# Anyone recommend a small useable 15mm wrench?



## meat tooth paste

I commute on my fixie and carry a long armed 15mm wrench for wheel repairs. 

Does anyone know of a good portable smaller (folding?) 15mm wrench that still has enough leverage to tighten and loosen the axle nuts? 

I am thinking about putting a large saddle bag on my fixie and tossing in all my stuff (patch kit, tube, multi tool, levers, etc.).


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## Mattman

*Campy peanut butter wrench*

Try Business Cycles they have 3 different models two are peanut butter wrenches, a campy for a bit over $25 and a knock off for about $15
http://www.businesscycles.com/trtool_peanutbutter.htm



They also have a pretty cool combination wrench made for fixed gears. http://www.businesscycles.com/trpart.htm#super

The site is a bit tricky to navigate, but has some good stuff.

You can do a web search for the peanut butter wrench and maybe get it cheaper, I got mine for $21 I think, but I don't remember who from.


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## meat tooth paste

Mattman, thanks for the info on those three wrenches. I am thinking about getting that Campy wrench and just be done with it because I am sure the quality will last my biking years 

I also came across this Surly Jethro Tule wrench. It's shorter, so good to fit in the saddle bag, but I am just wondering if it's too short.


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## Spinfinity

*Try a hardware store that specializes in automotive tools.*

There are more styles of 15mm wrenches in this world than you could imagine. I have one that's about 5 inches long, open on one end and a ratcheting box wrench on the other. I worry less about leverage than about fitting in a seat bag because if necessary I push the wrench with my foot.


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## meat tooth paste

rusa1586 said:


> ...I worry less about leverage than about fitting in a seat bag because if necessary I push the wrench with my foot.


Good point. I actually change my car tires using my foot on the tire wrench/bar. No reason why I can't do that for my bike too.


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## bacoes

*Don't do the surly*

I bought a JethroTule and have yet to be able to use it, the casting seam didn't get filed down and it won't fit over a track nut. I've tried it with with several and none will fit. Just stick with a Park or Campy peanutbutter wrench


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## pauly

Sears Craftsman stubby. 4.5" long. Lifetime warranty. $8.50. Can't beat it.


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## wooglin

pauly said:


> Sears Craftsman stubby. 4.5" long. Lifetime warranty. $8.50. Can't beat it.


Bingo.


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## CFBlue

*yup*



wooglin said:


> Bingo.


Yup, I have several of those; keep one in the seat bag, one on the bench. Work perfectly.


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## Mattman

*Peanut butter or beer*



meat tooth paste said:


> Mattman, thanks for the info on those three wrenches. I am thinking about getting that Campy wrench and just be done with it because I am sure the quality will last my biking years
> 
> I also came across this Surly Jethro Tule wrench. It's shorter, so good to fit in the saddle bag, but I am just wondering if it's too short.


The short wrench is cool but harder to get a wheel tight or a tight wheel loose. If that not a big worry, I guess you must decide if it is better to be able to spread peanut butter or open a beer with your wrench. On my SS MTB I have a Surly Tuggnut covering the beer opening issue and the peanut butter wrench covers that possibilty.

I also have a set of the stubby wrenchs, they are good too. I want a set of metric combination wrenches with the racheting box end, the new ones are so nice and the heads quite compact.


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## meat tooth paste

pauly said:


> Sears Craftsman stubby. 4.5" long. Lifetime warranty. $8.50. Can't beat it.


Time to bust out the polyester Brady Bunch outfit and head down to Sears. I'll pick up one these today since there's a Sears next to Supergo. I can kill two birds with one stone, or as my nice friend says "feed two birds with one scone".


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## czardonic

*Dumbell?*

Not you. . .









https://www.rivbike.com/webalog/tools/19063.html Handy if you still have canti or center-pull brakes too.


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## Maybeck

*Sears, hacksaw, benchgrinder..*

Will fit in pocket or like so..


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## kennetht638

Maybeck said:


> Will fit in pocket or like so..


When I saw that, I went to my bike to see if I could mount my 7.5" long Craftsman 15mm wrench (currently stored in a correspondingly enormous saddle bag) like that on my IRO. Then I realized that it's bad enough that I keep all the tools needed to steal most parts of my bike in my saddle bag without putting a wrench on the axle nut to make it even easier. I'm lucky that bike theft isn't too popular around here.


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## ukiahb

*made my own multitool....*

by welding together a 15mm socket, 6mm allen, and a bottle opener.....need both 15mm and 6mm as my hubs are mismatched


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## buzzybelmondo

*paragon machine works*

its titanium and has a bottle opener
give them a call


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## Mattman

*That's cool*



ukiahb said:


> by welding together a 15mm socket, 6mm allen, and a bottle opener.....need both 15mm and 6mm as my hubs are mismatched


Rough, but cool!


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## the locust

*here is my new craftsman shorty*

after seeing this thread i decided that the craftsman shorty was for me but it wasnt quite my style so here is what i came up with after 20min on the die-grinder, much better than the jethro tule i think


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## Travis Bickle

*Jethro*



bacoes said:


> I bought a JethroTule and have yet to be able to use it, the casting seam didn't get filed down and it won't fit over a track nut. I've tried it with with several and none will fit. Just stick with a Park or Campy peanutbutter wrench



I bought the Jethro and had the same problem but 10 min with the file from my Swiss Army Knife cleaned it up just fine.


