation toolbox". i might pack it in for a multi-day ride. for a normal ride a small bike-specific mini-tool might be the better option. It usually is good enough to tighten a screw and bring you home.
Been using Bonhus for years, and have managed to wear out quite a few of them, but having tried just about every brand under the sun, the Bondhus are far and away the best. The gold ones are worth the money over the normal black ones of you wrench all day every day, but most people will never tighten enough hardware to notice the difference. Just wish they made a set of t handles I liked.
The time has come for you to review a product!
'Sweet! What do I get to play with?'
*hands multi tool*
i do not
should I?
You get what you pay for, and bondhus tools are a bargain.
I've worked in the places that make this kind of stuff guy. TRUST ME. Where its made and by who matters.
@vernonfelton gets it. His PB content has been awesome since he joined. Keep it up, Vernon!
I am shocked to see a useful review of a reasonably priced piece of kick ass gear. Great suggestion. I have no issue recommending this and the world of bikes benefits if people stop ruining them with crappy tools.
Article is in strong contrast to that other one about the stupid expensive alloy fork sockets.
Personally I prefer the loose allens in the toolbox (yep, bondhus) and carry a lezyne multitool because of weight and chain breaker.