Icons of cycling
o to any velodrome in
the world, and it won’t be
long before you see one of
these. Usually referred to as a track
spanner or a peanut butter wrench,
since the late 1950s it’s been the
hardest-working weapon in any
track mechanic’s arsenal. Beautifully
and economically designed to fit
easily and comfortably in the hand,
as well as slipping neatly into a back
pocket in between jobs, it’s used at
every wheel change, every gearing
tweak, every last-minute checkover.
Hiding a track mechanic’s peanut
butter wrench is one of the cruellest
practical jokes you can play on
another human being, and can
result in lasting mental scarring.
It is, in short, as much a part of
track racing’s culture and heritage
as Derny bikes, Madison handslings
and horrific splinters. Which is odd
really, since it wasn’t designed for
track mechanics at all.
Tool no. 769, to give it its
non-nonsense official factory
designation, first appeared in
Campagnolo Catalogue no.14,
released in 1958. The same
catalogue saw the introduction
of the Record chainset, with its
all-new square-taper bottom
bracket fitting. The cranks were
held onto the axle with a recessed
15mm bolt on each side, and tool
no. 769 was specifically designed
for removing those bolts — it was
described as “chiave per fissagiopedivelle al movimento centrale” — a
lot of words to say ‘crank spanner’.
It also handily served to operate
the also-new crank extraction tool
which was needed for separating
crank from axle — hence the stubby
length of the arm, so that you could
turn it 360° even with the pedals still
fitted to the cranks, and the rounded
shape, so you could apply significant
force without undue pain. It was
perfectly suited to its designated
purpose— the fact that it also fitted
the Pista hub nuts was almost
certainly entirely coincidental.Nutty prices
It was widely copied over the years
— Tacx, TA, Stronglight, VAR, Cyclo
and many others made their own
versions, some of them very good,
some seemingly made of cheese.
You can still pick up many of those
copies for a few quid online, but if
you want a genuine Campag version,
you’ll need to think about robbing
the kids’ piggy banks. Campagnolo
don’t make Tool no. 769 any more
but used ones easily fetch 50 quid
or more on ebay; new old stock
ones more than that, and very early
versions with the smooth handle and
simple stamped Campagnolo logo
can go for double (www.campyoldy.
co.uk has one at £90 at the moment).
So if you’ve got one, cherish it,
but in case you were thinking of
trying, don’t bother — it’s rubbish for
spreading peanut butter...Tool no. 769 is a plain name for this humble
but classic implement, says Kevin Raymond
Photo: http://www.BikeRecyclery.com
Campagnolo
track
spanner
62 | December 7, 2017 | Cycling Weekly