BiB Creative Clever Original Quick Link Pliers

Sure, some of us are a bit more clumsy that others, but we still felt a bit miffed when somebody sent us a pair of sporks out of the blue. What’s next, shrink-wrap meal trays? Upon closer inspection however, it turned out that we were not looking at airline-grade cutlery but rather a clever new set of tire levers that double as a quick link pliers for your chain. Also included in the box was a nifty looking barrel tool of some kind, which of course ended up being a chain breaker. Meet the “Clever” series.

Clever Original Quick Link Plier Highlights

• “Portable Quick Link Pliers”
• Weight: 60 grams for a set
• Size: 130mm x 20mm x 20mm (when stacked together)
• MSRP: $12-15 USD

Clever Chain Barrel Highlights

• “No Speed Limit Chain Breaker”
• Chain breaker tool
• Compatible with 8 to 12 speed chains
• Weight: 46 grams
• Size: 18mm diameter, 43mm length
• Required tools: 5mm hex and 15mm wrench (or Clever Original chain plier)
• Coming soon: bar-end plug which can store the Chain Barrel in the handle bar
• MSRP: $20 USD (sold as a kit with 2 pairs of chain pliers for $48 USD, shipping included)

In The Workshop

Two tire levers that look like sporks, and a small, round barrel tool of some kind. It was almost hard to guess what these were when they popped up in our mailbox one day. The brief explanation included in the package was enough to set us straight though, and so we took a closer look.

The “Clever Original” tool is one of those you don’t realize you needed until you actually use it. Sure, opening a chain quick link is not THAT hard, although if you’ve ever had your regular pliers slip on a brand new and particularly stubborn link, you know that it can be a bit frustrating (and/or painful if you happen to leave a bit of your finger in there somewhere). Well, that’s all in the past with the Clever Original. Just slide the two parts together to form a plier, slip the teeth around the quick link and squeeze. Done. As for the tire lever side, it works great too, so you don’t have to worry about adding a tool to your toolbox – these can replace your old levers if space is of a premium.

Chain breakers are a dime a dozen, but the Clever Chain Barrel brings a few neat tricks to the party: the ability to easily adapt to any size chain, and the ability hold the chain very securely as you work. Neither of those are particularly unique, but to find them both in such a compact tool is a nice touch (granted, you do need a couple of other tools to make it work, but those are tools you would likely be carrying anyway).

To use the Chain Barrel, you need to remove the cap and back out the breaker pin bolt with a 5mm allen. Then position the link you want to break at the bottom of the barrel, screw the cap back on, and tighten up the pin bolt with a 5mm allen key. You then need to secure the barrel part of the tool, either with a vice, a suitable wrench, OR – the Clever Original Chain Pliers. That’s right, the back of each handle of the chain pliers features a 15mm slot that happens to match the nut on the chain breaker barrel perfectly. From there on in, it’s business as usual, crank down on the allen key until the pin pops out of the chain (make sure not to pop it all the way out if you intend to press the chain back together again instead of using a quick link).

The Clever tools are the brainchild of Tomo Ichikawa, a Japanese inventor and bike enthusiast. His company is called “BiB Creative”, where BiB stands for “Believe in Bicycles”. The company was registered in June of 2016, and his first product went on sale in December of that year. Currently, his products are distributed in the US by KHS (under the Clever brand), and also sold in an OEM version by KMC. Tomo is busy looking for other distributors around the globe, in the meantime his products are also available to ship anywhere in the world directly from his webshop at http://bibcreative.bigcartel.com (which is a bit rudimentary but nevertheless gets the job done). He also told us recently that he has a few more products in the works, which based on his track record so far should be well worth looking out for.

What’s The Bottom Line?

There isn’t some kind of shortage of tools that do the same job as the Clever ones do, but both tools we tested add a unique touch that is frankly nice to have, especially in the case of the quick link pliers. Why wouldn’t you want tire levers that also provide by far the easiest way to pop open a quick link in your chain? As for the Chain Barrel, it’s so small and unobtrusive that it makes for a great addition to your riding pack, should you not happen to have a multi-tool with a chain breaker on it, and it will easily make itself forgotten in a toolbox with its compact dimensions. And once the handlebar end plug version comes out, that’s one more way to store essential tools on your bike, for those who are into that game.

More information at: http://bibcreative.bigcartel.com.

About The Reviewer

Johan Hjord loves bikes, which strangely doesn’t make him any better at riding them. After many years spent practicing falling off cliffs with his snowboard, he took up mountain biking in 2005. Ever since, he’s mostly been riding bikes with too much suspension travel to cover up his many flaws as a rider. His 200-pound body weight coupled with unique skill for poor line choice and clumsy landings make him an expert on durability - if parts survive Johan, they’re pretty much okay for anybody. Johan rides flat pedals with a riding style that he describes as "none" (when in actuality he rips!). Having found most trail features to be not to his liking, Johan uses much of his spare time building his own. Johan’s other accomplishments include surviving this far and helping keep the Vital Media Machine’s stoke dial firmly on 11.