Customer Reviews

Kool Stop Tire Bead Jack

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This looks like a simple tool for a simple job, and it is. Unfortunately sometimes something that should be simple (like mounting a tire) can be an exercise in patients and determination. I have a very hard bead on my indoor training tire that is next to impossible to mount without heating/soaking the rubber and pre-stretching the tire. This tool made it a piece of cake! It took a minute or so to get use to how far to move the tool each time so it wouldn't pinch the tube, but after that the tire went on faster than I could mount a normal beaded tire. The tool is very sturdy and I expect it to last a long time. Deff. worth having one of these to keep around in your shop.

Pros: Really fast at tire mounting.
Cons: Plastic, may break. Tire levers were easier for removing tire.

I had some really tough tires to mount and gave myself a bad blister trying to mount them. It was good exercise though. Was able to mount the tire with this in a matter of minutes with little effort. I really should learn proper technique for doing it tool-less but sometimes you're in a hurry.

This tool is just what you need if you have difficulty installing tight-fitting tires. Mechanics who change a lot of tires will really appreciate the thumb-saving value of this tool. Hands down this is my favorite kool-stop product!

This is a very shoddy product. It broke in the very first moments of use, not ten seconds out of the package. With the slightest bit of leverage applied--the very nature of this tool's existence and design--the lip that is supposed to lift the bead over the rim snapped off.

This tool did an amazing job of mounting a bike tire. Once. On the second tire, about 5 minutes after opening the package, the hook snapped off the end. There are better tools like this out there, I'd recommended paying a few dollars more and getting one made of metal, like the VAR Tyre tool.

After destroying a new Schwalbe Marathon Plus (20-1.35) tire, and two tubes, and marring the rim using plastic levers. I purchased the bead jack,and another Marathon tire. The new tire went on with no problems.
I wasn't sure if the second tire was a fluke, being it had a thorn proof tube. So I purchased another Marathon Plus tire (26-1.35) and it to mounted with the same ease using a thin tube slightly inflated.
After reading the other reviews where people broke the tool right out of the box. I guess that they tried to mount the last part of the tire in the middle in one motion. That or they had really heavy fatty tires.
I mount tires: facing the tire starting at valve stem mount as much as you can by hand. Then use tire tool pushing on the lower part of the handle towards tire, try and do about two or three inches at a time. Also making sure the mounted tire is pushed to the center of the rim as much as possible, and watching the tube for pinching.
The tool fits in my bike bag and I never ride without it. Had I known how well it worked, I would have bought two of them. One for home shop and one for the road.

It's been a long time since I was able to mount a tire by simply pushing the bead over the rim with my thumbs. And like most folks, I was using tire levers to get the job done.

One day this summer I was attempting to mount a new tire onto a new wheel and broke 7 tire levers and still didn't get the tire mounted. Frustrated, I drove to the nearest bike store and asked the man behind the counter to show me how it's done. He went to the back, and came out with two of these devices and in seconds had the tire onto the wheel.

I went home and ordered two of them and carry them with me when I ride. On my ride this Saturday (Nov 6) I had two flats. Thanks to the Tire Jacks, I was back on the road in minutes. Without them, I would have had to hitch-hike home.

We own quite a few family bikes so we change tires relatively frequently - but not 'bike shop' frequently. I had recently purchased a new set of Continental tires and I remembered that last time I had purchased Contis they were a bear to get on the rim. So I bought the Tire Jack at the same time.
As it turned out, I sprained my hand right before the tires and the Tire Jack arrived, so I had even less ability to get the bead over the rim...but didn't have ANY problem with getting the tires mounted using the Tire Jack.
This is a really inventive tool that I haven't seen in the local bike shops, and even if you only mount tires once in awhile, unless you've got Schwarzenegger thumbs, I'd recommend it.

Great, great piece of equipment. I bought new tires for my road bike and they were impossible for me to get on myself. Especially the last part that needs to slip over the rim. This Tire Jack took a a little bit of time to get used to - there's a loud snap that still makes me jump which is just the tire going over the rim. Now I can quickly change the tire without wearing myself out. The only complaint I have is that it won't fit in my fanny pack but that's okay, I just put it in the pocket of my bike shirt. I love this Jack, I've changed my tire about 6 times (for practice - I want to make sure I can do it on the road) and I haven't had any problems. It doesn't pinch the tube at all.

I was trying to get new, stiff, stubborn tires onto old, I guess slightly large rims. I could not pull them on by hand (and hurt my fingers trying). I pinched a few tubes trying. This solved all my problems. What a clever design.