Quick look – Ryder Nutcracker.

I don’t like carrying stuff I don’t have to but the decision to carry the absolute minimum can sometimes come back and bite you … it’s not really a question of if but more a matter of when. Any biting you do encounter won’t happen on a warm summers day, oh no, the fangs will only sink into your flesh late at night, in winter, when you’re cold and wet. 

Big enough to work, light enough that you’ll never notice it until you need it.

One item I don’t carry is pliers. I know they’re a potentially very useful item and on several occasions I have spent far longer than I should swearing at something that with the aid of pliers, could have been sorted out in mere seconds. At the time I would happily pay any amount of money for a pair to magically appear in my numb wet hand but once I get back home, I deem them to be too heavy and forget all about it until the next time. 

Over the years, one of the main culprits for enforced mountain side pit stops has been the humble tubeless valve. I realise that sounds somewhat pathetic but it’s true, the one component which has halted my progress more than any other is the tubeless valve. Either I can’t remove the core because the nice sharp edges on my little plastic core remover turn out to be nothing like sharp edges and are no match for solidified sealant or the locking nut has decided it’s happy where it is and refuses to be unscrewed by fingers alone. This is where someone sensible would equip themselves with some pliers but not me. I simply kept burying my head in the sands of self-denial or at least I did until I came across the Ryder Nutcracker.

Tapered teeth allow it to grip any size nut – even those you’ve previously chewed up with pliers.

The Nutcracker is a simple device made from stainless steel and plastic. It’s function is to ease the removal of both valve cores and locking nuts; there is a brake pad spreader on the end too should you be really clumsy or unlucky. The tapered design allows it to fit any size of locking nut and as the core key is stainless, it’s very unlikely to round off or break … as you can see, there’s a clip that holds a spare core too. It’s big enough to offer a good degree of leverage but no bigger than it has to be and best of all, it only weighs 7g. It’s not something you’re likely to use every day but on those cold, wet nights, it could just become your new best friend. 

The Ryder Innovation Nutcracker available at your LBS or on-line for around a tenner.