MBR Editor’s Chocie 2019: Birzman Studio tool box, £369.99

Whether you’re building up a home workshop from scratch, or adding a portable kit that can be taken with you on riding trips, the Birzman Studio is hard to beat. Packed with 37 tools, it’ll cover the basics, right up to specialist jobs such as fitting forks. The tools are good quality and well designed and there are some real clever gems such as the Disc Brake Gap Indicator that makes setting up drag-free rotors a doddle.

>>> Best mountain bike tool kits 2019

Birzman Studio Tool Box review

The Birzman Studio Tool Box houses its contents in a briefcase, but unlike most of its competition there’s an extra layer of tools thanks to a removable tray that doubles as a work surface when you’re away from home. This means it boasts a hefty 37 tools, more than any other here, and more importantly for mountain bikers, it’s packed full of useful items.

Take for example the Disc Brake Gap Indicator. This is a tool that will literally change your life. It’s a thin butterfly of aluminium that inserts between your brake pads and rotor to ensure the perfect caliper position and drag-free rolling. No more squinting and nudging to align your brakes anymore.

There’s also a pad spreader tool and rotor truing fork, meaning that all your disc brake needs (barring a bleed kit) are covered.

On top of that there’s a saw guide for cutting fork steerer tubes, a headset star nut installation tool and a dead blow hammer.
The cutters are excellent, producing clean, crisp ends in cable inner and outer, and there’s also a needle nose plier with end cap crimping tool and diagonal pliers that are ideal for snipping zip ties.

The split link pliers make removing your chain a doddle and there’s even a valve core remover, tape measure and half round file.
There are some weak points – the tyre levers feel flimsy, the centre pin on the Shimano HG tool means you can’t use it to remove RockShox top caps, but overall we were really impressed with the Birzman Studio Box. It’s a comprehensive tool kit with a strong mountain bike slant, making it our test winner.