Bike Tire Lever Views

Sports & Outdoors

Bicycle tire levers are small plastic tools which are used to pry a bicycle tire off of the rim. You could also use a screwdriver or the handle of a spoon to accomplish the same goal, but you would be running the risk of damaging your tire with the metal tool. Bicycle tire levers can be purchased most places bikes are sold.

Ever watch an auto tire shop mechanic mount a tire onto a rim? He's got this big power tool that runs around the bead of the tire and pops it onto the wheel. Shrink that to pocket size, a little over an ounce, and you've got the Crank Brothers Speed Lever for bike tires. It reduces the major hassle of a flat tire to a few seconds' effort. You work the speed lever under the bead of the tire, extend it and clip it to the axle. Pull on the end near the tire and zip the tire off the rim. It can take a bit of pull to get started, but this tool is worlds above conventional tire irons. And I've never pinched a tube using the Speed Lever.

I got sick of breaking the traditional sized levers on my high pressure road bike tires/rims. These Pedros are up to the task. However, they are thicker and are more difficult to slide under the tire bead. But I don't fear breaking them and that's what matters. No more being on the road/trail side with broken levers.

Good-quality road bikes usually have caliper brakes with a special quick-release mechanism to let the brake shoes open up wide enough to fit the tire through. You don't actually need this feature to remove a flat tire, but it is helpful. There will be a button on the brake handle, or a lever on the caliper (or cable hanger) to release the brake a bit. Bicycles with cantilever brakes, such as most mountain, hybrid, and touring bicycles, usually don't have quick releases on the brakes, so you may have to completely disable the brake by unhooking the transverse cable from one of the arms.