Plastic tyre levers...



S

Simon Mason

Guest
....are rubbish. York was out yesterday because of all the heavy rain, as was
any sort of riding. So today I decided to ride across the Humber Bridge into
Lincolnshire. Not a bad decision as there was a half marathon on and I
managed to blag some supplies at their regular feed stations!

After about 30 miles I got my first puncture on a road bike. Luckily it was
in Hull and there was a nice bench nearby to sit on. I had my Lidl toolkit
which included 3 tyre levers, which turned out to be completely useless.
They were far too bendy to take the tyre off, but as it turned out there was
a screwdriver in the kit and I managed to get the tyre off with that.

So it's off on another rolling experiment to find out the most puncture
proof tyre in 23 mm size. My hybrid experiment (36 mm) ended with
Continental Contact and Schwalbe Marathon Plus (F+R), so I will start with
those makes first. The punctured tyre was a Vredestein Ricorso.
--
Simon Mason
Anlaby
East Yorkshire.
53°44'N 0°26'W
http://www.simonmason.karoo.net
 
"Simon Mason" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> ...are rubbish. York was out yesterday because of all the heavy rain, as
was
> any sort of riding. So today I decided to ride across the Humber Bridge
into
> Lincolnshire. Not a bad decision as there was a half marathon on and I
> managed to blag some supplies at their regular feed stations!
>
> After about 30 miles I got my first puncture on a road bike. Luckily it
was
> in Hull and there was a nice bench nearby to sit on. I had my Lidl toolkit
> which included 3 tyre levers, which turned out to be completely useless.
> They were far too bendy to take the tyre off, but as it turned out there
was
> a screwdriver in the kit and I managed to get the tyre off with that.
>
> So it's off on another rolling experiment to find out the most puncture
> proof tyre in 23 mm size. My hybrid experiment (36 mm) ended with
> Continental Contact and Schwalbe Marathon Plus (F+R), so I will start with
> those makes first. The punctured tyre was a Vredestein Ricorso.
> --


Not all plastic tyre levers are like that. Mine have fixed numerous
punctures over several years and are so tough that they hardly flex at all.
It sounds like yours were useless, but don't assume that all plastic tyre
levers are just as bad.

Mark
 
On Sun, 27 Jun 2004 13:47:56 +0100, "Simon Mason"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>...are rubbish.

I beg to differ. No doubt *some* plastic tyre levers are ****, but
certainly not all. Besides, what is the alternative, metal levers on
modern aluminium rims? No thanks.

Mike Dyason sells plastic tyre levers at 3 for a pound (last time I
looked), they are excellent. I also have a couple of Park plastic
levers which are a much wider and thinner design which also seem okay,
if a bit less sturdy.

>I had my Lidl toolkit

Ah, yes well, I see where you may have gone wrong.
--

"Bob"

'The people have spoken, the bastards'

Email address is spam trapped.
To reply directly remove the beverage.
 
Simon Mason typed:
> ...are rubbish.

Not all are .. I have some excellent levers in red, green and black from (I
think) James or St James cycles (can't remember the name correctly) in
Chesterfield .. they're about 8 years old and have removed, and replaced in
some cases, loads of tyres with nary a flex.

> I had my Lidl
> toolkit which included 3 tyre levers

I think we've found the problem .. ;)


--
Paul ...

(8(|) ... Homer Rocks
 
"Paul - ***" <[email protected]>typed


> Simon Mason typed:
> > ...are rubbish.

> Not all are .. I have some excellent levers in red, green and black from (I
> think) James or St James cycles (can't remember the name correctly) in
> Chesterfield .. they're about 8 years old and have removed, and replaced in
> some cases, loads of tyres with nary a flex.

J E James IIRC.

I've had few problems with plastic tyre levers...

--
Helen D. Vecht: [email protected]
Edgware.
 
Helen Deborah Vecht typed:
> "Paul - ***" <[email protected]>typed
>
>
>> Simon Mason typed:
>>> ...are rubbish.
>
>> Not all are .. I have some excellent levers in red, green and black from
>> (I think) James or St James cycles (can't remember the name correctly) in
>> Chesterfield .. they're about 8 years old and have removed, and replaced
>> in some cases, loads of tyres with nary a flex.
>
> J E James IIRC.

Could well be .. thanks.

--
Paul ...

