Originally Posted by
staehpj1
The weight number works out quite well for the RW-1 if you want/need to carry a 32 mm headset wrench as well as have the capability of removing pedals.
Truth be told I have not always carried a wrench for the headset on my most recent tours. Sometimes I relied on a short allen wrench for installing the pedals. When it comes right down to it you can pretty much always find someone who will lend you a big adjustable wrench for the headset in a pinch. Also for my usage a pedal wrench need only be for assembling the bike so no big deal about getting stubborn pedals off. I just don't need to do that on tour until the end and figure I don't need to carry a wrench for the whole tour for that.
If you have 8 mm allen friendly pedals a nice solution is to take a 1" stub of allen wrench and use a little 8 mm ignition or other little box end wrench to turn it. If you happen to have a crank that pulls with an 8 mm allen or other 8 mm stuff it can do double duty.
Getting the pedals off to go home usually isn't an issue for me since I typically pay a bike shop to pack it and ship it home. While I like to assemble the bike in the airport and ride right out of the terminal, I find it to be so much less hassle at the end of the trip to just drop it off and head home without it.
Oh I agree. I have no recollection of when I bought this thing, but it must have been in the early 90s because I do remember having a stupidly long and heavy combined tool-headset and that hooked shape for ball bearing bb's, and I carried it and a chain whip and probably other stuff that weighed a ton on a trip before I learned better. So the smaller tool was a nice improvement.
Since my bikes have been threadless and since I too discovered the allen key hole on my pedals, and I found the allen key works well enough, it was nice to reduce the weight and volume of not carrying the rw-1 parks tool.