Supplied by www.madison.co.uk
I’m pretty sure I first saw these levers being used by the TRF’s John Vannuffel during the TBM cross-country trail ride we rode in 2014. There was an immediate case of tool envy (which sounds very wrong, eh?), but I knew I needed some of those levers for myself.
I was attracted first by their light weight and precision finishing. These are levers made from T7075 aircraft-grade aluminium and are billed as unbendable and unbreakable – but are of course very light, too. But when I used them I was as impressed by the fact they were gentle on the alloy rims on the Honda CRF250L on which I was changing tyres. There’s a lot of feel, and the ‘spoon’ end gives a broad bearing surface and so there’s minimal reason for the rims to get marked as they might with narrower levers. I ordered two types. Plain levers and a ‘combo’ lever that came with a 24mm ring on the end – ideal for the CRFs axle nut. That added versatility makes the combo lever a cert for the bum bag on trail trips.
Obviously they are a little more expensive than standard levers, but ‘buy well and you buy once’ applies here. With these on hand, there’s no putting off the job, either – you actually look forward to changing tyres! JB
