Plastic Tyre Levers Breaking

Wishbone Ash

Hi all,

I decided to swap my tyres yesterday and I broke 3 plastic tyre levers trying to get one of them off. In the end I had to resort to the tools of my childhood - spoon handles. The job was difficult enough at home. I wouldn't like to be doing it at the side of the road on a dark, cold, night.

Is it normal for plastic tyre levels to snap and are steel ones still available?

Thanks.

WA

I got a Speedlever a few years ago - great bit of kit for getting a tyre on/off. That's what I use now. But I saw metal levers on the websites before I got that one, so I assume they're still available.

Wishbone Ash

Dónal wrote: »

I got a Speedlever a few years ago - great bit of kit for getting a tyre on/off

Thanks Donal. I googled them and was impressed until I saw "City and mountain bike tyres go on and off by hand as easy as Tupperware tops. Narrower road or touring tyres don't".

Holyboy

Metal levers are a no no, they will destroy your rims, Pedros give a life time guarantee on their plastic levers, by far the best I've used, I've broken loads but that's using them all day every day and they come in pink:D

Quigs Snr

Much as I dislike BBB products, their plastic tyre levers are actually alright. The ones I got with my reynolds wheels and in various toolkits all snapped almost immediately.

Wishbone Ash

Holyboy wrote: »

Metal levers are a no no, they will destroy your rims, Pedros give a life time guarantee on their plastic levers, by far the best I've used, I've broken loads but that's using them all day every day and they come in pink:D

Thanks Holyboy - they appear to come in yellow also!

Mycroft H

I've seen a spoon wrapped in duct tape in a small old man bike shop in France years ago used as a tyre lever.

Captain Havoc

Quigs Snr wrote: »

Much as I dislike BBB products, their plastic tyre levers are actually alright. The ones I got with my reynolds wheels and in various toolkits all snapped almost immediately.

+1 on these. I don't share your dislike of BBB products though but I agree some of the stuff is not great.

Darkglasses

BX 19 wrote: »

I've seen a spoon wrapped in duct tape in a small old man bike shop in France years ago used as a tyre lever.

Love that. But I use the BBB ones mentioned above also, and they've done me ok so far.

Plastik

I've Pedros tyre levers, brilliant bit of kit.

CheGuedara

The Bidness - don't know what plastic they make these out of but they're the only tyre levers I've come across that are strong enough to make taking tubeless tyres off/on easy and I've not yet had the impression they were close to breaking (or even flexing for that matter....)

Mycroft H

Darkglasses wrote: »

Love that. But I use the BBB ones mentioned above also, and they've done me ok so far.

Yea It was a great shop. Like an sladdins cave, walk in and the place is stacked to the ceiling with boxes of old dynomos, freewheels, friction shifters. Heaven in other words.

Tonyandthewhale

I have the BBB ones as well and think they're great. I don't work in a bike shop so wouldn't get the same amount of use out of my levers as the likes of Holyboy but I'm responsible for puncture repair on my own half a dozen or so bikes, my mam's bikes, my housemates bikes and the bikes of about a dozen or so of my other friend's bike's and have never had a lever brake or fail in any way.

Holyboy

Just a bit OT does anyone remember milk levers?

Those were the days, made out of old plastic milk bottles I believe, I really must be old now!

Wishbone Ash

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Thanks Donal. I googled them and was impressed until I saw "City and mountain bike tyres go on and off by hand as easy as Tupperware tops. Narrower road or touring tyres don't".

Not easy getting road tyres on, but I find it easier to get it on with a speedlever compared to any other levers I've used.

tomasrojo

The Park Tool blue levers are good, in my experience:
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/park-tools-tl1c-tyre-levers/

Haven't broken one yet.

kumate_champ07

these are great
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=7205

puppetmaster

Metal ones are available alright
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=11990

Personally i use the park ones mentioned above.

07Lapierre

Don't use tyre levers. Just use your hands for taking tyres off and putting them on.

Mycroft H

07Lapierre wrote: »

Don't use tyre levers. Just use your hands for taking tyres off and putting them on.

Try a wire bead gatorskin. You wont get far without a lever.

kenmc

speedlever for the win.

seamus

Road tyres are generally a good deal worse to get on and off than MTB tyres, though it's often down to the tyre/rim combination. Some are insane, some go on like silk.

Metal levers are great, but as said they destroy rims when you're putting a tyre on. I have a speed lever for commuting, but I use the plastic park ones linked above on the road bike. The speed lever just can't cut it on my current tyre/rim combination (and the 3 park levers actually take up less space). I also have workshop levers that I use at home so I don't have to fiddle with tiny levers.

doozerie

Yup, metal levers do still exist, such as these monsters but those ones in particular are not intended for portability, they are intended to act as paperweights when not in use.

I mostly use the blue Park Tool ones mentioned earlier, though I have mangled one on a particular horrible rim+tyre combination. The black Park Tool ones that come as a pair with some of their kits I have found to be rubbish with any resistant tyre. I also have a pair of yellow plastic Michelin levers over 20 years old that work well too. Basically, tyre leves can be a bit hit and miss, with some working well and others working badly, but even those that work well in 90% of situations might struggle with some rim+tyre combinations.

"Bad" rim+tyre combinations can possibly be avoided though, if you know the ERTRO of the tyre (the diameter of the bead) and the bead seat diameter of the rim (where the tyre bead sits). If the ERTRO of the tyre is less than the bead seat diameter of the rim, then the tyre won't fit (at least not easily), otherwise it *should* fit.

From here (further useful info here):

ISO (ERTRO) Tire Sizes
In order to reduce some of the confusion surrounding tire sizes, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) developed a universal tire sizing system, known as the ETRTO system (after the European Tyre and Rim Technical Organization). This tire sizing system also uses two numbers, although they're reversed from traditional measurements. The first number refers to the tire or rim width in millimeters and the second refers to the diameter of the bead seat of the rim (the rim diameter measured from the area inside the rim where the tire's bead sits), also in millimeters. For example, a 700C x 23 tire would be specified as 23-622. The bead seat diameter of a 700C rim is 622mm.

Many older European manufactured tires and rims (and almost all modern tires) will have this ISO measurement printed on them, it is helpful in determining what size tire you really need.

But technique plays a huge part too. The general advice is, for a reluctant tyre, push the tyre bead down into the hollow in the rim between the bead seats (i.e. push it into the hollow/dip where the spokes sit), all the way around the rim. That should give more slack in the tyre bead for pushing the last bit of it over the rim wall. Likewise, when unseating the first bit of tyre bead over the rim wall when removing a tyre, first push the tyre bead into that hollow all the way round.

cdaly_

doozerie wrote: »

But technique plays a huge part too. The general advice is, for a reluctant tyre, push the tyre bead down into the hollow in the rim between the bead seats (i.e. push it into the hollow/dip where the spokes sit), all the way around the rim. That should give more slack in the tyre bead for pushing the last bit of it over the rim wall. Likewise, when unseating the first bit of tyre bead over the rim wall when removing a tyre, first push the tyre bead into that hollow all the way round.

This most of all...

Eamonnator

I find these ones to be very good. They clip together. They're very strong, plastic over metal.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=28714

Only problem now is ,talking like this means, I'll get three punctures.

triggermortis

I have some heavy duty plastic ones for my tubeless MTB and normal looking ones did ok on my Cube. I recently removed a tyre from the Boardman I bought off the ads section and struggled baldly getting it on and off. Luckily my MTB levers were handy.

I always used forks instead of spoons when I was younger as try were easier to hook into the spokes