(8(|) ... Homer Rocks
 
Call me Bob <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> On Sun, 27 Jun 2004 13:47:56 +0100, "Simon Mason"
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> >...are rubbish.
>
> I beg to differ. No doubt *some* plastic tyre levers are ****, but
> certainly not all. Besides, what is the alternative, metal levers on
> modern aluminium rims? No thanks.
>
> Mike Dyason sells plastic tyre levers at 3 for a pound (last time I
> looked), they are excellent. I also have a couple of Park plastic
> levers which are a much wider and thinner design which also seem okay,
> if a bit less sturdy.
>
> >I had my Lidl toolkit
>
> Ah, yes well, I see where you may have gone wrong.

I use the yellow plastic Michelin ones, some web dealers supply these
free with tyre/tubes, very effective also however very sharp so care
is required. Had very few punctures with Michelin Axial-Bi Sport 23's.
 
in message <[email protected]>, Simon Mason
('[email protected]') wrote:


> After about 30 miles I got my first puncture on a road bike. Luckily
> it was
> in Hull and there was a nice bench nearby to sit on. I had my Lidl
> toolkit which included 3 tyre levers, which turned out to be
> completely useless. They were far too bendy to take the tyre off, but
> as it turned out there was a screwdriver in the kit and I managed to
> get the tyre off with that.

I bet screwdrivers from Lidl are completely useless too. Not all plastic
is cheese, just as not all metal is. You do get what you pay for, and
even good quality plastic tyre levers are cheap. I've used plastic tyre
levers for years and wouldn't have any other kind now. Apart from being
lighter and more convenient, they don't scratch your rims.

--
[email protected] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

Wise man with foot in mouth use opportunity to clean toes.
;; the Worlock
 
On Sun, 27 Jun 2004 22:05:09 GMT, Simon Brooke <[email protected]>
wrote (more or less):

>in message <[email protected]>, Simon Mason
>('[email protected]') wrote:
>
>
>> After about 30 miles I got my first puncture on a road bike. Luckily
>> it was
>> in Hull and there was a nice bench nearby to sit on. I had my Lidl
>> toolkit which included 3 tyre levers, which turned out to be
>> completely useless. They were far too bendy to take the tyre off, but
>> as it turned out there was a screwdriver in the kit and I managed to
>> get the tyre off with that.
>
>I bet screwdrivers from Lidl are completely useless too. Not all plastic
>is cheese, just as not all metal is.

Although a lot of cheap metal screwdrivers are highly plastic! :)

>You do get what you pay for, and
>even good quality plastic tyre levers are cheap. I've used plastic tyre
>levers for years and wouldn't have any other kind now. Apart from being
>lighter and more convenient, they don't scratch your rims.

--
Cheers,
Euan
Gawnsoft: http://www.gawnsoft.co.sr
Symbian/Epoc wiki: http://html.dnsalias.net:1122
Smalltalk links (harvested from comp.lang.smalltalk) http://html.dnsalias.net/gawnsoft/smalltalk
 
Helen Deborah Vecht wrote:

> "Paul - ***" <[email protected]>typed
>
>
>
>>Simon Mason typed:
>>
>>>...are rubbish.
>
>
>>Not all are .. I have some excellent levers in red, green and black from (I
>>think) James or St James cycles (can't remember the name correctly) in
>>Chesterfield .. they're about 8 years old and have removed, and replaced in
>>some cases, loads of tyres with nary a flex.
>
>
> J E James IIRC.
>
> I've had few problems with plastic tyre levers...
>

Me neither, though admittedly I've only used them twice, and my tyres
aren't as hard as some to get off the rim. The second time was
yesterday, when I had my first 'proper' puncture - rear wheel had been
ticking for a while, but I thought the stone would work it's way out...
no... should have stopped and removed it...

Not gone a mile from the tea stop on the ride when I decided the back
tyre was definitely not right, looked - and lo, it was utterly flat.

Previous to that it'd waited till I'd got home (front) to go flat, and
was caused by **** rim tape letting the tube work into a spoke hole.

Didn't take all that long to fix, and the plastic tyre levers were fab.
They came with my Topeak multitool thing.

I even discovered the reason why my back brakes had needed adjusting
(through being pants and not stopping me) a couple of weeks earlier.
The little levery bit to open them to get wheel out had managed to get
tweaked open some how... so that had to be sorted out at the roadside
too, before we could get the wheel out!

