'Edison's lightbulb moment had nothing on this' – after all the years of epic struggle, one tool solves all my tyre woes

Six months ago I wrote about putting tyres on a bike. Or, more accurately, trying and failing to put tyres on a bike, thanks to their unrelenting refusal to do what they were supposed to do and flip onto the rim.

The first round of tyre wrestling (no leotards involved) with an uncharacteristically stubborn Panaracer Gravelking X1 ended with me giving up and going for a ride on a different bike instead.

James Shrubsall

Having worked at Cycling Weekly for over two decades, and cycling even longer, James is in a good position to tell you what's good and what isn't in the world of bike riding.

The job was eventually finished with the aid of tyre levers and no small amount of swearing in a second bout, after which my thumbs throbbed and I swore I wouldn't be changing the tyres for at least six months, come what may.

I was sufficiently moved to write a whole article based on my harrowing experiences, offering up a four-point strategy for making tyre fitting a bit less painful. One thing I didn't mention, however, were tyre fitting tools.

Perhaps it was fate, or perhaps it was the fact we are cycling journalists who get sent stuff to review, but only a couple of months after my tyre wrestling memoir came a piece written by Cycling Weekly tech writer Aaron Borrill about the Smart Lever. "You'll never go back to the old ways of mounting tyres", was the takeaway, and the price premium compared to a bog standard lever should, said Aaron, be viewed as an investment.

My interest was piqued. A quick web search turned up the Smart Lever instantly but it was (and currently still is) sold out "due to exceptional demand". Not surprising – anyone who'd lost a tyre wrestling bout in the last 12 months or so and read Aaron's piece would sure have ordered one that very day.

Not to be outdone, I searched some more and found other options. There was the plastic pliers-like tool that has been around for years but looked way too fragile to deal with my rogue X1 (in fairness I haven't tried it – it may be excellent). I passed on to the next – the Tyre Glider. Essentially a one-piece chunk of plastic with a bit of moulding, it looked compact, strong… and way too simple to solve such an enduring and fiendish problem as fitting stubborn tyres. But it was cheap. At less than a tenner on a certain major online retail outlet, I figured there was nothing to lose and my thumbs had everything to gain.

Fast forward a couple of days and I'm in the garage, giving my tyres the sort of hard stare boxers give each other at PR weigh-ins. I stopped short of any sort of jostling, because I had something far more scary. The Tyre Glider. I set it menacingly down on the floor and set about levering off the already-deflated tyre – a job and a half in itself, frankly. Then it was crunch time.

The Tyre Glider is shaped a little like an arrowhead of old. It has a small hook that sits on top of the rim, a flat surface to push against at the back, and a rounded protuberance that ushers the bead onto the rim as you push. With kid-at-Christmas-like eagerness coupled with an I-know-it-won't-work reluctance to get too excited, I hooked the Tyre Glider on behind the overhanging bead and pushed.

There were a couple of false starts which taught me that the Tyre Glider won't glide past the valve, and a moderate amount of force but, essentially, it worked. In seconds.

I mulled over the previous week's epic struggle with the same tyre and thought about the effort – the pain – involved. Then I looked at the tool. Anyone who had entered at that moment may have assumed I was having a funny turn as my life in tyre-wrestling flashed before me. All the struggles, the sore thumbs, the despair – all solved by this simple, but very clever, piece of plastic. Edison's lightbulb moment had nothing on this.

Thus I am now declaring today (whichever day you happen to be reading this) National Thumbs Day and am adding a fifth point to that previous four-point plan of mine: get out there and buy a tool to help you. The Tyre Glider comes with my recommendation (and no, I've no affiliation), and the Smart Lever comes with Aaron's. Your thumbs might just thank you.