Need buying advice to inflate those damn tyres?

cheap, big reservoir

2L pop bottle ghetto (yeh, bwoyy !) version as posted on here is an option but I bought an aldi one a few years ago – very effective and I’ve a bit more faith that my spleen won’t be ruptured by flying shrapnel from a badly bodged version (but that’s only because I’m a slapdash workman)

£50 one in Lidl at the moment – you’d need a presta chuck too I expect.

Something like this:

http://www.screwfix.com/p/stanley-8216035scr011-24ltr-compressor-with-5-piece-accessory-kit-240v/48089

I bought one a few years ago after a frustrating morning spent trying to tubeless a tyre.

And now also own a set of air tools that come in very handy 🙂

Ghetto tubeless works a treat and has not failed to seat a tyre yet. I wrap my bottle in duck tape!

I think the STW standard response is the Aldi one.

I bought a cheap compressor from Aldi a few years back about £40 – came with spray guns, blaster nozzles, tyre inflator, air driver ect – great for tubeless inflation as well as loads of other jobs.

If I didn’t have a compressor already, I’d build one out of a bottle or an old fire extinguisher… Too big an expense just to inflate tyres IMO and air tools aren’t that generally useful.

Tyres aren’t that demanding really, most proper compressors (ie with a receiver/bottle) can push more air than the valve will allow through anyway. Volume isn’t that important- a big receiver is convenient as it means you can maintain the airflow for longer and the motor runs less often but really the only time that helps is when you’re making an arse of it. Don’t ask how I know 😉

Looks good and comes with the stuff I need and its avail nearby

http://www.screwfix.com/p/stanley-8216035scr011-24ltr-compressor-with-5-piece-accessory-kit-240v/48089#

thanks

I built one of these and it works really well

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/ghetto-tubeless-inflator-mk-vii

Northwind up to now I have used stans ZTR rims and maxxis tubeless etc all go up fine with pump.

Switched to 1 x 11 and a Roam 50 rear for the free hub etc. Rear tyre needs garage every time. I believe its the roam.

A tale of woe

Compressors can be useful for other things too. For example, if you ever flush out fork lowers with degreaser, it’s really useful to blast the gunk out with compressed air, and dry the insides.

I’d get one with at least a 25 litre reservoir. Mine has a 100 ltr tank, and is a bit bulky and takes about 5 minutes to fill up, but lasts ages.

I agree with Northwind – if the compressed air doesn’t cause the tyres to pop out onto the rim straight away, you’ve probably got other problems, i.e. rim strip too bulky for tight tyre bead etc.. However, I’ve often found that having a minute of continuous air while I manipulate the tyre bead into place usually does the trick, and hence the large reservoir has been a life saver for me, as I’m only running Stans on my bikes and don’t have dedicated tubeless rims/tyres.

Just out of interest, have you tried wrapping a strap around the circumference of the tyre to push the beads onto the rim? I have done this on every one of my set-ups to get the first inflation and it is easy – no manic pumping, no real effort, no trying to prize the bead onto the bead lock.

Just a tie down strap, pulled tight-ish does the trick even on my fat bike which had very loose and floppy beads.

Pawsy_Bear – Member

Northwind up to now I have used stans ZTR rims and maxxis tubeless etc all go up fine with pump.

Switched to 1 x 11 and a Roam 50 rear for the free hub etc. Rear tyre needs garage every time. I believe its the roam.

A tale of woe

same here, sram rail50 though, but exactly the same problem, will not go up tubeless without a compressor, but once on they are spot on

no idea why sram havent sorted this, everyone wants an easy tubeless setup, (ive never ever failed to get a tyre on with a track pump), but these simply are not

i feel your pain pawsy 🙁

Ive always been successful using track pump and i swapped the rear to the front this morning – went up on ZTR rim no issues. Rear on a Roam 🙁 grrrr

Will try that monkeyp

OW = spot on!

cultsdave, that is brilliant.

Last time I fitted a tubeless tyre, I used the method demonstrated here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyF29qi82Ws

Takes a little practice, but worked a treat.

pawsy – let me know which one you get, and if it works on your roam wheel! if it does then i am getting one too (preferably as small as possible, for storage!)

Damn, cultsdave beat me to it.

I have a T-max inflater designed for landrovers, it hooks up to the car battery and lives in my car so I take it to races ect. Find myself using it less often these days as tyres become a better fit but it’s good to have a back-up for stubborn rims.

OW got the £99 Stanly one from screw fix. Worked fine. I took valve out blew the tyre to crack. Valve back in blew up fine. Comes with some useful tools as well. I can see me painting the garden fence in the future with this baby.

I popped my Hans Dampf on with a CO2 cart. Well, the rear, the front went on with a track pump.

Pawsy_Bear – Member
OW got the £99 Stanly one from screw fix. Worked fine. I took valve out blew the tyre to crack. Valve back in blew up fine. Comes with some useful tools as well. I can see me painting the garden fence in the future with this baby.

Cheers pawsy

just how big is it? is it mahoosive?

does it come with all the bits to inflate straight away, or do i need to buy a kit or similar?

glad to hear it worked fine though, thats the most important thing!

OW about 0.3m x 0.45m x 0.6m or foot wide, 18 inches tall by about 2 foot long in old money 🙂 Plug lead is short you might need an extension. Assembly 2 mins. Note close valve on tank. Switch on build pressure in tank. Blow up damn tyre on Roam rim. Comes with all you need and I used it straight out of the box it has free tools for tyres, painting and blowing. All I needed was a presta valve converter.

Oooooo thats most excellent P_B!

so where did you get the presta valve converter, as ill need one of those too! defo just gonna buy one myself so i never have to beg /miterh lbs everytime

just link us to the presta adaptor sir if you dont mind 🙂 great news it works and isnt absolutly huge too

another really dumb question whilst your here, do you have to put oil in? or does it just build up pressure from the power point/socket/plug etc?

Presta Valve Converter on eBay

No oil required its oil less. Presta valve converter also from any good LBS