The Review | Topeak Prep Station Pro Tool Box
When it comes to most types of simple bike maintenance a small set of allen and torque keys plus a few other tools will do the trick, especially if you are one who tends to take your bike to your local shop for anything more technical than a cable fit. But if you are a serious bike tinkerer and love seeing away the hours tucked up in your man-cave with your pride and joy, then a much more serious bit of kit is a necessity. A few months ago we were sent this all-singing all-dancing Prepstation Pro by Topeak tools. Was it up to the rigors of racing around the UK circuit?
Immediately this tool box is impressive, it opens up like a kit from the future – going from a neat little box to an easily accessible full array of tools. Each compartment spins around 360 degrees, with full access to the quality tools neatly fitted snugly into their own foam cutout compartments. The box has a pop-up handle and wheels for easy movability. The wheels are on a retracting frame, popping out to make the whole unit more secure when opened, as does the opening latch, this drops down and doubles up as a kind of anchor for the opposite side to the wheels.
There are six swiveling boxes plus an extra tool compartment at the bottom of the unit. The very top has a clear top on, comes empty and is for storage of all your smaller items; nuts, bolts, brake pads, clips etc.
The next one down is also empty for storage of bigger items, plus it contains a neat little handled magnetic removable tray, to keep those removed metal items safe and secure, not buried in a pile of undergrowth! The framework for these items can all be removed seperately, making the compartments on this level bigger or smaller, dependent on what you require to store.
The third level is where you find a selection of allen wrenches from 2 to 10mm, all with quality plastic grips, T shaped and sporting angle ball ends on the short end of the T.
At the fourth level things start to get a bit more techy, included in here are- a chain tool, 8/10mm open spanner, tyre levers, chain wear guide, multi-purpose screw driver, multi-bit torque wrench and room for the optional extra of a very nifty shock pump.
The fifth level contains the pliers, one for cable cutting, one for snipping, one pointed nosed and one for chain removal. Also in this tray are a chainring driver and two spoke wrenches.
The sixth level is where you start to see tools usually only owned by your local shop, the ones that give this box its ‘pro’ name! Stored here’s an extendable socket wrench with fittings including three types of BB remover and a cassette tool. There is also a chain-whip, 15mm pedal spanner and rotor straightening tool.
Now we are into the deep base of the box, the top part of which is a removable box/tray with handle, great for storage of any larger items along the lines of brake fluid, brake cleaner, brushes, greece etc. pull that out and hidden underneath is the final selection of proper workshop tools. These final items include a rubber mallet, sprocket brush, threadless nut setter and saw guide, suited for standard or the wider carbon blades
The dimensions of the tool kit are 38 x 36.3 x 71.2cm when folded and it comes with two 5” bearing fitted wheels for easy rolling around when full of the 40 different types of chrome vanadium and hardened steel tools and many spares. Since we have been using this tool kit at races and at home working on many test parts, we have become very fond of it indeed, now considering it a part of our check-list for any big weekend’s venture out to an event. Our only criticism would be that it should also come with some smaller allen wrenches for tiny bolts like the type you get in brake levers and maybe a couple of full sized flat screwdrivers too.
For more information check out the Topeak website
Price: £599.99 / €835.00 / $915.00
Words: Jim Buchanan Pics: Doc Ward