Wera Bicycle Set 4 Colour Coded Hex & Torx L-Keys Set 9pcs

The Wera Bicycle Set 4 stashes nine very well-made hex/Torx keys in a rugged and genuinely useful case, and colour codes everything for ease of use. The quality feels great, and Wera's 'Hex plus' shaping seems genuinely good at avoiding rounded bolts. They're very useful sizes too – this is a good kit. All its impressive details will cost you a fair premium, though.

At first glance these L-shaped tools look like they're all Torx heads on the short arms and ball-ended hex (or Allen) heads on the long ones. The obvious exceptions are the T25 and T10 keys, which are Torx at both ends.

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In reality, the seven main keys are actually hex at both ends. Wera uses a 'hex plus' profile that means each usually flat face bows inwards, creating a kind of star-shaped cross section that looks a little like Torx.

The idea is it places more material at those vital corners, where a slip can round out a bolt, than a traditional hex shape. I found these keys very secure when cranking on bolts, despite an overall size that leaves an identical-feeling amount of play to a standard key.

Though I've only been testing these for six weeks or so, I actually have a 2mm Wera 'hex plus' driver of my own that's been working brilliantly for at least eight months now. I find small keys like this round off enough to start slipping quite quickly, but either Wera's steel or the hex plus shape (or maybe both) really resists that.

The long sides here are ball-ended (and a traditional hex shape) to allow access at an angle to tricky bolts, and all bar the two smallest keys (2mm and 2.5mm) have spring-loaded ball detents. For the record, the other keys are 3mm, 4mm, 5mm, 6mm and 8mm.

The detent lets you hold a bolt on the end while you poke it back towards its tricky-to-reach hole, which can be very handy. They do tend to fall off easily if the bolt isn't parallel to the key, though.

Each key is sleeved in coloured plastic for easy identification, and they're consequently easy to find on the ground or amongst other tools. The plastic adds some smooth thickness that's pretty helpful if you're really cranking on it, though it can make them even slipperier than normal if your hands are greasy.

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The two Torx keys share a colour with their similarly sized hex brethren, which can be a faff – you can easily add an extra band of tape to avoid confusion, but it'd be nice if Wera added an obvious visual difference of its own.

The soft case holds the tools securely yet is very easy to access, and I found it genuinely useful – the plastic holders that hex keys frequently come with are a bulky faff in comparison. It feels very rugged and even features a big square of self-adhesive Velcro should you want to mount it on a wall.

Value

At £49.99, these are expensive. We recently tested the Topeak Hex Combo and that, now £26.99, features the same keys (plus a 1.5mm) and colour coding. On the downside, there are no Torx keys, only the biggest three are colour coded, and it's a multi-tool – reach and leverage are limited.

Alternatively you could go bigger on reach and leverage with the LifeLine Pro Sliding T-Bar Hex Set, and get spinner sleeves too. You also get a 10mm key with this set, but while there's a T25 there's no T10. It's not nearly as portable, though, and it's considerably more at £89.99.

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If Torx is less important to you, you could do far, far worse than the Birzman Hex Key Set at £28.99. Okay they're not sleeved, colour coded or anything beyond traditionally shaped, but Birzman's S2 steel is excellent and they work and last brilliantly. You get all the same sizes as in the Wera set, plus 1.5mm and 10mm.

Overall

If you do a lot of home maintenance, a long-handled set of hex keys like this is a huge help. A multi-tool or the usual little keys of the type that simply materialise in your toolbox – be honest, you never bought a single one, but there they all are – will only make every job harder and longer.

This Wera set covers all the most common sizes, adds the two most common Torx heads, and gets on with doing the job extremely well. It's not cheap, but if you do a lot of work on your bikes it's a worthwhile investment – so long as you value all the neat little details Wera gets right here.

Verdict

Very well made, very effective and made to last – but they'll have to at this price