Neutron's Oh Sh!t Kit Gets You Out of a Pickle - Pond Beaver 2020
Some riders like some sort of back or hip pack for transporting ride essentials with them. Others, myself included, much prefer to have those essentials always on the bike ready and waiting. If you're a regular mutterer of "What can I forget?" then the latter approach to essential carrying might be right up your street.
Neutron Components are a new Kiwi brand from Aotearoa, and their first product is the Oh Sh!t Kit. Side note, a Kiwi Camelbak is just stuffing a water bottle down the back of your shorts... So, it seems New Zealanders prefer that latter approach too.
The Oh Sh!t Kit, or O.S.K. in a more mum-friendly abbreviation, is an MTB specific multitool that requires no more modification to your bike than banging it into the end of your bars. The kit then uses the main body as a wrench to mount the included bits and fix up your steed to keep you rolling.
Neutron tried to include all the essentials you'll need if it all hits the fan when you're out on the trail, but know that each person could have their individual needs or specific tool size for their own bike. So each bit is a standard 1/4" size enabling you to swap them out and customise the kit if you need to.
Those bits cover 2.5, 3, 4, 5 and 6mm hex, a T25 Torx and a #1 Philips driver.
There's a rugged steel chain breaker, 3.2, 3.4, 3.6 and 4.3mm spoke wrenches, valve core tool and tyre lever all packed into a 150g package.
And once you've given your bike the dream out on the trail there's even a bottle opener so you can lean back and admire your mechanicing masterpiece with a cold beer.
The O.S.K works best on handlebars with an inside diameter of between 19mm and 21mm and is proudly designed, built and tested in Taupō, New Zealand. There's a flat rate for shipping for worldwide shipping, and if you order one and it turns that it doesn't fit you can send it back for a full refund.
It comes in at $89 NZD or $52 USD for the full Oh Sh!t Kit and can be purchased from the Neuron Components website. The O.S.K. wrench and chain breaker are also available separately for $69 and $25 respectively and there's a host of colour options for the bar end so you can make it all stealth or match the rest of your bike.
Unfortunately, New Zealand is currently on complete lockdown. So any orders placed during this period will be fulfilled and sent out as soon as possible after the lockdown is lifted.
Author Info:
Must Read This Week
Sign Up for the Pinkbike Newsletter - All the Biggest, Most Interesting Stories in your Inbox
PB Newsletter Signup
1. The rate at which we turn the bar is low.
2. The input torque for turning is low, especially relative to the forces used to resist in-plane impact forces.
3. Many motorcycles and a small number of mountain bikes use steering dampers. Light and fast steering isn't always a benefit.
I'm not saying adding mass at the end of the handlebar is necessarily a good thing. I'm saying it's not necessarily a bad thing.
Other than that i quite like it though and its quite light.
In terms of people wondering about balance, the chain breaker is in one side and the wrench/tyre lever is in the other. The tool is also modular (the parts snap together in line) so expect to see some further options in the future to fine tune what you carry to what you need/want.
Stay tuned!... or stay plugged, as you like