Topeak Mini PT30 multi-tool

The Topeak Mini PT30 is a cracking little tool, bang up to date with modern bike needs. Including an excellent chain breaker and quick-link tool, disc pad spacer, tubeless tyre plug reamer and insertion fork, there are very few road/trailside tasks it won't master, all in a tiny package.

As bikes evolve, the fittings and fixtures evolve too. Once upon a time, a stamped metal tool with multiple large hex nut cutouts and a lockring spanner was the business. Chances are anyone under 40 doesn't know what a lockring spanner is, let alone has ever needed to carry one, and this is A Good Thing. But with a widening number of technologies and fittings adorning modern bikes, pity the mini-tool engineer – their challenge to keep everyone happy with a tool weighing less than a kilo and being smaller than a shoebox is unenviable.

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What bike owners need to know is which tools are needed for our bikes – likely roadside tweaks including derailleur limit screws, brake pad adjustment on mechanical discs, chainring bolt tightening, stem and top cap bolts should your headset rattle loose, pedal spindle tightening, and, of course, chain link and quick link removal. If you run tubeless tyres you should know about using repair plugs, to quickly get rolling again without a messy tube replacement.

All of these tasks and many more can be tackled by the Topeak Mini PT30 – the '30' being the number of functions this tiny tool can carry out. Topeak has been in the mini-tool game for over 30 years and, as the PT30 shows, has never stopped innovating and evolving to meet new market demands.

Starting with the basic hex keys, the PT30 features 2, 2.5, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 and 10mm options. The 2mm is – annoyingly – an L-shape, and no one could give me a valid reason for this beyond that back in the day it was needed to adjust brake lever reach. Now lever reach is indeed a good thing to be able to adjust – but not at the side of the road or trail; it's best done with a long ball-ended hex in the comfort of your own home. Fewer people are using cable levers anyway, and if your brakes need a 2mm hex for, say, adjusting hydro lever throw, you're likely out of luck as these are typically buried in the lever hinge area. Making it L-shaped means that adjustment of, for example, a modern Shimano GRX mech limit screw becomes a real faff, possibly requiring removing the rear wheel in the case of the inboard limit screw.

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The 10mm hex is an adapter slipped over the top of the 8mm hex, retained with a spring-loaded ball; 10mm is a pretty rare use case on a bike for roadside adjustment – your crank bolt might possibly be 10mm, or you might be riding an older titanium Brompton, with a 10mm pedal spindle. Maybe.

The Torx range includes T10, 15 and 25 – that pretty much covers your roadside needs, especially for SRAM mechs (the T10 includes a knurled surface for reaming out tubeless cuts before inserting a repair plug). There's a flat blade for mech tweaks and Shimano brake pad pins, and a #2 Phillips for all manner of tweakery. The tubeless repair plug tool folds out and locks, to allow application of force to insert the repair plug into the thickest of tyres (BYO repair plugs).

Also with the locking function is a serrated blade, should you find yourself in a tight spot facing either existential hunger, muggers, or needing to cut your bike free from Sticky Willies.

All of these tools fold out from the main body of the PT30, but there's more, folks. The second half of the tool holds less commonly used options, which need to be separated from the main tool in order to use the 3 and 4mm hexes for leverage in the chain tools.

The second body of tools is held in place on the first by a knurled screw that doubles as the chain tool press – there's a small rubber ring that provides friction to ensure it doesn't come undone unhindered. Once unscrewed, the screw is then re-threaded, and the 4mm hex used to apply force to the chain link needing splitting. Across a range of chains the tool worked perfectly with a minimal amount of force needed, both to remove pins and to insert new ones. There's a second 'fence' if you need to push a pin back out a bit to evenly balance it or loosen a stiff link. The tool is good for chains from singlespeed up to 12 speed, but not for hollow Campagnolo 11-speed pins.

Now Shimano's on the chain quick-link bus, the days of using pins to join links are numbered – but this introduces another roadside conundrum – how to separate a quick-link if needed? All manner of hacks exist to force quick-link plates together to unlock them, from rocks to doubling links back on themselves over chainrings, even to shoelaces. One of the PT30's best tricks is the quick-link remover – including a wee wire hook to hold the chain in a loop. The technique is relatively easy to learn, and there's even a handy storage spot for a replacement link (link not provided).

Also on the second body are spoke nipple wrenches for 14G, 15G, Mavic M7 and Shimano 4.5mm spokes.

A hidden bonus that Topeak forgot to market is that the opening of the chain tool is a perfect Presta valve core tool – so when the inevitable tubeless build-up blocks your valve, you'll be able to remove the core to clean it and get re-inflating.

Slipped over the end of the tool is a black plastic 'disc brake pad spacer'. This doubles as the holder for the quick-link halves, and as a pad spacer I'd call it rudimentary. It's a three-pronged fork looking sideways at it, and is actually considerably wider than a disc rotor. When inserted into a disc calliper it will prevent an inadvertent lever squeeze from pumping the pistons out, so does the job for preventing roadside calliper woes with a wheel out. There's no pad spreader per se, although the spacer does have a bevelled leading edge so could be used for that purpose in a pinch.

Finally, the PT30 comes with a lovely little neoprene pouch to prevent rattles, abrasion with other things in a tool roll, seatpack or bag, secured with a Velcro strap.

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The tiny dimensions mean it will slot into small spaces in a frame bag or seatpack. At 168g it's not light – but you are getting pretty much everything you're likely to need. The heft of the tool in the hand is considerable, and it's obviously a quality bit of kit. You certainly wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of one when placed in a damp merino sock and whirled above the head to ward off contenders for the last decent burnside camping spot at your next Gravel Festival.

Weaponisation conjecture aside, the Mini PT30 is a class bit of kit with a high-quality feel and finish. It looks the business – as you'd want it to, at £39.99 RRP. This is not a tool for those on a tight budget... but it is for those appreciating having everything to hand, in one compact package. Topeak offers a two-year warranty, and based on the longevity of my other Topeak tools you're pretty unlikely ever to need to call upon it.

Looking at the competition, we need to focus on tools offering more than 20 functions to be fair on price and weight. Liam on our sister site off.road.cc was ambivalent about the Merida 24-in-1 tool, finding it fiddly, cheaply made and hard to get leverage on. Stu gave the same 7/10 rating to the £45 Silca Venti tool with its 20 functions, but the £2.25 cost per function makes it £18.34 lower-value than the Mini PT30.

Indeed, at £1.33 per function, the PT30 is pretty much the best value tool out there – if you need the functions, that is. Which brings us back to your use case. If your bike has no Torx fittings, or if you don't use quick-links, or never break chains, then the PT30 is likely pricey overkill for your needs. But if you're running a modern disc-braked bike, with a quick-link'd chain, tubeless tyres, and want to as best possible minimise the risk of a long walk home, the Topeak Mini PT30 is well worth a look.

Verdict

Exceptional multi-tool that should do almost everything you need on a modern bike