Depending on your rim and tire combination, tire levers are sometimes a necessary evil. Sure, with the right technique and strong thumbs, you can get many (most?) tires off the rim without resorting to tools, but there are certainly combinations that require mechanical intervention. And with the uptick in road tubeless for pricey carbon rims, it’s important to have the right tool for the job.
In what’s become essentially standard practice for the company, Silca seems to have created that perfect tool for the job. In the works for more than a year, their new tire lever is specifically designed to protect your carbon (or aluminum, magnesium, etc.) rim from any damage as you use the sidewall for leverage.
Metal core tire levers are hardly a new concept – though they’ve never quite worked as promised. We used to sell a certain steel core tire lever at the shop, but the steel didn’t extend to the tip of the lever because it would be too thick, and inevitably the tip would break off after a number of uses. Silca says that the metal core levers over the years have also been less stiff and heavier than their ideal lever would be.
The Tire Levers Premio on the other hand use a two piece construction with a forged aluminum lever that extends all the way to the tip, paired with a semi-rigid nylon pad on the bottom of the lever where it will contact the rim. The lever is also shaped so that the “Flex-Core Zone allows the nylon pad to conform to the curvature of the rim during use for maximum distribution of load.”
The result is a lever that is thinner, stronger, stiffer, narrower, and lighter than metal core levers of the past. Measuring 105 x 25 x 7mm and weighing in at 36g for two tire levers and the neoprene sleeve, the levers also include a built in spoke hook wing for holding them in place. And while on the expensive side, $18 for a likely indestructible tire lever set that might save a very expensive rim seems like it could be a wise investment.
