Jim’s Tech Talk
By Jim Langley
A couple of weeks ago in my story on 5 noteworthy products that were shown at The Sea Otter Classic bike festival in Monterey, California, I mentioned Park Tool’s BMT-1, which I ordered as soon as I saw it.
It’s a new tool designed to make easy work of removing tight tires. I was especially interested in using it for removing tubeless tires, which can be exceptionally difficult to remove.
This is because tubeless tires must seal when mounted to keep the sealant inside and they must fit tightly in order to stay on the rim. Tubeless-ready rims can be hookless or hooked and on both the tires essentially lock onto the rim when properly installed.
With standard tires (non-tubeless), it’s not that difficult to wiggle tire levers in between the tire and rim to loosen and remove the tires. As a professional mechanic, I can remove most standard clincher tires by hand even without levers.
However, with tubeless tires and the way they lock on, it can be almost impossible to get tire levers between the tire and rim. So you use your hands and thumbs to try to push the tire beads off either side of the rim. Until you do this, the tire can’t be removed from the rim.
I can remove tubeless tires too but some take a lot of effort and time. If I can’t get the first section that I try pushing and pressing on to come off, I move around the tire trying again on another spot until I finally find one where I can get the beads off. It can take multiple tries and way more effort and frustration than with standard clincher tires.
A Game-changer
Now that I’ve had a chance to try Park’s BMT-1 on a road and mountain tire, I think it’s a complete game changer. The tool’s nylon jaws lock onto the tire and the tool provides plenty of leverage to tug on the tire to pop the tire beads off the rim shelf and into the middle of the rim.
The way the jaws of the tool are shaped, they squeeze the tire beads together and lift them up, which is why they’re so effective at getting the beads off the rim.
This is the first tool that I’ve seen that takes the frustration out of removing tubeless tires and actually makes it easy. With this tool there’s no need to struggle with tubeless tire removal again. It will also work on standard clincher tires. It fits tires up to 3 inches wide and down to 23mm. The cost for the BMT-1 is $39.95.
Watch How it Works
In this video I show how the BMT-1 tool works on both a road and mountain tubeless tire.
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.
After watching the video on the new BMT-1, I wonder if the sidewalls of high quality lightweight tires will be damaged by the stress concentrated on the sidewalls by the jaws of this tool? I can see how a tire thin sidewall could be damaged.
Thanks for commenting Rex. Tubeless tires typically have beefier sidewalls that should hold up fine to this tool especially since it has the nylon/plastic jaws designed to protect tires. There were no signs of any damage on the 2 very different tires I use it on in the video.
For regular/standard/non tubeless tires you wouldn’t need a tool like this because those tires are pretty easy to remove by hand or with tire levers. But I bet it would still work without hurting the tires because on those types of tires it wouldn’t take much force at all to move the beads off the rim shelf as they aren’t locked on.
Thanks again,
Jim
Park Tool’s BMT-1 Tire Bead Breaker
yet another vote for “regular clinchers”
Without sounding too much like the retro-grouch that I am, every time I read one of these articles about how to deal with various aspects of tubeless tires, it just confirms my decision NOT to switch to tubeless. And now the with the advent of TPU tubes, it seems that the lowest rolling resistance available is a compliant tire with a TPU tube, and no hassles with tubeless.
I totally admire and respect “the right tool for the job”, BUT: the first tool in question here is the tire set-up itself = tubeless. Given that, my test is always, How would this work if I’m 20+ miles into the middle of nowhere (which is precisely where I want to go when riding.) Ostensibly, tubeless tires seal themselves, yet I’ve read countless horror stories of tubeless set-ups that failed and could not be reseated/resealed, leaving the cyclist to hobble home on a flat tire or hike out (or in gravel races, forfeit finishing.)
So if/when a tubeless tires fails in the real world, I’m not going to have this wonderful but large/heavy tool to get it off for repair. Which puts me back to KISS: keep it simple, stupid. The earliest cyclists circumnavigating the globe rode on “pneumatics” and they succeeded just fine. Likewise, I’ll happily and confidently run tubes and carry my Zefal full frame pump. Signed, Old Guy Still Rolling
Two questions for you, Jim.
-I’ve never had a tubeless tire “locked” onto the rim when trying to remove it. Am I not using enough sealant, is it a wheel-design fault, or am I simply lucky?
-The BMT-1 tool looks like a modified C-clamp locking plier. For those of us not able to justify $40 for the Park model I wonder if a generic tool at 1/3rd the cost could be modified? Of course, protecting the rim would be the biggest challenge.
To your point:
https://www.amazon.com/Klein-Tools-Intuitive-Adjustable-Woodworking/dp/B0CYHXZTYY
Rich, that tool you linked to is half the size of the Park BMT-1 7″ versus 12″. It might work on road tires but it also might not since it only provides half the leverage. Also, I suspect the flat jaws on the tool would slip on the tire. Notice that the Park jaws are angled to provide an excellent purchase on the tire.
Jim
Jim, Klein makes them in 9 and 11 inch sizes too.
Thanks for the questions Seth. How tight the tubeless tires are on the rim depends on the tire and rim. Tubeless-ready tires on tubeless-ready rims are usually tough to remove by hand as they’re most likely to lock on by design. If you’re using tires or rims that are not tubeless ready, then they might not lock on. And it doesn’t have to do with the sealant, it’s the design of the rim and tire. So if your tires never locked on my guess would be that your rims are not really tubeless-ready rims.
Below in the next comment is a link to a cheaper locking plier, but please ready my reply since it’s not really comparable to the Park tool.
Jim
The operation of this tool doesn’t seem to take advantage of the “Vise-Grip” mechanism of the handle. The Park Tools site video also seems to operate this way.
On a normal Vise-Grip, the tool is adjusted to the approximate width necessary, while maintaining the handle in its “open” position. Once it’s close to the right position, the handle is squeezed until it locks. This takes advantage of the great mechanical advantage of the mechanism. Just my observation…
Yes Steve, the tool locks only for the purpose of staying closed since it’s used as a lever and you wouldn’t want it to open. You tighten it with the adjuster blue ring. This lets you feel how tight you’re making it, which you don’t when using locking pliers at the handles, which can do damage if you’re not careful.
To me Park was very clever to realize another way the locking plier could work really well.
Thanks,
Jim
Do the plastic jaws touch the side of the rim below the bead? I’m just asking because some carbon rims are super thin there and if the tool touches it could cause damage. I like it though, sometimes those tire are so tough to remove and I’d love to have and “easy” option
As you can see clearly in the video Joe, the jaws of the tool definitely contact the rims, both the tops and the sides. In the video I try it on a road and MTB wheel and they’re carbon rims. It didn’t affect the rims at all. Quality carbon rims are really strong.
Hope this helps,
Jim
Jim,
I’m a woman, and it is impossible for me to break the bead of my eBike tires (wire bead). Even my husband struggled to do it and ended up using a wood clamp. How will this tool work for me if I’m 50 miles out from town? Will it tear up my tire’s sidewall? (E6 Hard Case Lite or Schwalbe Super Moto). Thanks in advance.
Vikki