If you had followed the 2016 Singletrack Reader Awards, you would have known that a small company based in Wales took out the ‘Best Hardware’ category, having been voted the winner alongside the SRAM Eagle 1×12 groupset and the Schwalbe Procore system.
If you’re not familiar with it, the Airshot is a tool that’s designed to aid tubeless inflation. It’s essentially an air canister that you pressurise with a regular floor pump, before attaching the valve head to your tubeless valve to provide a fast, high-pressure injection of air. This fast release of pressure mimics what you’d get with an air compressor, and for particularly stubborn tyres/rims, it can be of vital assistance in helping to seat the tyre beads.
Having seen the viability of the design, German company Schwalbe appear to have engaged in a partnership with Airshot to bring out their own branded version called the ‘Tire Booster’. From what we can tell, the design appears identical, but with Schwalbe’s enormous global reach, it would appear that the system will now be available to a much wider audience.
“For safe and easy fitting without a compressor, Schwalbe is now launching the Tire Booster, which was developed in collaboration with the British start-up Airshot. With it, a pressure of up to eleven bar can be immediately applied in the tyres. “The tyre immediately seats itself safely on the rim and seals everything evenly,” says Schwalbe Product Manager, Peter Krischio. “The Tire Booster is a significant advantage for assembly of tubeless tyres. At a light 435 grams, you can easily take it along on your trips.” – Schwalbe
The Schwalbe Tire Booster will be available from December 2016 from specialist bicycle retailers for €59.90.
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Unfortunately they haven’t included the stabilising ice-cream tub in the design, like I use to stop my Airshot falling over 🙂
collaborates – is that a new word to mean, paint silver ?
The specialized air tool blast is a far better and less expensive product.
I went to the local tip, got an old fire extinguisher and made my own, works perfectly
Easygirl – any pictures and instructions please.
I too use an old co2 extinguisher. Its ok but as a rule if its not going up with a track pump its not going up with one of these either.
Made one out of a 2l pop bottle, 2 valves, bit of pipe and a bulldog clip.
My converted fire extinguisher is much more effective than a track pump. Just need to get enough pressure in there!
Genesiscore search for ghetto tubeless inflator and you’ll be able to find the guide I used.
Here’s my thread with the Frankenflator. I copied Nobby’s inflator.
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/todays-tubeless-swearing-match
Sketchy Sam did a write up on there too.
Nobby’s thread.
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/ghetto-tubeless-inflator-mk-vii
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/175187/IMG_3411.JPG
Coke bottle style – but using a cheap Snugpak Aluminium Bottle!