General: What am i doing wrong?!

Yesterday i was changing a flat and while taking the tire off, the tire lever BROKE! So I was stuck until i could get another lever today to continue putting the tire on. While putting the tire back on tire lever I just bought Broke! Can you guys please tell me what I'm doing wrong? The tire levers that broke are the soma steel core levers. The part on the levers that broke is the plastic shell around the steel on the end that lifts the tire from the rim. Again please tell me what I am doing wrong, thanks.

For what it's worth, I have also broken a Soma lever: On the plastic end, just after the steel core. In my case, it was a combination of a tire on the small side of 700c going on a rim on the large side of 700c.

As Sheldon sez, just because it says it's a particular size, doesn't mean it's telling the truth.

I have a set of wheels built on mid-'80s Ambrosio rims that are on the very outer edge of 700c. Getting any tire on or off is an exercise in pain and frustration (it's the one where I busted the lever). The Ambrosio 19 Extra Super Elite is the rim that converted me to steel tire levers, which used to be far more common than they are now. To the best of my knowledge, Park Tool and Brooks are the only ones currently making them.

As a general principle, s_d is exactly right: Better to install tires without a lever at all, if you can manage it. But it isn't always possible to do that. And installing/removing tires is as much art as skill; my main LBS runs a series of weekly classes, and three of the nine class sessions are on repairing flat tires.

What are the rims? What are the tires?

Well when i change my flats usually start taking the tire off at around the valve and put another tire lever two spokes away and just follow that pattern with two levers until i can just slid the lever around the rim to get the tire off on one side. The first time my lever broke i had already gotten the first lever on and when i slid the second lever under the tire bead and hooked it to the spoke the tip of the lever cracked off. The second time my lever broke it was in the last few inches where it got really tough, so i just slid the lever under the tire bead lifted up the lever and it just cracked off the tip like the first one. Hope that helps. Thanks for the tip about the soap on the tire bead. Also the tire is a Vitorria Zaffiros.

^^^ this is great

I figured out what the issue is. You are trying the peel the bead over at the valve stem, which is the hardest place to start doing that. You need to start 180 degrees away from the valve stem, after deflating the tire all the way, and releasing the bead from the rim all the way around. Then you pull the tire up away from the rim (180 degrees away from the valve stem) and work your tire levers around in both directions (on one side) towards the valve stem.

Using tire levers to put a tire on is a good way to pinch the tube. I know it hurts your fingers, but resist the urge to use tools when installing a tire.

Another "trick" is to put some air in the tube to give it shape and then get that situated all the way around before you start pushing the bead under the rim. This helps you keep from pinching the tube.

Zaffiro's are smaller at the bead and are a PITA to mount and dismount. Zaffiro + Velocity Deep V is especially annoying. In my experience wire bead tires are more difficult to mount than Kevlar bead tires.

Yes, you could use the screw of damnation, that you found behind the armoire...of despair.

i once made the mad mistake of using a screw driver. haha

I can totally understand the temptation to use a screwdriver. I mean, tire levers cost almost three dollars a pair!

Pedro's, I think? I have a few pair. Some in my backpack, some in my toolbox. Got them at Full Circle, here in Florence, Mass.

I'd be down to getting a beer and just kicking it till I start the other one but, I'm only 13, darn.

Posted By: Fixdheck yeah Vittoria tires are hard to get on!! i couldnt feel my fingers for like 2 days after fitting mine on my weinmann deep V's, you just gotta keep putting muscle into it untill they pop on, get a beer and relax, then start the other in a few.

I must have gotten lucky, the ones I just put on were easy as pie.

Mountain Dew for the win!