Thanks for tuning in today we're going
to be looking at the
Park Tool PTS-1 tire seater tool.
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So when it comes to installing bike
tires it can be really frustrating when
things don't go well.
This is why we're really excited to
review the Park Tool PTS-1
tire seater which is a tool we learned about
from our local bike shop.
Now we had tire issues where the bead
wouldn't sit on the rim
and they recommended this part so i'll
take this out of the bag and while I do
that we'll go over the specs.
As I mentioned this is the PTS-1 tire
seater.
Retail price on this is $56.95
and as with a lot of Park Tools the
build quality is quite nice.
So these are essentially channel lock
pliers
and what they've done here is they've
added this nice wide grippy
pad here to grip against your tire
and adjust the different tire width.
It has vinyl coated handles for
better grip.
It's chrome plated for better durability
and adjust the various sizes by simply
adjusting the channel lock position
and then lock it in place. yYou also have
this non-slip
jaw here so you can see it's almost like
a sandpaper coating on the inside
that helps it grip against the inside of the
itire. The packaging is pretty simple,
just a bag
and a little one page paper that just
shows you putting it on the
bike rim. Let's take a second to look at
the weight of the tool
obviously is quite large and heavy
so it comes in at 742 grams so not
something you're gonna put in your
saddle bag
when you're going for a ride but great
for your workshop or your garage.
[Music]
Now before we go put this on the tires
let's take a look at the fit and finish.
As with a lot of Park Tools they're not the
most affordable on the market
but their great warranty, customer
support
and build quality making them a great tool
that you can buy for life.
You can see you have the blue Park Tool
handles here
that match the rest of their tool sets.
Essentially this is a channel lock
and they've welded on these little grips
for the tire.
You can actually see the welds here
they're not that pretty and
welded on the bottom and the top. If I
were to take some standard channel locks
you can see
a very similar design same shape
essentially
as I mentioned they just welded it on
the front and then called it a special
tool.
What's great
about this is if you were to put this on
your rim
it'd be very easy to scratch and damage
the rim as the
contact area is very small and you can
see these
sharp ridges will definitely damage your
tire.
So the big advantage of this is you get
the large leverage of a channel lock the
adjustability
and then this wide grippy area to
prevent damaging the tire itself but
still be able to manipulate it.
Now let's put the PTS-1 tool to use
and as you can see here
the tire bead actually dips down on the
rim. The wheel and tire combination I have here
is a stock Triban tire on a
stock Triban rim.
It's a really common problem here with
this rim tire combination,
something about it makes it really
stubborn and you can see
this entire section here all the way
from there
down over to the right side is all
dipped in underneath the
rim. This results in a bumpy ride and
a non-smooth
unbalanced tire so you definitely want
to get it set up properly.
Now what i'll do first is i'll take a
rag right at the edge of where it's good
and bad and
I'll put that over on top and I'll take the
channel locks here adjust it to a little
bit wider position since i have a narrow
tire
and then simply place it on here and
then work it back and forth.
[Music]
There you can hear it so now it finally
popped into place
so as you can see it doesn't work
instantaneously and I'm sure
other bike mechanics will have better
tips to make it easier but now you can
see
the bead rim actually fits sits flush
against the rim
and everything's in place. I think
that was the last bad section of this
tire and
everything else looks pretty
good so it definitely doesn't make it
easy but
helps quite a bit. Otherwise it's really
hard to really pull on this with your
hand.
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Now let's go over the pros and cons for
the PTS-1 tire seater.
What we like about it is it has non-slip
jaws,
they really stay in place well as you're
using it
they also have very long handles which
provides great leverage
so even for smaller tires it's easy to
apply a lot of pressure to them
and also adjust the different tire sizes
with the channel lock design.
Some of the cons for the tool is the fact
that it's quite expensive.
At nearly 60 dollars it's more than
double or triple what a channel lock
would cost.
Also the metal jaws do scratch the rims
easily so we highly recommend you use a
rag
or something to protect the rims and
finally the
jaws are a bit better suited for
larger tires.
I would have preferred a little thinner
version for something like road bikes tires.
Taking everything into account we'd give
the PTS-1
an 8.0 out of 10.
It's a little bit of an expensive
specialized tool but it can really save
you a lot of time.
Thanks for watching this review don't
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at @TheSweetCyclists.
This is a sweet cyclist reminding you to
enjoy the ride.
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