Tyre levers

[ColinJ]

I can get some of my tyres off some of my wheels (and put them back on) without using tyre levers. More troublesome combinations require the assistance of tyre levers. My old plastic levers are not brilliant and I was thinking of buying replacements but then the latest copy of Cycling Plus came through my letter box (yes - I still subscribe!) with a pair of C+ tyre levers included as a freebie.

They look better than my old levers at the end that would be used in the normal way. I am just a bit baffled by a strange cut-out at the other end of each lever. I'm not sure if it is for decoration or is functional. The only use that I can think of is possibly to help pull the bead of the tyre onto the rim.

Take a look at this photo and see what you think ...

Functional or decorative?

 

[Tim Hall]

It's to lock the lever into position, by hooking it round a spoke, while you put the next one in.

 

[Elysian_Roads]

It's not an alternative way to hook on to spokes is it? T

 

[Elysian_Roads]

And @Tim Hall got there first

 

[ColinJ]

D'oh - of course ... the old grey matter is a bit slow tonight!

 

[ColinJ]

I mean, it's not as though any other tyre lever that I've ever owned did NOT have a hook to lock round a spoke!

 

[Elysian_Roads]

Mind you, that design probably allows for the lever to go on a peg on the neatly ordered workshop peg board....

 

[ColinJ]

Do I strike you as a man with a neatly ordered workshop peg board....?

 

[raleighnut]

You need a VAR tyre lever, even this 'clumsy b*gger' can get a recalcitrant tyre on with one,

View: https://youtu.be/S_-49Pora3I

 

[Brandane]

I've always found that, apart from on the loosest fitting of tyres (i.e. MTB) those bits for hooking onto spokes are a waste of time. If you actually hook your first lever onto a spoke, then you make the tyre so tight onto the rim that you can't even get the second lever between bead and rim. I've always had to hold the first one about right angles to the wheel rim, then get the second one in and take it from there.

 

[simongt]

a strange cut-out at the other end of each lever.

I use Pedro tyre levers and they have exactly the same cutout at t'other end. Interestingly, my Pedros look exactly the same as your freebies, but they are yellow. makes them easier to find in the depths of my toolbox - !

 

[Smokin Joe]

I've always found that, apart from on the loosest fitting of tyres (i.e. MTB) those bits for hooking onto spokes are a waste of time. If you actually hook your first lever onto a spoke, then you make the tyre so tight onto the rim that you can't even get the second lever between bead and rim. I've always had to hold the first one about right angles to the wheel rim, then get the second one in and take it from there.

I'm glad it isn't only me.