Sealey Digital Vernier Caliper

RRP: £53.94 / Tested by: Tony Carter / www.sealey.co.uk

Nuts, bolts and a phalanx of small biking parts are the biggest pain for me on any project motorcycle. Spending literally hours of my life looking for a bolt to match another drives me up the wall.

Making sure I’ve got the correct size bolt for the correct size hole, or bodywork fastening for the pre-drilled space on an old Japanese motorcycle, is a hit or miss affair.

So I need a Vernier Caliper. Yep, motorcycling gets sexy! But any joking aside, a good digital Vernier Caliper is worth its weight in gold because it takes any sloppy measurements out of the equation. If I need to know the gap inside a brake rotor is 23mm then it has to be 23mm. Ordering anything that’s 22.5mm or 23.5mm won’t work and could be dangerous. It’s all got to be spot on.

Sealey’s Digital Vernier Caliper has won awards for its performance and repeatedly accurate readings over time. It comes in a sturdy case, has a range from 0-150mm (0-6”) and measures outer, inner and depth measurements.

A small metal thumbwheel makes scrolling the measuring part of the unit along the reader very easy, even singlehandedly. The large digital readout is very easy to read too, and you can toggle between different measuring values with a press of a top-sited button. It’s a complex bit of measuring kit that’s been made extremely easy to use and understand, even for an ape like me.

So far, I’ve been using this for a month and I’ve been comparing the measurements it’s been giving me against another gauge I’ve borrowed, which is three times the price. The Sealey unit has been absolutely spot on every time and is my preferred of the two. It has rapidly become the go-to piece of equipment I use on almost everything on my project bike. Every nut, bolt, fixing or hole is now measured and the job done right.

It makes you become professional with each job, rather than end up eyeing up a random bolt from an old Quality Street tin that ‘might fit, it looks about the same’…