Jim’s Tech Talk
By Jim Langley
Last week, we helped a reader named Nathaniel with his tight and nearly impossibly difficult to remove tires: Tech Q & A: Nathaniel’s Too Tight Tire Troubles. We asked your help too and you delivered in the comments with excellent suggestions for taming tight tires, which will surely help Nate and other readers struggling with their treads. Thank you!
This week, I want to elaborate a little on Park Tool’s BMT-1 Tire Bead Breaker tool ($45.95; https://www.parktool.com/en-us/product/tire-bead-breaker-bmt-1), because at first blush, many readers of this column and viewers of my video review of it, have concluded that it’s nothing special and that there are basic tools available that will do as good a job.
For example, “Frank” said, “There is a less expensive alternative to the Park BMT-1 bead breaker tool, and that is using a C-Clamp with pads of some sort like wrapping the metal pads with sections of innertube. You can find these cheap at any home improvement place or Harbor Freight.”
And “Steve” offered, “I have occasionally experienced stuck beads, and I use a tool much cheaper than that Park tool you showed: A quick clamp. You can get one at Harbor Freight for under $3.00! Also, that Park tool is nothing different than a Vise-Grip brand welding clamp, if you desire the heavy duty metal construction.”
Why these work-around tools don’t work on a truly stuck tire
I wish it was true that you could use a C-clamp, a Vise-Grip welding clamp, a quick clamp (photo), which another reader suggested – or something else to remove a tubeless tire that’s stuck on a wheel. But none of those tools will work on a truly locked-on tubeless tire.
How do I know? Because I tried everything I could think of – including those tools and others – when I was running the wheel department at Praxis (photo). Part of building wheels is setting them up for testing with different tires. So we saw many tires, and ran into some that absolutely refused to come off.
This actually came as a surprise to me because I’d never had a problem removing tires by hand in all my decades as a mechanic. Yet, suddenly, some tires were impossible to get off by hand. They were also impossible to get off with tire levers, the items Frank and Steve suggested, wood blocks, plumbers pliers (aka water-pump pliers), and I could go on.
All those work-arounds will work on stuck tires and tight tires that are NOT actually locked onto the rim. And that’s why people believe they work, because they haven’t yet run into a tire that’s as bad as some are.
The BMT-1 is the only tool of its kind available as far as I can tell
When Park’s BMT-1 came out, I couldn’t wait to try it because finally a major tool company had recognized and come up with a solution for one of the most frustrating things you can have to deal with in the shop. So, I want to point out how it differs from ordinary tools people think might work and explain how it removes locked-on tubeless tires and other types.
In the photo, you should be able to see that it’s an oversize tool. It’s 12 x 5.5 inches (height x width) and weighs 1 pound 12 ounces. It has large plastic jaws to span tires from under 1 inch to 3 inches in width (23 mm to 78 mm).
It does look similar to Vise-Grip locking pliers and it is a locking pliers. To use it, the plastic jaws (more on those in a second), are placed against the tire and down against the rim on both sides. The tool is closed to lock the jaws in position on the tire.
Closing the handles locks the tool. But, you haven’t fully locked it until you turn the ring to fully tighten the grip (the blue ring at the end of the handle). You can do this by hand, but it’s better to add more tension by using a screwdriver to tighten the ring a little more. You don’t want the tool to slip on the tire.
Once locked, the tool is held by the handle and rocked sideways to break the bead(s) free. Looking at the jaws in the photo, they look parallel but they actually meet at a point and form a V. Also notice that they’re curved and about 2 inches long each.
The locking feature combined with the special V-shaped jaws are what make the BMT-1 do what no other tire removal tool can. And they do it in a clever way. They don’t simply pinch the tire toward the center and away from the rim, they also create a lifting force. The curved jaws let the tool pivot on the rim for leverage and the tool’s excellent grip on the tire yanks it up and in to release locked-on beads. Using it seems like magic compared to the battle with ordinary tools trying and failing to remove locked tubeless tires.
I have received comments saying that it’s too expensive and I understand why someone might think that. But when a tool saves the day the way this one can, I think any mechanic will feel that it has earned its place in the shop and is worth every penny.
And, I do see it as a shop tool to be used for working on tires at home. Which makes sense because if your tubeless tires are that difficult to remove, the best option for fixing flats on rides is carrying some tire plugs such as those by Dynaplug: Product Review: Dynaplug’s Impressive Carbon Racer & Road Air Tubeless Tire Repair Kits. Or, as I mentioned last week, just replace too tight tires with ones that you know you can get on and off easily. That’s really the best choice overall. Then you would never need a tool like the BMT-1 – unless you fix other bikes.
Jim Langley is RBR’s Technical Editor. A pro mechanic & cycling writer for more than 40 years, he’s the author of Your Home Bicycle Workshop in the RBR eBookstore. Tune in to Jim’s popular YouTube channel for wheel building & bike repair how-to’s. Jim’s also known for his cycling streak that ended in February 2022 with a total of 10,269 consecutive daily rides (28 years, 1 month and 11 days of never missing a ride). Click to read Jim’s full bio.
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