Ghetto tubeless inflator – total cost 9p! – Page 4 – Bike Forum

Ewan · 2011-04-15T18:09:13Z

I’m sure i’m not the first person to have come up with this, but I was so surprised it actually worked I thought I’d share.... [u]What you need [/u] 2L Pop bottle – I used a Morrisons 9p mineral water bottle Two old presta innertubes – I used two old punctured ones A drill A 5.5mm drill bit Hacksaw A pump Some plastic tubing – 5-6mm internal diameter? Gaffa tape if you’re not feeling brave Total cost – 9p [u]How you do it[/u] 1 – Cut the valves out of the inner tubes – you only need a small amount round the base 2 – Cut one of the valves about halfway down to remove the internal valve bits 3 – Drill two 5.5mm holes in your bottle lid – not too close to the edge or it won’t close 4 – Shove both valves through holes 5 – Use the presta lock rings to get a decent seal (use pliers if you have weak lady hands) 6 – Put tubing over the cut off valve 7 (optional) – Wrap gaffa tape round the bottle to strengthen it. If you’re super paranoid stick it in the cut off jeans leg. That said in my younger days we used to inflate them to 80psi and then shoot nails in them from a home made air gun (bang!) [u] How you use it [/u] 1 (optional depending on how stubborn the tyre is) – Remove valve core 2 – Attach other end of tubing to valve 3 – Put a good kink in the tube by folding over 4 – Attach pump to other valve 5 – Inflate to 40psi or so 6 – Remove kink (quickly) 7 – Tyre inflates very quickly! 8 – (optional) If you’ve removed the valve core do the inflation a couple of times, then put the core back in and inflate a final time 9 – Use a pump on the wheel valve to pump up to desired pressure Seems to work a treat – had to remove the valve core on one of my new high rollers but not the other one. Close up of the valve: [url[urlby [urlPanter[/url], on Flickr Attached to wheel valve: [url[urlby [urlPanter[/url], on Flickr In action: [url[urlby [urlPanter[/url], on Flickr It works! [url[urlby [urlPanter[/url], on Flickr Proper ghetto: [url[urlby [urlPanter[/url], on Flickr

pshore

Posts: 0

Free Member

Lack of parts in my garage forced me to make a very simple ghetto setup...

Parts required:
* Tubing that fits snugly over a presta valve.
* A nail.
* Air from a donor bike tyre.

Hammer the nail thru one side of the tube about 1.5 to 2cm from one end. This will push the presta valve on the donor when you push the tubing onto the valve. That's all the DIY there is 🙂

I used another donor bike as the air chamber. I got enough air with a 26"x2.1 at 65psi but it took a few goes as I wasn't using washing up liquid. It's not quite quick enough to do instant pop inflation. A plastic bottle with higher pressure as per the original suggested ghetto setup will be superior, but you could still make it with just one valve in the lid.

How to use:

Take the tube end without the nail and push it over presta valve of the wheel to be inflated.

Take the other tube end *with* the nail and push onto the value of the donor bike wheel. The nail should press the end of the valve and release the air.

Phil.

Posted : 07/09/2015 9:36 pm

PrinceJohn

Posts: 5727

Full Member

Just built one, fitted 2 new tyres, the first tyre without the inflator approx 2 hours of swearing & struggling... 2nd tyre with inflator approx 10mins... wow.

Please note. Does not include time taken for KFC break.

Posted : 05/12/2015 5:10 pm

bigblackshed

Posts: 5670

Full Member

Using Nobby's thread from a while back [url= http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/ghetto-tubeless-inflator-mk-vii ]HERE[/url] as inspiration, a couple of emails to the man himself, I've gone the posh way and made an inflator out of a CO2 fire extinguisher.

I've had to buy some pipe fittings to get things to work properly, but then this thing will survive the apocalypse. Also went proper posh with the hose and valve head, Topeak hose and head.

I just need to paint it now, I don't want anyone to mistake it for a fire extinguisher. So its either going to be a gold and black version of Eddie Van Halen's Frankenstrat, or graffiti paint and sticker bomb. Not sure if I've got enough stickers.

Posted : 05/12/2015 6:45 pm

peepingtom

Posts: 0

Free Member

2 Coke bottles linked up using a T piece worked loads better then 1 coke bottle .

Posted : 05/12/2015 7:01 pm

bigblackshed

Posts: 5670

Full Member

FRANKEN-FLATOR! IT LIVES!!!!!!!

I got busy with the masking tape and rattle cans.

[IMG] [/IMG]

Experiments with pressures reveals that 140psi in the bottle blows the tyre right off the rim. Good job there wasn't any sealant in there! 120psi is enough to mount even the subornist Trail King ghetto style.

Happy days.

Posted : 20/12/2015 10:00 pm

drfr

Posts: 0

Free Member

Wouldn´t have believed that it could be so easy. Trail King at first try!
60 PSI.

Posted : 26/05/2016 9:30 am

forzafkawi

Posts: 0

Free Member

Apologies for resurrecting this old thread but I bought some Schwalbe Rocket Rons recently and was having trouble getting them to go up with a track pump. I've never had any trouble with other tubeless tyres such as Maxxis and Specialized but for some reason the Schwalbes just didn't want to seat and go up. I tried all the usual dodges suggested on the internet but still no joy.

I knew about the ghetto tubeless inflator so knocked one up in ten minutes and it worked first time! It was a bit nerve wracking pumping a Coke bottle up to 60 psi - I was expecting the pipe to blow off and give me a heart attack but it worked like a charm. 😀

Posted : 28/10/2016 5:19 pm

ahwiles

Posts: 0

Free Member

Great.

FYI, I've found mine just as successful at 30-40 psi, you don't have to go nuts.

Posted : 28/10/2016 5:35 pm

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