Appreciation post: that $10 Park Tool spoke wrench I almost skipped

Picked up the SW-0 at a shop in Austin last year after breaking a cheap multi-tool trying to true a wheel on the trail. Has anyone else found that spending a little more on one specific tool saves you a ton of headaches later?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_sean7d ago

Brother I feel you so hard on this. I cheaped out on a spoke wrench for like two years and just kept snapping nipples and rounding off the little square part on cheap tools. Finally broke down and got the SW-0 and it's wild how much better it fits in my hand and actually stays on the nipple without slipping. I had this one wheel that was always wobbling because I couldn't get the tension right with the crappy tool, and after one session with the Park wrench it rode true for months. It's one of those things where you don't realize how much you were fighting your tools until you use a decent one.

fiona_fox564d ago

Wait, you actually broke nipples with a cheap spoke wrench? I thought that was just something people warned about online, not something that actually happens in real life.