Anyone with decent tyre levers passing Paddington at 17:15?

SamWise72

Turns out my Topeak Hexus II multi tool has tyre levers made of cheese strings! I've got a flat, and I'm away from home all week, reliant on my bike. These tyre levers are a joke; just goes to show that you might THINK you're prepared, but you might be wrong.

kelsen

Just nip into the nearest Starbucks and grab a spoon

dhope

Evans Cycles at Notting Hill, £3 for Park tyre levers?

SamWise72

That might be a goer. It's annoying, as I have 4 Pedro's levers at home, but I spent money on this 'ere multitool to save space. The Pedro's will be going in my little toolbag thing.

Clever Pun

dhope wrote:

Evans Cycles at Notting Hill, £3 for Park tyre levers?

this^ park tools tyre levers are great

DonDaddyD

Tyre levers at the nearest bike shop

Or

Kitchen shop and by a couple spoons (people don't use spoons anymore but i remember them being easier than my tyre levers).

jimmypippa

This bike blog on the gruniad might be of interest:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/green-living-blog/2010/sep/13/bike-thief-stolen-tips

But even the busiest streets empty out eventually, so if Aziz really wanted a particular bike he would damage a tyre so the owner would leave it in the rack for longer. "Someone, if they find their tyre punctured they should take their bike with them, right at that minute because someone has done it on purpose to come and take it after."

SamWise72

After tonight's experience, let me give a -1 to Park levers. I went as suggested to Evans, bought a set, and set to work on my bike. Admittedly, the Marathons on my folder are hard going, but my yellow Pedro's levers have always got them off after a bit of a fight. As time went on tonight, however, it was getting harder not easier, and I discovered I had bent the ends of the levers flat! Luckily, the Evans mechs had not quite gone home, so I paid £5.50 for them to do it. Apparently they broke two Park levers on it, and had to resort to two of the big long Pedros levers (not the ones I have) to get it off. So, I'm an hour behind schedule, and the moral is, don't buy Park, buy Pedros.

Lancslad

I advocate spoonage it takes me back to my yoof.

attica

I've got these.

work fine on my tough old Gatorskins

Sirius631

I have carbon rims on my race bikes so need wide blade levers. I have broken both Park and Pedros. As a mechanical design engineer experienced in plastics design I see the Parks have in-built stress raisers and the plastic is brittle, so they will break more readily if you give them to much to do. The Pedros are a softer material and have stress reliever pits moulded in. They still break, but it's more like pealing rather than shattering. I now treat tyre levers are consumable items, and carry three Pedros levers with me rather than just the two.

roger_merriman

I just use the cheap metal ones, and take care. they don't snap or scratch the rims as long as your not ham fisted.

Sirius631

roger merriman wrote:

I just use the cheap metal ones, and take care. they don't snap or scratch the rims as long as your not ham fisted.

Fine for plain metal rims, but not for ceramic coatings or carbon because it's all to easy to chip the surface. I think metal levers are also becoming more difficult to get hold of.

spen666

roger merriman wrote:

I just use the cheap metal ones, and take care. they don't snap or scratch the rims as long as your not ham fisted.

+1

mtb-idle

DonDaddyD wrote:

Kitchen shop and by a couple spoons (people don't use spoons anymore but i remember them being easier than my tyre levers).

That's true, a lot more leverage on a spoon that's about twice the length of the typical tyre levers.

I use Pedros DH tyre lever myself, pretty much modelled on a spoon



Vote Pedro!

jonginge

MTB-Idle wrote:

DonDaddyD wrote:

Kitchen shop and by a couple spoons (people don't use spoons anymore but i remember them being easier than my tyre levers).

That's true, a lot more leverage on a spoon that's about twice the length of the typical tyre levers.

I use Pedros DH tyre lever myself, pretty much modelled on a spoon



Vote Pedro!

I used to use spoons as tyre levers when I was a kid. They tended to end up looking like props from the first matrix film.

rhext

Depending on how tight your tyres are, you can sometimes get away without tyre levers.

Take wheel off, and hold it vertically. Grab hold of a handful of tyre on each side of the wheel and push down hard towards the floor. This will sometimes provide enough slack in the tyre in the bottom half of the wheel to roll it off over the rim using bare hands....

Some tyres you have no chance, but it's amazing how many you can get off with this trick! Failing that, spoons!

ride_whenever

the cheap metal cored levers are dire, in the shop we have a collection of about 10 (we opened mid-january) of ones with snapped tips...

I tend to use thumbs now.

skellator3

i use these, bit big to carry tho but never break

http://www.cyclelife.com/Product.aspx?p ... 79&pg=2106