Tire Tool

[SimpleSimon]

I have just one hand, which doesn't work all that great anyway. Been that way more than 40 years now. I also have a magnetic personality- anything metallic in the roads gravitates straight to my tires. I cannot begin to estimate how many flat tires I've had over the years, but I'll tell you this - every car I've owned since the very first one has had two spares in the trunk, and there have been many times I needed both, in short succession.

Bike tires, it's even worse. Unfortunately, carrying spare bike tires isn't terribly feasible, although I ve done that on long rides. Mostly, I always kept a patch kit, a spare tube or two, and some "boots" made from old tires. Still, changing tires is a pain, made worse by just having the one hand to work with, and a hook. Especially since it always happens in the rain, or some other uncomfortable circumstance.

So, I made a tire tool for my bike. I took a piece of 3/4" EMT tubing by 3 ft long, and hammered one end flat back about an inch, then used a hacksaw too cut it into three equal width tabs on that end. The middle tab I formed into a 95 degree bend perpendicaluar to the length of the tab, filed the corners round, and JB welded it along the seams where the two pieces were pressed together. The other two tabs I bent back the opposite direction, and then back forward, making a sort of Z shape, which was about 1/4 inch back from the center tabs bend. I also rounded and JB welded those tabs edges.

I cut the tube in half, split each piece across its width for about 3 inches, then slightly spread the two parts of the tube with the tooled ends, and bound it with soft iron wire and more JB weld. The other hunk of tube I pressed the cuts together, and clamped while the JB weld in the cuts set up. A little filing once it was cured, and the two parts fit together like a jack handle.

The non-tooled end of the two piece tire lever I drilled a hole through, and put a ring bolt in, set so that the hooked tab would just fit over my wheel rim with the ring bolt around the axle. Made seating a tire on the rim simple, quick, and best - it won't damage tire beads. The two parts I just slipped into a sleeve I made from the leg of an old pair of jeans, with a buckle strap at each end that went around my top tube. Simple, cheap, and an enormous aggravation reducer.

I hope this a useful idea for some of you - I've noticed quite a few comments about flat tires in various threads. I know it was one of the best simple ideas I ever had, and once I'm back on bike wheels again, I'll have another one with me, always.

[stude13]

hi simon; i could see it as you wrote. any more flats and im getting solids. mitch