Park Tool BBT-19 Bottom Bracket Tool

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There are a handful of bottom bracket tools out there that will work with external bottom bracket cups. Some of them a simple, some more complex. When it comes down to doing it right, the Park Tool BBT-19 Bottom Bracket tool is one of the best ones out there. After owning mine for more than 5 years, here are my impressions:

Construction:

Much like many of the other tools make by Park, the material of the BBT-19 is top notch. I’ve never seen one break or crack and would be quite impressed and shocked if someone could. After tons of use, the tool still shows very little sign of wear.

The rounded corners on the inside of the tool are nice so you can get it installed on the cup but you can have the tool slip off and mess up the interface of the cup if you aren’t completely careful. The newer version has eliminated the rounded corners so it’s more of an exact fit.

What really separates the BBT-19 from other bottom bracket tools is the fact that you can use an adjustable wrench AND torque wrench. In a world of carbon, this is a very nice feature to have. As for torqueing down bottom brackets on mountain bike frames, they are so strong that you don’t really need a torque wrench if you use common sense. As for road bikes, I always finish tightening with torqueing it because it’s so easy to over tighten certain parts of the bike, resulting in a cracked frame.

Bottom Line:

If you are big on torqueing everything to spec (which you should if you own carbon anything), the BBT-19 is the perfect bottom bracket tool to have. Just make sure to keep the tool flush against the bottom bracket cup and you will have no issues working with it. Every home mechanic should have this tool in their toolbox or on their work bench.