BBB T-RexGrip

RAAAAAWR! BBB wants you to add Tyrannosaurus Rex to your workshop in the form of these excellent sprocket pliers named for their resemblance to the jaws of the mighty prehistoric predator. Fortunately, unlike the dinosaur, the T-RexGrip won't rip out chunks of your flesh, but just makes it easier to remove cassettes, and to fit them to wheel-off indoor trainers. If you find conventional chain whips a bit fiddly, this is a straightforward alternative that's worth paying a bit more for.

It's dead easy to use. Open it up with the thumb lever and let it close round a sprocket, fit your lockring tool and away you go. The only thing you have to remember is to orientate it the right way so it's working against the lockring tool; an arrow on the handle helps with this.

It's long enough that there's plenty of leverage even for lockrings that have been tightened enthusiastically and left to get deeply attached to their freehub bodies.

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The T-RexGrip's advantage over a conventional chain whip is that it's easier to position the handle so it's in a convenient place to provide resistance when you turn the lockring. With a conventional chain whip I never seem to get it in the right place first time, and end up moving the lockring tool or chain whip so I can easily squeeze them together. No such hassle with the T-RexGrip.

It's also less likely to slip than a chain whip because it's grabbing the sprocket from two sides and held in place by your grip. In this regard it's not as secure as the daddy of the sprocket pliers category, the Pedro's Vise Whip II, which uses a locking mechanism – like a Mole grip – to lock on the sprocket, but the T-RexGrip doesn't have that excellent tool's 70 quid RRP either.

> Beginner’s guide to bike tools – get all the vital gear for basic bike maintenance

BBB says the T-RexGrip will hold onto sprockets with between 11 and 26 teeth, and cassettes with 7 to 12 sprockets. I used it on a selection of 9, 10 and 11-speed cassettes and it worked really well, firmly grabbing the sprocket in each case. The Kraton synthetic rubber grip feels good in the hand too; if you need to apply bodyweight force to shift a tight lockring your hand is well looked after.

The only sprocket-related job I think the T-RexGrip might struggle with would be removing the threaded middle sprocket on old SunTour freewheels. Those things got ridiculously tight from pedalling and mechanics tended to resort to DIY chain whips made from metre-long pieces of angle iron to shift them. Fortunately they're now very rare and anyone working as a mechanic who hasn't encountered one can consider themselves lucky. Kids today, don't know they're born and all that.

If you're running SRAM 12-speed with a 10-tooth smallest sprocket or Campagnolo Ekar with a 9-toother, you might think the T-RexGrip's limit of an 11-tooth smallest sprocket will be a problem. But you don't have to use it on the smallest sprocket of your cassette, it'll grab any up to 26 teeth, so you've plenty of options.

Rivals and alternatives

You can get a bog standard chain whip for around a tenner, and in some cases it'll even come bundled with a lockring tool. The cheapest I've been able to find the T-RexGrip for is £20 (follow the buying link above or below); the extra convenience is worth the difference, especially when you consider that rivals like the Park Tool CP-1.2 sprocket tool will cost you about £55 and the lowest price online I can find for a Pedro's Vise Whip II is £57.95. On the other hand, Wiggle has own-brand Lifeline sprocket pliers for a tenner, though they lack the T-RexGrip's handy thumb lever.

> off-road.cc’s guide to 11 tools every home bike mechanic should own

Your other alternative is a tool like Decathlon's £12.99 sprocket spanner with pins to engage in the smallest sprocket.

Overall

The BBB T-RexGrip is a lot better than a standard chain whip at a sensible price, which makes it ideal for a home workshop if you can't justify the cost of a Pedro's Vise Whip II. The T-RexGrip isn't quite a professional workshop tool, but it's not far off, and it does its job really well.

Verdict

Excellent sprocket pliers for the home mechanic