With its black hard casing, the Master Tool Kit gives you the air of a hitman carrying his 'tools' to the next job. It has everything you could ever need, and a load of stuff you probably don't, and is pro level in terms of price and quality – if you're into your tools it's a lovely bit of kit to own.
Among its 64 professional tools housed in the ABS plastic case, the Master Tool Kit holds several new ones for 2008. These include a Mavic Pro spoke wrench, three new bottom bracket wrenches, a 10mm hex driver that fits Campagnolo Ultra-Torque cranksets and Mavic hubs, an external bearing socket, an oversized downhill tyre lever and a new crank remover.
All the T-handled Allen keys are housed with the spanners on a separate carrier that can be hung off the carry case for easy access. The layer below can be fastened to the inside of the lid and opens up to reveal the tools inside. Under the Allen key top crust lies the bigger stuff like the crank and bottom bracket removal tools. You also get a quiver of Phillips and flat nosed screwdrivers, third hand tools, spoke keys and a whopping chaintool.
The bottom layer is reserved for all the big spanners and an array of smaller cone spanners. There's also a cog wrench that replaces the more common chain whip and a big spanner for extra leverage on the internal bottom bracket tool.
There's everything in there bar headset removal and installation tools, but other than that you can completely strip and rebuild a bike with the contents. The only addition we'd like to see is a torque wrench.
The most popular tools like the quality T-Bar Allen keys and big cable cutters are a joy to use. But it's the little things like the magnetic tool tray, the ratcheting box spanners and just the way the tools are housed and presented that makes the Master Tool Kit so special.
It's not cheap, but good tools never are, and the tools here will still be going strong when your heirs have you've long forgotten how much you paid for them.