Velo Dog

No flame intended here--it's a serious sociological question, or something.
I pulled this from a recent post:

For the time being, I am not mounting the Krylions as I broke my tire lever ... and I don't want to go out minus the lever. New levers have been ordered.

If I'm reading this correctly, a broken tire lever is stopping somebody from riding, and he won't go again until new tire levers arrive in the mail.
I order a lot of stuff online, including my two most recent bikes. But since you can walk into any bike shop or supermarket or Walmart in America and walk out with tire levers for three bucks, why would you order them online, pay six or seven dollars in shipping and wait a week? Have the computers really taken over?

Robert Foster

My guess is a island with no bike shop.

DnvrFox

As a kid I used a couple of screw drivers - although very carefully.

TomD77

Or mount a set of Continental Gator hard shell tires and forget about flats.

My LBS just gave me a couple of levers but they've gotten no use since I got sick of flats and installed the Contis.

alanknm

I think we've all done that when we were kids. Maybe this guy lives in a hermetically sealed box with a mail slot ?

oilman_15106

Supermarket? But I do agree that you have to be in a pretty remote area to have to order tire levers.

One of the guys we ride with can do the whole change a flat thing with no levers. I always amazes me because I have tried this and no way. There is a vid out there on Utube where the guy shows you how to do it sans levers.

ciocc_cat

Ride sew-ups (a.k.a. "tubulars"). No tire levers required.

Edit: No flats in a year, and I ride some less-than-ideal roads!

DnvrFox

I have the gators and had two flats this month.

downtube42

Quoted guy will wait for the mail, you'd shop local, TomD77 never has flats, DnvrFox may revert to screwdrivers, and I'd pull some spare steel tire levers out of a toolbox. Everything is just fine.

cranky old dude

To be fair, as I recall ... the gentleman who was waiting for the tire levers had just installed a new set of tires and had done so with a degree of difficulty. I got the impression that he was a bit frustrated and maybe kinda looking for a bit of a recovery or break from any possibility of changing another tire for a spell.

I suspect that it can be very confusing for a novice cyclist to learn from many of the threads I've read in these Forums. There can tend to be a lot of experts who know the only correct method of servicing any and every mechanical system on a bike and some of those folks can be very convincing. Brands of parts, tools and installation methods can easily become interperated as the best or only way to accomplish a task.

Now I have garnered a lot of mechanical knowledge from this Forum as there really are some mechanically gifted folks here, but I came into this with years of personal (not professional) wrenching under my belt so I've been able to seperate the wheat from the chaff. As a novice I believe I would be quite confused and, if trusting enough, I can see me ordering specific brands of locally unavailable tools because some on-line expert suggested it.

I'm not saying that is what the 'gent experienced. I'm just offering up a point a view.

thompsonpost

I still do when I'm at home and don't want to dig around in my saddle bag. You just need to be alert and careful.

FlatSix911

Too funny ... I used the handle of a open end wrench when I was a kid ...

alanknm

And some people just have "magic hands".. like the little guy who's 4'10", weighs 100 lbs soaking wet and can heave a large bag of cement around like a small bag of potatos.

Robert Foster

Good point, you don't need tire levers if you get a flat. You just need another tire, clue a rubber glove and time to let the glue dry before you take any hard sharp turns.

I got the following instructions with my tubular clinchers for my 7801s.

Step 1
Place the bicycle rim on the floor in front of you with the hole for the valve stem in the 12 o'clock position. Use your feet and knees to keep the rim upright.

Step 2
Lean over the rim and put the valve stem of the new tire into the hole. Stretch the tire onto the rim in the same manner as before. Remember, if you can't generate enough force to roll the final section of the tire onto the rim, straighten up, press the wheel against your stomach and roll the remainder over the rim with your thumbs. Remove any excess glue that settles on the rim.

Step 3
Align the tire. Push, pull and adjust until the amount of base tape visible at the rim's edge is uniform.

Step 4
Pump the tire to 100 psi. Check the alignment by spinning the wheel. If the tire wobbles, deflate it and eliminate the wobble by pressing on the tire with your thumbs in the direction opposite the wobble.

Step 5
Inflate tire to at least 120 psi and allow glue to set overnight.

Rowan

Even I am not that obsessed with ordering bicycle stuff on the internet.... well, I did order a triple of Schwalbe levers once, but I had several other sets in the tool box to keep me going. And I would have used anything handy, including allen keys and screwdrivers if necessary.

I've broken or bent right out of shape a few levers, mainly narrow ones. There are some that look the goods, but the plastic is way too soft to get a really tight bead over the rim. I now have a triple of steel levers in the tool box for just such occasions. They were bought at an LBS.

I used to have a triple of what were called Milk Levers... they were made from recycled plastic milk cartons. Until I bought them, I had used only narrow levers, even up to recently. I have found the broader ones, in the Milk and Schwalbe style, are much more useful. So the steel levers are really in the box just as a final option.

Having said all that, each to his or her own. We live in parts of the world where there is freedom to do such things if we so desire and can afford it both in terms of money and time.

tsl

I can understand the guy's position.

I don't have a cell phone, or anyone I could call for help if I had one. As a result, I'm obsessive about having tools and flat changing stuff with me on every ride, no matter where or how short. If I can't fix a flat, I'm walking home. (There was a time when I wouldn't venture more than a mile or two from a bus line for the same reason.)

This, despite having puncture-resistant tires on all the bikes.

Bob Ross

Every time I buy a set of tire levers I take one of the three and toss it in a drawer, then put two levers in my saddlebag. Over the years my drawer has accumulated two or three complete (sic) sets of new levers magically! For free!

ThatBritBloke

Before I helped out in a bike shop I'd have said this was impossible, but really, it's just a knack. Getting the tyre off is the most difficult, even then just one lever should do it. BTW: no pump needed either ;-)

Garilia

I will install adamantium thumbs and become a wolverine hitchhiker. I should pack up my blue ox, The Goat Head Eater, and traverse the country with my adamantium opposable thumbs and just show up randomly to fix the flats of damsels in distress.

Now I have a career plan for my retirement years.

scroca

My tire levers are steel. They don't break.

Artkansas 

Better watch out if you accidently take them through airport inspection.

I took my old Mafac levers accidently when I was moving. I got through inspection in San Diego and Dallas, but the Little Rock folks flagged me and wouldn't let the tire levers through. At least they did let me send them back home via the UPS and some extraordinary shipping fees.

rydabent

Dont forget in a pinch you can always use your quick release levers.

Cone Wrench

Ha! I've snapped a steel lever.

leob1

How many times have you heard/said; "WOW, look at the price of that, I can get it cheaper on-line."

himespau 

yeah at some point the margin on things between lbs and online just isn't worth it. But I also used to use screwdrivers and threw some levers in with another online purchase because I wanted to see what all the fuss was about (and the local lbs employed a bunch of d-nozzles that I didn't like dealing with).