Unfortunately I I don't see demand for this as a hard plastic Tire Levers are cheap and it comes in all sizes.

The price on these ($20/set) though doesn't seem outlandish compared to what I was expecting. I could see these meeting the Kickstarter goal.

People pay for the carbon cages, so why not levers...

The market will be smaller, since levers aren't externally visible (less bling factor).

For the weight weenie cyclists, they don't quote their bike's weight with a saddle bag, and bike racers don't carry flat kits in races.

This is the stocking stuffer for the dentist/triathlete who has everything.

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Seems like main advantage of these is the compact size, not the weight.

Nifty project but it sounds like he's doing this to help kit the garage out and/or infuse his business with capital.
- New larger CNC Milling Machine with associated holding fixtures and cutting tools:
- carbon fiber storage freezer unit:
- Carbon fiber curing oven:

I need to see why these are going to be better than Pedro's. There is nothing worse than breaking a cheap lever.

Because they're carbon. Duh.

I'm all in.

Who needs tyre levers?
I've got thumbs and technique.

Depends. On my 700c wheels I never use levers, I can get tires on and off without them. But on all my wife's 650C wheels I always have to use levers, they are much harder.

Maybe I'm just horrible at it, but some wheel/tire I absolutely need a lever, some I can do the whole thing with just hands. Got a pinch flat this weekend on a group ride. Even getting the tire off (HED Jet+ wheels with GP4ks) was a little difficult, though not truly hard. Trying to get it back on was a huge pain. To the point that one of the others in the group (who works with the LBS) asked to give it a shot when I couldn't get the tire back on with my thumbs/palm. He quickly decided he needed a lever as well. I've tried pushing the tire to the middle of the rim, it's still tough. I will admit the levers I have are crap, so I ordered some Pedros as soon as I got home. But I'll never ride without. Now, the weight of a lever is absolutely no issue to me. If the carbon makes them stronger, then great.

I think the kickstarter would have a bigger chance of success if there were some early bird rewards built in. As it stands people might just hold off the boat to see if it picks up enough support. If a majority of people do that then they will never meet their goals. Also, in the comparison shot, they must have used the beefiest tire levers on the planet. Those flat yellow Michelin tire levers don't take up so much space, and cost maybe $8.

Even then it depends on the 650c rim. On my felt rims, I can get Gp4000 tires off with no levers (although a bit easier to use levers), but on my Hed Jet rims it is crazy hard to get even a single bead ON the rim and getting the tire off the rim is hard even with levers.

Hi everyone, thank you for the feedback, criticisms, and concerns on this new project, this is all very helpful.

Pantelone: On your assessment of what I am trying to do, you are pretty much spot on. In the past, I have been fortunate to have a very good local tooling supplier for my carbon fiber forming molds that gave me really good costs for my molds to allow my projects to be worthwhile doing on a small scale to meet the demands that I saw. As some of my projects have been getting more complex from a tooling standpoint, the costs of these mold sets are getting out of reach for what I can invest, that is where this Kickstarter project is trying to help me out.

A few months ago while helping my son take off a set of road tires from his wheels we simple grabbed one of a few sets of tire levers we had laying around and thought, surely we can make levers stronger then this in carbon. Well once I decided this could be a new product, I started getting quotes on aluminum molds of a fairly simple mold set and soon found out that the cost was way more than I thought it should be, so I thought, I will just machine my own molds then. Being I already had a small CNC mill/routing machine, I just machined up a small aluminum test mold to allow me to use pre-impregnated carbon fiber as this would be stronger then the wet layup process I use for some of my other parts. I layed up several sets of various designs and thickness before coming up with this final design, and what I have is an incredibly stiff lever that works well, but hopefully you never need to use it :o)

Once I sat down and calculated what it would cost me to make full size molds for making a couple dozen sets at a time I thought I might as well look at trying to raise the funds to get a full size CNC machine and the other required equipment, that is when this Kickstarter project was born. I have put off many projects like the Cervelo P5, P3,P2 bottom bracket storage box project I started a couple of years ago (which was extremely popular here on ST) as well as various bento box designs and storage solutions strictly due to the incredible high tooling cost to get these made. My hope with this project was to not only have a cool tire lever but to have capital to get the equipment to get these other projects started again. I know eventually I will get to where I need my shop to be to get these new projects going again, but a little infusion of capital will make it go faster.

Well, I know this is my information that you probably wanted to hear but I think the whole ST community would like to know this as so many have been so great to me over the last three years supporting my work.

Thank you everyone for your support, Glen

Anyone with a specialized shiv fuel cell needs to get a pair of these. Does anyone even make a thinner pair then Pedro's tire levers?

Depends on the rim with 700c too. I had a set of tires and rims that I must have mounted with levers in my garage when I first bought them. Fast forward a few months and a flat 20 miles from home. Took me 20 minutes to dismount and remount the tire without tire levers. Ended up with sore fingertips for days. Next tires I mounted on those same rims were easily mounted without tire levers.

Some rim and tire combos are really hard to mount.

I agree. I love my 'cheap as' tacx plastic levers.
While I'm no expert, it's my understanding that carbon is wicked strong (for it's weight) but doesn't like point loads. I'd see the edge of the wheel rim as being a point load situation. I've had to reef on levers a number of times over the years. I hate to think what the actual forces are, but they are pretty high.

I know that being on ST means I'm supposed to lust after anything carbon, but I just don't see it on this one. I wait to be proven wrong.

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TriDork

"Happiness is a myth. All you can hope for is to get laid once in a while, drunk once in a while and to eat chocolate every day"

Hi Glen. I'm keen to hear more on the p5 bottom bracket storage box project. Thanks

Guys/gals, I'm a Mechanical Engineer, who does NOT work in the bike industry and who above all is just one more STer / bike nuts.
I liked this project and as I was riding in my trainer I made a mental list of aspects one might take into account ...

- Stiffness: carbon is a million times stronger than any plastic. No comparison! (durability and flexibility go on the same direction: simply not comparable!)
- Functionality: I guess it will also be far superior, as it can be thinner - on par to metal ones, I guess, but without the damaging that metal ones sometimes cause... In short, should be easier to remove tires with these levers.
- Price: well, by definition there's price sensitivity, which is individual... My personal one is that these ones may be 100% or even 200% more expensive than plastic ones, but as we are talking low amounts here, I can take this extra cost and don't brake the bank.
- Weight: it goes in the opposite direction, as it seems to weigh only ~35% of regular ones. Again, personal... To me, I don't care about this "significant" weight difference.
- Volume/form factor/width: again the difference to regular ones in % is significant, but it's up to you... To me this is the main "advantage" of these levers, as I always want to carry the smallest volume possible.

All in all, it boils down to what you care about and if it makes sense to run the risk of overspending a few dozen dollars for YOU...
I've pledged for 2 pairs...

Hope it helps

Cheers

Psssh weak sauce - I carry "Flex Seal".....I have seen the info-mercials...not even Optimus Prime can tear apart that stuff.

and if that doesn't work? I just buy a new Cervelo.

Stickied just because Glen makes cool stuff and because we have a history of supporting our own here.

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"Non est ad astra mollis e terris via." - Seneca | rappstar.com | FB - Rappstar Racing | IG - @jordanrapp

I'm not yet ready to commit for these. I think the size is the biggest attraction, ok maybe second to the cool factor of carbon :-) Still considering, and just may yet pop for a pair or two yet!

I was on the fence too but backed last night. I've snapped plastic levers and it's a pain. Plus, I really want the P5 storage box to become available :)

next time i'm in greensburg i'm riding over to check things out.
i'm in

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