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## OneGearGuy

*creativity lives!*



the locust said:


> after seeing this thread i decided that the craftsman shorty was for me but it wasnt quite my style so here is what i came up with after 20min on the die-grinder, much better than the jethro tule i think


me likes it! there goes your warranty, but hey, we all know that tool is golden for as many years as you can wrench the top off a cold, brown malted beverage. and if we aren't strong enough to do a 12 oz. curl, then we are already dead, lol.  
i picked one up yesterday- certainly a good deal at $8.59 and easy to use. in fact, i can actually get a bottle top off with it if i hold it just right...
that Paragon Machine Works is one truly trick tool- Ti to boot!

welp, this has put me in the mood for a brewski and some music... now, where are my Tool albums??


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## serpico7

pauly said:


> Sears Craftsman stubby. 4.5" long. Lifetime warranty. $8.50. Can't beat it.


Ordering the ratcheting version - Gear Wrench stubby 15mm combo wrench. Sears doesn't have Craftsman 15mm stubby with ratchet.
http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/prod...tical=TOOL&subcat=Wrenches&BV_UseBVCookie=Yes


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## El Guapo

I use the Surley tool and find it to be VERY useful. It's short enough that it doesn't take up much room in the saddle bag. But, it has a large enough "flange" that you can torque down more than enough on the bolts. It is "angled" so that it points slightly away from the wheel. I torque the bolts down by hand and finish the job using my heel and step down on the flange part of the wrench. Since this isn't a box-end wrench and it's contact point is quite large, there is no worry about the wrench flying off the bolt and your foot or shin slamming into something unfriendly.


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## Durandal

I've never had a problem when tightening with the Jethro tule, and I weigh about twice what most of you guys do.

That Paragon one looks nice too though.


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## bluebirdbiker

I just went to Home Depot and bought a reg. 15mm wrench then had the guy berak it in half, I ground down the ends to smoothout the break point and I have a box end wrench I keep in my seat pack.


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## powerrp

bluebirdbiker said:


> I just went to Home Depot and bought a reg. 15mm wrench then had the guy berak it in half, I ground down the ends to smoothout the break point and I have a box end wrench I keep in my seat pack.


Whoa, that Home Depot dude is STRONG!  

I just used my bench grinder to take the open end of my $3 wrench clean off. Works great.


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## bluebirdbiker

hehehehe. He used the chain breaker for it I beleive.


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## Slim Again Soon

*Gearwrench -- short ratchet, open-end*

Went to Sears to get a stubby recommended above but came out with this instead -- Gearwrench stubby.

Actually stubbier -- pretty small -- with a ratchet on one end and open-end wrench on the other. Lighter weight than the Craftsman stubby, too, which was more robust than needed for bicycle work.

Here's what it looks like, on the Amazon site:

http://www.amazon.com/GearWrench-Professional-Ratcheting-Combination-Wrench/dp/B000B69OA0


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## Chris H

How ironic that this thread was brought back to life.

I had a 15mm wrench that I picked up at the pawn shop for 50 cents. I cut it in half then ground down the cut end and rounded it off. Later that week I was at Sears and the stubby wrenches were on close out. Picked up a 15mm stubby for 4 bucks. Would have bought more, but it was the only one they had. I might hit another Sears and see if they have any more in stock. It's a handy wrench.


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## VaughnA

Slim Again said:


> Went to Sears to get a stubby recommended above but came out with this instead -- Gearwrench stubby.
> 
> Actually stubbier -- pretty small -- with a ratchet on one end and open-end wrench on the other. Lighter weight than the Craftsman stubby, too, which was more robust than needed for bicycle work.
> 
> Here's what it looks like, on the Amazon site:
> 
> http://www.amazon.com/GearWrench-Professional-Ratcheting-Combination-Wrench/dp/B000B69OA0


We have a winner IMHO. 

Did the same thing, they didn't have a normal wrench but had the gearwrench. That is definitely the way to go. Fits my dropouts easily and is small enough for a seatpack.


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## JoeDaddio

Husky makes a set of wrenches called stubbys, or something like that, and that's what I carry around. My nuts are different sizes (ha!) so i have to carry around two of them. They're small enough to carry around and still big enough to give you enough torque to where you feel secure, riding. They weren't that expensive at all, and husky has a lifetime warranty on all their products - just bring it back to Home Depot and they'll give you a new one without any problems.



joe


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## RedRex

I found a 7 piece set of Husky wrenches at Dome Hepot that had the perfect wrench. 20 bucks for the whole set but oh well, it was exactly what I was looking for. Fits in a small under-seat Inertia Designs bag...


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## Aus Rotten

I picked up an 8" Snap-on combo wrench and cut off 2" on the opened end, filed the boxed end 6" that was left and have a nice tool. It looks like the one ziptied to the frame has been drilled out. Cool! The Craftsman shorty with the opener is classic! Its funny that even something simple like a 15mm wrench will get poeple thinking how to personalize it.
(and my friends thought I was lame doing that)


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