--


Velvet
 
Helen Deborah Vecht <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:

> I've had few problems with plastic tyre levers...
>

A friend of mine shuns tyre levers all together. He manages to take the
slack out of the rest of the tyre to give enough free to pull over the edge
by hand. I challenged him to get a tyre off that most people thought was
difficult even with levers. He got it off in about a minute! I've practised
his technique, but just can't get it :-(

Graeme
 
Captain's log. On StarDate Sun, 27 Jun 2004 13:47:56 +0100 received comm from
"Simon Mason" <[email protected]> on channel uk.rec.cycling:

: ...are rubbish. York was out yesterday because of all the heavy rain, as was

Not at all. Works perfectly here (used both Tacx and Michelin for many years).

: After about 30 miles I got my first puncture on a road bike. Luckily it was
: in Hull and there was a nice bench nearby to sit on. I had my Lidl toolkit
: which included 3 tyre levers, which turned out to be completely useless.
: They were far too bendy to take the tyre off, but as it turned out there was
: a screwdriver in the kit and I managed to get the tyre off with that.

As metal will possibly destroy your rim it's not any really good choice. Get a
good pair of QUALITY plastic ones and you can't get anything better.

These Michelin Tyre Levers are the old classics who just works and works:
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/?ProductID=5360010439

Highly recommended!

Best regards,

martin törnsten

--
http://82.182.73.126/
 
Simon Mason wrote:
> ...are rubbish.

Many are, I'll freely agree. Especially the ones that come in noname
puncture repair kits. But Park Tools plastic tyre levers have taken
everything I've thrown at them thus far, and are IMHO Well Worth It.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email protected] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/
 
On Mon, 28 Jun 2004 09:51:34 +0100, Peter Clinch
<[email protected]> wrote in message
<[email protected]>:

>Many are, I'll freely agree. Especially the ones that come in noname
>puncture repair kits. But Park Tools plastic tyre levers have taken
>everything I've thrown at them thus far, and are IMHO Well Worth It.

I have a set of unbranded ones which came from Halfwits decades ago -
they work fine, even with Stelvios on small rims.

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at Washington University
 
Call me Bob wrote:

> Mike Dyason sells plastic tyre levers at 3 for a pound (last time I
> looked), they are excellent.

Seconded.

~PB
 
> A friend of mine shuns tyre levers all together. He manages to take the
> slack out of the rest of the tyre to give enough free to pull over the edge
> by hand. I challenged him to get a tyre off that most people thought was
> difficult even with levers. He got it off in about a minute! I've practised
> his technique, but just can't get it :-(
>
> Graeme

I never carry tyre levers. There are very few tyre/rim combinations
that require levers.

--
Peter Headland
 
in message <[email protected]>, Peter
Headland ('[email protected]') wrote:

>> A friend of mine shuns tyre levers all together. He manages to take
>> the slack out of the rest of the tyre to give enough free to pull
>> over the edge by hand. I challenged him to get a tyre off that most
>> people thought was difficult even with levers. He got it off in about
>> a minute! I've practised his technique, but just can't get it :-(
>>
>> Graeme
>
> I never carry tyre levers. There are very few tyre/rim combinations
> that require levers.

There may not be, but there are plenty of tyre/rim/technician
combinations that do, at least when I'm the technician. I'll stick to
levers.

--
[email protected] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; all in all you're just another click in the call
;; -- Minke Bouyed
 
On 28 Jun 2004 18:26:17 -0700, [email protected] (Peter Headland)
wrote in message <[email protected]>:

>I never carry tyre levers. There are very few tyre/rim combinations
>that require levers.

I do because the "very few" happens to include the two bikes I most
commonly ride, and those which don't require levers are often easier
with, especially if you don't want to get too grubby.

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at Washington University
 
Graeme wrote:
> [email protected] (Peter Headland) wrote in
> news:[email protected]:
>
>> I never carry tyre levers. There are very few tyre/rim combinations
>> that require levers.

I wouldn't go that far.

> So come on then, what's the trick? Us mere mortals need to know!

Press both thumbs hard into tyre sidewall and force bead up and back then
ease off and let it pop outside the rim; repeat with adjacent section if
necessary then insert finger to whip rest off. Works on the more
looser-fitting tyre/rim combinations.

~PB
 
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