Does anyone have any experience of using both Pedros levers and Park Tools levers? I would be interested to know how they compare in terms of strength and thickness of the blade. The reason I ask is that I have the notoriously difficult Mavic MA40 rims and NOS gumwall Specialized tyres with a Kevlar bead. Unless the weather is very hot and my thumb muscles are in tip top condition it's almost always necessary to use levers to get the tyre off and back on again. Fortunately I discovered my last puncture at home but broke my all time favourite old PMD lever from the 1980s. Putting the tyre back on with Park Tools levers caused me to twice get nip punctures in the tube. I don't fancy repeating that experience whilst out on a ride!
Tyre Levers for Fat Tyres.....Recommendations please.....
- Thread starter smokeysmoo
- Start date
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Bodhbh
Guru
You don't get a full impression on how big they are from the pic, but those steel Park Tool jobbies are for the workshop, not lugging about imo. If you need to hit the nuclear option - or just make things easy for yourself when weight is not a consideration - they do the job tho.
I think the Pedros are tougher than the Park Tool levers (the TL1s I'm talking about). I've broken the TL1s a couple of times. The thing I don't like about the Pedros is they are quite blunt and sometimes tricky to get under the bead in the first place.
Randy Butternubs
Über Member
I've never broken a tyre lever so I'm a little anxious to know: do they ever go without warning or is there only a risk of breaking them when you are exerting an abnormal amount of force?
jefmcg
Guru
I'm not quite sure what you are asking. It takes more force to snap them than not to snap them. I wouldn't call it abnormal, some tyres are stiffer than others, but the lever breaks - by definition - at less force than is required to get the tyre off the limb.
They snap, so yes, it's without warning. The trick I learnt before getting TL1s, was to lift the tyre with 2 levers at once. I used to carry 6 levers with me so I could do that and had plenty of spares for breakages.
Randy Butternubs
Über Member
In the past I've gotten impatient with motorbike tyres and applied too much force. As a result I've broken a tyre bead and immediately thought "Wow, it was really obvious that was going to happen. I should have had a rethink rather than brute-force it."
Whenever I've had a tricky (motorbike) tyre it has always been fixed by rethinking what I was doing and usually shuffling the bead into the rim well.
With bicycles I've never had a 'tight' tyre/rim combo though. So I guess I'm asking firstly can they break unexpectedly or was it obvious after the fact that you were using too much force? Secondly are there some situations where regular levers don't cut it and will break or is it a matter of technique?
OP
OP
smokeysmoo
Legendary Member
- Location
- Bolton, not very far from Nob End
Neither had I until Sunday!
Mine just went bang with minimal force, guess they'd just got brittle.
Randy Butternubs
Über Member
That's my concern. I wonder if anyone makes levers out of a composite like G10 or carbon fibre. With the fibers aligned along the length of the lever it should make them much less vulnerable to snapping. Maybe I should just get metal ones.
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