Tires Levers for Difficult Bicycle Tires and Why I Don't Use Them Everyday

We looked at a plastic coated steel tire lever from Toopre with an exposed steel tip that allows for insertion under a tight tire bead for removal of a difficult bicycle tire and why we don't use it on a routine basis. We also show you some tricks / hacks prior to use of the tire levers as well as how to use the steel tire levers. 1. Prior to Tire removal: • Free up the tire bead from rim either by hand or using a block & foot technique shown. • Move Bead to center of rim where there's usually small indentation allowing for more space. 2. Use of the Toopre Lever: • Bend the tire back to expose the tire bead. • Using the Toopre Tire Lever, insert the exposed steel edge under the tire bead. • Move the bead upward such that the Toopre lever will slide on the plastic of the lever and not on the metal tip, preventing scratching of the rim. • Pull the tire lever to remove the bead from the rim. 3. Pros: ① The steel lever resist breakage (although our routine use Pedro tire levers have yet to break). ② Thin steel tip will often (but not always) slide under a very tight tire bead. ③ Cost is 1/3 that of the equivalent Park Tool Steel Core Tyre Levers (tl-6.3). 4. Cons: ① Can still scratch rim if one is rushed or is not used properly. ② Possible pinching of clincher tube because of need to move the tire lever upward to rest the plastic on the rim. ③ Very difficult to use 2 tire levers to snap the tire bead over the rim due to the weight of the steel tire levers. Conclusions: For routine use, we use the Pedro heavy duty bicycle tire levers using the tips / hacks above. Only when experiencing difficult with the Pedro levers, we fall back on use of the Toopre Steel Bike levers.