Schwalbe Tyre Levers

Schwalbe's tyre levers have a small but clever extra wrinkle that makes it easier to mount some tyres, and they're tough enough for the tightest tyre/rim combinations. They're among the best tyre levers you can buy, and they're short for easy portability.

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.)

> Buy now: Schwalbe Tyre Levers for £2.99 from Amazon

Sometimes, as you push a tyre into place on the rim, the other end of the unmounted segment pops off as quickly as the mounted segment goes on. Schwalbe to the rescue with the hook in the body of these levers. It grabs the hook on your rim and holds the bead in place as you push the middle of the remaining bead into place.

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.

> When to change your bike tyres — 7 warning signs to look for

With the Schwalbe levers holding the tyre in place, I was able to push the last section of bead over the rim by hand – no lever required. It was still a time-consuming job and I still wouldn't risk this tyre/rim combo in the field, but that I could do it at all validates the usefulness of Schwalbe's little hook.

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.

They coped with every other tyre I tried, too, even one I expected to be difficult, the 16-inch (38-305) Schwalbe Marathon Racers on the BTwin Ultra Compact 1 Second Light. These actually turned out to be a relatively loose fit and the only reason I mention them is to wonder if Decathlon chose this size rather than the 35-349 16-inch that Brompton uses because they make for easier tyre changes.

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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.

In a comment to my review of Park Tool's heavy duty levers, EK Spinner said 'always the Schwalbe levers for me, the hook for helping to get them back on is brilliant, and let's face it Schwalbe know more about tyres and their fitting than most companies that make tyre levers'.

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.'

Kil0ran agreed: 'They're only let down by poor instructions which lead to people using them wrong. Originally designed to help fit Marathons they work brilliantly for tight tubeless tyres. Only lever which enabled me to get some GP5000 tubeless tyres on my rims.'

Value

You can pay anything from £2 to £32 for tyre levers (or even £58 for Silca's levers with a built-in CO2 regulator), but a fiver for three levers is right in the mainstream of normal tyre levers like Pedro's for £5.99 (reviewed by Shaun in 2017), Muc-Off Rim Stix (reviewed by Matt in 2020), for £5.49, or Topeak Shuttle Levers, up a quid to £8.99 since Mike reviewed them in 2021; even Lezyne's beefy Power Lever XLs that I reviewed back in 2015 are only £6.

> Read more road.cc reviews of tyre levers here

And the Schwalbe levers may be a fiver at rrp, but you can pick them up for just three quid from Amazon – follow the buying link up top.

Conclusions

It's not like tyre levers are much of a considered purchase. I suspect most of us just grab a set from the bike shop when we need them, more or less at random. Well, next time you find yourself in need of levers, buy a set of these if you possibly can; they're the absolute business.

Who should buy the Schwalbe tyre levers?

Everyone. 'Nuff said.

Verdict

Great tyre levers; buy some