Review on TL-5 Park Tool Tire Lever Set - Heavy-Duty Steel by Justin Olson

While it's not always the best of both worlds, these steel tire changers help with tough tires. After I broke my Park TL-1 3-piece tire lever set the first time I used it when changing mountain bike tires and tubes on 1998 GT Backwoods and had to use a spoon from our kitchen set with an end that looked like these levers, I knew I had to have such a set. My original tire levers were gone and I thought the Park TL-1 would be an adequate replacement - it wasn't - all 3 were damaged on first use. As another reviewer mentioned, these levers are steel and can scratch your rims or strip paint from painted rims. However, this is a compromise to avoid disappointment due to broken plastic tire arms. If you're careful, the TL-5 will handle those narrow tires that just don't want to come off the rim or rebound. The TL-5 remounted the tire with no problems. Even before I bought them and put the GT tires back on with a spoon, I was careful not to damage the rims. These steel levers are durable. I decided to try them out and remove a tire to see if they would live up to my expectations and not disappoint me. You really met my expectations. Although these levers are heavy, I think one of them will find a place in my travel gear so I can avoid the disappointment of plastic levers letting me down on a trip when I have a flat tire.