Motion Pro Mp Tool
Motion Pro MP Tool
CW EVALUATION
For a change, small size matters
ON A DIRTBIKE, A CARRY-ALONG TOOLkit can’t be too small or contain too few tools. The perfect kit, in fact, would be about the size of a credit card and contain just one tool that could turn every fastener on the entire motorcycle. Nice idea. Ain’t gonna happen.
But with its MP Tool, Motion Pro, one of the sport’s most prolific suppliers of motorcycle-specific tools, has come fairly close, at least in the size department. The MP (for “multipurpose”) is an ultra-compact toolkit comprising eight separate tools in an amazingly small (5 x 2.5 x 1.5 inches), zippered nylon pouch.
Some of those tools are not what you customarily find in your average toolkit. One is a squarish device with numerous slots and hexes cut out of it, and another is a small, pipe-like thingamajig that looks more like drug paraphernalia than a tool. There also are four different shaft-like tools: One has a 3/8-inch male drive on one end and a 'A-inch drive on the other; one has 5mm and 6mm Allens on its opposing ends; one is a two-ended Phillips screwdriver; yet « other is a two-
ended straight-blade screwdriver. The kit also contains a pair of lUinch-drive sockets-one 10mm and one 12mm.
The trick of this $44 kit is in the way all these pieces snap or slip together, kind of like one of those mind-teaser puzzles, to become workable tools. Sometimes, a piece can be a socket, an open-end wrench or a screwdriver; other times, it might be a handle or a tool holder.
Without question, the MP Tool is a clever concept that, in actual practice, works reasonably well. We used it on a number of different bikes and found it able to perform many typical on-thetrail repairs. But certainly not all of them. Nothing in the kit can remove sparkplugs or loosen axles, for example, and the largest hex the kit can handle is 14mm-a size rarely used on modern motorcycles. What’s more, the odd configuration of some of the tools prevents them from accessing recessed or inset nuts and bolts.
Motion Pro acknowledges that the MP is not a doeverything toolkit, suggesting that riders aug-
ment the basic kit with other tools of their own. But aside from perhaps a couple of small additional sockets, there’s no room in the tiny case for anything such as pliers, a plug wrench or a tool large enough to loosen an axle.
Still, that does not invalidate this kit’s usefulness. By allowing you to carry so much in such a small package, the MP makes more room in your fannypack for other necessary items. And although the MP Tool was designed primarily for off-road use, it can be a practical take-along for streetbikes, as well. Because when it comes to onboard toolkits, size does matter, on the road as well as off. □
DETAILS
Motion Pro, Inc. 119 Independence Dr. Menlo Park, CA 94025 650/329-0427 Price........................$44
Ups
Amazingly compact for an eight-item toolkit Easy to carry almost anywhere Ingenious snap-together design
Downs
Largest useful socket or wrench is 12mm Open-end wrenches on squarebodied tool don’t work well with recessed fasteners No expandability to accommodate necessary additional tools
