Tyre Levers

[groberts]

My wife struggles with standard tyre levers and as I have arthritis in my thumbs, I'm finding changing a tyre can be painful - any ideas / recommendations for something else that might help?

I see the TyreKey gets bad reviews here but was drawn to the Schwalbe levers, or ar they just another play on conventional levers. Any thoughts?

Graham

[Jdsk]

Is this the particular problem with seating eg Marathon Plus tyres. There are several specific gadgets for that:
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=147168

Jonathan

[groberts]

Thanks Jonathan, no it's not just Marathon's, which I became acquainted with some years ago and certainly qualify as by far the most difficult tyres to fit when new + overcome by strapping / tying down as you move round the rim; after some use fortunately they 'loosen-up' a bit. Notwithstanding I've just ordered a Kool Stop Tyre Mate, looks like a useful gismo to have as my thumbs aren't what they used to be!

My wife just battles with tyre levers, though 99 time out of 100 I do them for her - just bought some Schwalbe ones which look good.

Graham

[Eyebrox]

I work in a bike shop and have all manner of tyre levers available. I always go for Park's latest levers, the TL4.2 which have a thinner but wider lip and are robust enough to withstand a lot of pulling on tyre edges. My other choice would be Pedro's, again a wider tip but solid and strong. The previous two versions of Park levers (TR1 and TL1.2) didn't perform half as well in my view.

[De Sisti]

I see the TyreKey gets bad reviews here...
Graham

Any link to those reviews? I use Schwalbe tyre levers, similar to these*. The ones linked are a slightly updated version of mine, but nevertheless, mine have been flawless whenever I've had to use them.

*Similar to the Park TL4.2

[colin54]

There's quite a lot of useful information in this longish thread from last year.
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=144920

[De Sisti]

There's quite a lot of useful information in this longish thread from last year.
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=144920

No, I'm sorted. I just thought that the OP was aware of a link (on this forum) that pointed to Tyrekey levers being rubbish.

[PH]

I'm lucky that most of my current tyre/rim combinations are easy, I have two bikes on Schwalbe Almotion and they seem to go on and off any of the four rims with very little effort. Maybe next time the tyres need changing it should be a high consideration.
When I have had tougher ones, I've found nothing better than steel levers, two steel and one Park Tools plastic. I wouldn't run a steel one round the rim, that's what the plastic one is for, but when levering it off not having it bend or be worried about it snapping is a real advantage.

[De Sisti]

I see the TyreKey gets bad reviews here...
Graham

Any link to those reviews? I use Schwalbe tyre levers, similar to these. Mine, have been flawless whenever I've had to use them.

[gbnz]

Any link to those reviews? I use Schwalbe tyre levers, similar to these. Mine, have been flawless whenever I've had to use them.
[/quote]

+ 1. Have to admit I'm conservative enough to have an instinctive dislike, of tyre levers of a "bespoke/unique" shape. But have found the Schwalbe tyre levers to be quite incredible in the 4-5 years I've had them (Nb.1 puncture, a number of tyres replaced?)

Can't understand how the tyre is removed so easily, but they do work