Lennard Zinn on his Vise Whip

Lennard Zinn, one of the most widely known names in cycling, crafts bikes specifically tailored to anyone desirous of a more enjoyable riding experience. As senior technical writer for VeloNews and author of several books, he famously translates technical dialect into layman's terms for the rest of us.

But did you know that he makes tools too?

After ramming his knuckles into cog teeth one too many times during cassette removals with a standard chain whip, Zinn borrowing from more than a quarter century of knowledge about bikes and their parts reached for a common vise grip and saw promise in a future free of shredded knuckles. Pedro's saw promise too in a sample of Zinn's "Vise Whip" and hastily recruited Zinn to develop such a tool that would bear the Pedro's name.

In this video, Zinn demonstrates his Vise Whip and explains the process for developing tools.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• Lennard
• Zinn

[LoudProudNPunk1]

Well based on my own experience, if the cassette lockring is tightened to the proper torque, it's not all that difficult to remove it with a chain whip combined with the Park Tool cassette tool used with the freewheel remover wrench. But it can still sometimes be a pain in the ass though. I'm considering eventually getting one of these, but still can't quite justify the higher cost only to use it twice a year or so.

[hazylogic]

Really good, but could do with it being slightly longer for the overtightened cassettes. I just used a breaker bar on the wrench and had the vise whip resting on a step (with a towel on). bingo bango!

[youknowwhatsupdudes]

I use one of these daily, it's definately better when your working in you lap like in this video. Though I usually use a bench vice and I find i can get more leverage from a chain whip. (what if the tool were slightly longer for better leverage?) I usually use this tool if I fear of slippin/breaking the whip on overtightened cass.

Is there a 1/8th version?

[trailsurfer12]

I want one!

But the only tool I have used for years is a shop rag to hold the cogs. If that doesn't work, the cogs are too tight.

[supertonic3]

I've been using a medium length of old chain and a vice grip for years. Just wrap the chain all the way around a cog and use a vice grip to secure the chain (both sides). Never a bashed knuckle...