CushCore promises its new Rotary Tire Tool delivers “radically fast and easy tyre changes” – but the workshop-grade tool represents quite the investment at $299.
Most notable for its tubeless tyre inserts, CushCore’s new tool, which it touts as a “game changer”, can be used to remove and install tyres, with or without tubeless tyre inserts.
Tyre inserts, which are designed to act as a safety barrier between the tyre and rim in the event of a puncture, can cause mechanics much misery, especially when it comes to removing a tyre. This is because the extra space they take up inside the rim and tyre makes it difficult to push the bead back into the rim’s central channel.
The Rotary Tire Tool is claimed to save time with its engineered shape “gliding tyres and inserts onto wheels with ease”.
CushCore says the tool will be available to purchase from May, with UK, European and Australian pricing to be confirmed.
How does the Rotary Tire Tool work?
The tool incorporates both install and remove functions, and uses a rod with a threaded end that feeds through the wheel’s hub and is secured with what CushCore calls a ‘Quicknut Hub Lock’.
This is secured to a bar that pivots around the wheel with a ‘Durable Aluminium Tool Head’ that can slide along it.
By adjusting where the head and ‘Quicknut Hub Lock’ sit, the Rotary Tire Tool is compatible with 24 to 29in wheels with thru-axle diameters between 12 and 20mm (it won't work on quick-release hubs), and hub widths between 100 and 197mm.
Fitted onto the head is a ‘Polyurethane Bead Dropping Wheel’, which rotates as you work the tool around the tyre’s circumference.
The icing on the cake is an ergonomic lock-on grip fitted to the handle, and the tool can be disassembled quickly for storage or transport.
To fit a tyre or insert, you hook the dropping wheel underneath a section of the tyre and then work your way round the wheel while the tool slips everything into place.
Removing a tyre is a near-identical process – you lift one section of the tyre up with a tyre lever and hook the dropping wheel underneath before working your way around the wheel.
Gaining the upper hand?
The Rotary Tire Tool certainly isn’t the first tool to provide an expensive solution to an age-old problem.
It therefore wouldn’t be far-fetched to predict that many will dismiss it – after all, we’ve managed to get by using our hands and tyre levers until now.
But providing the tool works as easily as claimed, there’s no denying the potential time savings for a busy shop or pro team mechanic fitting tyres and inserts day in, day out.
The value probably isn’t there for the home user – but it’s important to remember CushCore is positioning this tool for a professional environment.
We’ll let you know whether we think the Rotary Tire Tool delivers on its lofty claims once it’s in for testing.
