Recently I bought this lil devise from Wheels of Steel while driving through Ashland, Oregon.

my usual method of installing sew-ups on tubulars is to get them 3/4 of the way on then have them slip off.

then I call a friend, usually Sweetie and have her hold the tire to the glued rim while I roll the tire in place.

the thumb saver ends the need to call a friend.

the tire goes through the loop

the tail attached to the spoke and stays put

then you can wrestle the tire into place, deflate, and remove the tool.

honestly, I wish I had two to use.




What small font you have

I'm a fan of using VELCRO strips that have the mating textures on both sides.

Several 1/2" wide & 6" long help hold clincher tires in place as I work the beads over the rims. Never had need of anything but my hands for sew-ups, what I started with back in 1972 and what I still ride on my '72 MB Grand Record.

thats smart too.

That's nice. Now is there a gadget that prevents glue from getting in all the wrong places?

Gluing tape.

I remember getting Tubasti glue all over the place back in the 70's, but I didn't use sew-ups much and my technique needed some refinement.

In more recent times, I've had good results with the recommended process of applying glue to the rim and tire, waiting for it to get tacky, and then mounting the tire. With that method, there's no liquid glue to move to the wrong places.
Disclaimer: my experience with tubular is nowhere near as much as some of the folks here.

Steve in Peoria

Ya. If you had two, would you start with the valve NOT slanting to the left?
For Continentals, I pretend I'm the guy in the Continental videos. . For Vittorias, Veloflex, and Challenge, I can be myself. I gotta keep stretching the tire as I go or I end up with a flat spot opposite the valve.

anybody else thinking this tool would be fairly easy to re-create, maybe even with simple hand tools but the one thing most needed might be a roller to form the strip-stock into a nice round loop

Starting with some heat-treatable sheet in the annealed state, it would be fairly easy to make one with hand tools. If you wanted to make them in quantity, a jig would be relatively easy. I've formed loops like that over barstock clamped in a vise. I have a small sheet metal brake that could probably handle the right-angle bend, though beating on it in a vise is always an option.

Heat treating, tempering, and bead blasting to finish it off.

So, yeah, not hard to do!

Robvolz You are prolly my favorite on bf. Everything you post is interesting.

I just use ratchet straps to squish the tire into the center of the rim in a couple places:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CSYVFB1M

Also useful for my rack and a ton of other things. Thumb saver seems like a one trick pony and doesn't hold the bead down in the center as well to get maximum slack anyway.