If you have been watching the Tour de France, you may have noticed the three letters ‘BBB’ on the side of a few helmets worn by some of the racers. In the United States, the three letters BBB stands for the Better Business Bureau, but the BBB logo on the side of the riders’ helmets stands for something else. Based in the Netherlands, the company Bikeparts for Bikers by Bikers or BBB is a company who is sponsoring a number of top riders in the Tour including the brave King of the Mountains leader, Johnny Hoogerland who was involved in that horrific accident caused by a reckless French television support vehicle last Sunday.
Owned by Augusta Benelux BV, BBB produces what seems to be an almost endless list of accessories – helmets, shorts, trainers, sunglasses, tools, bells… the list just goes on. BBB has recently announced the release of a new line of minitools or or ‘mulitools’ in the U.S. These tools are designed to be compact, lightweight yet they must be functional as it might be the only tool that a rider has when a mechanical issue arises…sometimes miles from home. The new line of BBB tools sport an aluminum frame to hold the chrome-plated tools.
The line of tools BBB now includes eleven different choices of multitools, but most of the tools offered by BBB are common with other manufacturers. Hex keys, spoke wrenches, screwdrivers and torx wrenches are found on almost every multitool on the market; but a few tools are not as common. A knife and metal tire levers are two items that are a little rarer to find. This is certainly not an Earth shattering offer of tools, but when you are out in the middle of the woods with an issue, you might be thankful to have a knife or not run the risk of snapping a tire lever.
BBB products are currently available in 39 countries. In the U.S., Vittoria Industries N.A. is the sole distributor. As a distributor, the general public cannot purchase products directly from the, but is you are interested in any of the products from BBB, they do have a dealer list on their website. May B you can B a BBB user.