Having not yet mastered the craft of changing a tube using the ‘hands-only’ method, tire levers come in handy when a tire goes flat. I never leave home without them…until a few weeks ago when on a morning bike commute to work I got a flat and discovered my tire levers were not in my pannier. It took a 45 minute walk-a-bike to work and an hour wait until the LBS opened to have a simple solution pointed out to me.

The quick release levers on my bike had thin, flat ends – the perfect substitute for tire levers! I took this tip home and gave it a try; they worked great. This now seems such an obvious solution (a quick survey amongst friends revealed that I wasn’t the only one who didn’t know this tip). Good to know that I’ve got built in tire levers on both my bikes, just in case.