really really really good tire leveer
 

Yesterday I mounted my studded tires because the we were supposed to get rain and snow and ice and all the plagues of egypt but it turned out we just got some rain, wind, and cold air.
Today I wanted to take the studded tires off and put my streetrunners back on. OMFG!! I broke 3 tire levers and still the studded tires are on there. It must be the Rhynolite rims because I do not have this problem on my cliffhangers.
Now I don't have any tire levers left because I broke my other one a few weeks ago.
Can anyone suggest a really good packable tire lever set that is long with good leverage, won't break, and won't destroy the rim?

These work pretty well:

http://www.rei.com/product/1647.htm

Have you tried regular metal levers?

Kool Stop (actually German dremefa) levers:

http://www.biketiresdirect.com/produ...6573&c=5951968

are very good.

Your problem, though, appear not the levers but their improper use. There are steel and titanium levers around but they will damage the tires and tubes and you should not be forced to use them. A skilled person uses primarily hands, especially to take the tires off, even with tough tire-rim combinations. The levers are only used there to tip over the balance. You need to push everywhere the tire edges into the rim center. When taking off, make sure that the air is all out. Grab the tire at one spot and pull it off the rim.

I meant rim and tubes. Tires maybe too but I have not seen that.

haven't tried metal levers, and was kinda scared too because I thought they'd hurt the rims

I have had no problems taking off tires until this combination of rhynolite rims and nashbar studded tires

+1 on the Quik-Stik. They are the best I've used.

Sorry, but I doubt your skills reading of you breaking one lever after another, not learning in-between. In any case, the lever should be used so that the bead is right at the rim where the lever is applied. This is to minimize torque on the lever, which might break it.

I used to break levers all the time, then got these http://www.parktool.com/products/det...7&item=TL%2D5#
The best I've ever used. Not really portable though, so I bring a quick stick and regular lever on rides.

I used butter knives for 20 years, then I realized they actually sold tire levers.

I damaged 3 types of levers, until I got the Soma Steel Core Tire Levers.

http://www.somafab.com/tirelevers.html

Tal.

Pyramid metal tire levers. Cheap and available @ any lbs or online @ bikepartsusa.com. I've got a set w/all my bikes and have been using them for years w/no probs.

My park-tool mini levers have never let me down, but I used to use everything you can imagine beck when I was a teenager. Knives, screwdrivers, spatulas, whatever. The key is to not be ham-fisted. That said, being ham-fisted with a tire lever, you'll also break something. With a plastic lever, it'll be the lever that breaks. With a metal one, it'll be a puncture in the tube, or a bent rim.

The park levers will not break.. They are great for situations like yours.. I keep a set in my tool box..

Quick Sticks! They are awesome!

The big yellow Pedros are the best I've ever used. Crazily, even for skinny tires. And they're CHEAP.

Steel core levers work very well, with plastic as to not damage the rim. Most online places have them, and many LBS as well.

Never heard of rim damage caused by metal levers and I've been using everything from screw drivers as a kid to the currentmetal ones which I don't know when I got 'em or from where but they never damaged a rim; but then I don't have any lightweight rims made out of some exotic flimsy material.

Maybe you have been riding steel rims. An alu* rim can get damaged in no time with a steel lever combined with a tough tire and improper use.

As to the Quick Stick and Park Tools, they lack the hooks of the Kool Stops, so can only be half as effective. Park Tools bring in exposed steel in addition. I have, in fact, one Quick Stick and found it a waste of money. Soma Steel Core sound good, but you need three levers rather than two to work effectively. Thus I'd suggest to buy a pair right away if going for them.

Overall, though, plastic levers have something to be said for them just because they can break. Avoiding breaking them makes you work properly, with thought.


*has been exotic early in previous century

The "Kool Stop Tire Bead Jack" works well for particularly hard tire/rim combos.

I like the Soma steel cored levers quite a bit.

How do these "alu* rims" that are so easily damaged by a tire lever, avoid being damaged while various kinetic forces are inflicted on them when being used; such as carrying a rider at speed and traversing on anything other than pool table smooth asphalt or training rollers? Or is that considered improper use?

Dr. Dunlop's pneumatic tire is a wonderful invention.

Material gets damaged when critical stress is exceeded locally. Stress is applied force per area of application. A rope may be capable of carrying lots of weight, but you can cut with a knife using little force. The knife is effective, because it can concentrate the force over little area. Unfortunately, a lever can be also effective delivering stress to a rim. If you cover the lever in plastic, the contact area of force application will spread out both with a rim and tube.