Getting tyres on is all very well, but tyre levers need to get them off, too, and in this department the Schwalbes also excel. The hook tapers to a fine point on the end of a tight-radius curve that easily slips under even my silly-tight test set. You still need a bit of finesse to get the levers in exactly the right places, but they lifted the bead off with aplomb. I cant speak for other plastic tyre levers but I have owned the same set of plastic levers I got from an halfords puncture repair kit around 2005-2008 and these have the little hook that wraps around a spoke you speak of... I think Evanscycles used to have the same levers in their repair kits although i dont know about now. Zefal have more or less the same in their universal repair kits (i seem to have misplaced the ones that came with my kit...) but maybe not as strong.

With all the tyres and wheelsets we have in on test, we’ve used these levers on a huge variety of hooked, hookless rims with clincher and tubeless tyres. Ive used metal levers and i wouldnt do this again due to possibly damaging the rims either physically or cosmetically - GP5000's were almost nigh on impossible to get on. He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.Anyway, you don't have to take my word for how good these levers are. When we talk about tyre levers, these Schwalbe levers frequently pop up as a firm favourite of our readers.

Ive removed (and installed) Conti 4 seasons, GP5000s and Schwalbe Durano Plus (all folding bead) on 31mm and 55mm hoops with the halfords levers and while they might have ended up flying 50 meters away from me in a random direction a few times. They are still in one peice which now makes me worry about the brittleness of the plastic as they start to further age. It will be an end of an era when one of these breaks...

Chain reaction Cycles and CRC are trading names of Wiggle Ltd (In Administration) registered in the United Kingdom at 1000 Lakeside, Suite 310, Third Floor N E Wing, Portsmouth, Hampshire, PO6 3EN, It certainly helped fit my go-to stupidly-tight tyre and rim combination of SRAM S60 aero wheels and Giant P-SL2 tyres – both are over a decade old, thankfully long discontinued, and from the era when tyre/rim compatibility was the Wild West. The rims don't have a very deep well, and the tyres are more than a little undersized.

The unique (or at least unusual) feature of Schwalbe's tyre levers is a hook in the lever body that you use to pin the tyre bead in place as you install it. ( Birzman also makes levers with this feature, but they're a tenner for three.)

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And when we mentioned we had a set of these levers in for review, galibiervelo commented: 'The Schwalbe [levers] are the best I have used in 35 years of biking, so good I only bring one with me in the tool roll.' The tyre lever, though seemingly one of the simplest and most basic of cycling tools, is one commonly used by almost every cyclist, and unfortunately, one often responsible for unnecessary frustration. Really, what is more fun than flatting far away from home, being thrilled you lugged that spare tube and pump, and then having your tire levers snap in two? Thetyre lever, though seemingly one of the simplest and most basic of cycling tools, is one commonly used by almost every cyclist, and unfortunately, one often responsible for unnecessary frustration. Really, what is more fun than flatting far away from home, being thrilled you lugged that spare tube and pump, and then having your tire levers snap in two?