How do you inflate yours??

Advice required….

Have purchased ZTR 355 wheelset, put on the Notubes rim tape and valve, have watched Stan's video for fitting and am still at a loss how to inflate the bloody tyre/wheel.

What are your tips?

I was lucky enough to have a mate who seems to have a knack for doing it. Failing having a suitably skilled mate, lots of soapy bubbles and elbow grease – or try a compressor or a garage air line (one of the analogue ones with a pressure gauge and a trigger – the digital ones where you set a pressure and pump up are useless).

The trick is getting enough volume of air in quickly, when my aforementioned mate did it the tyre suddenly seemed to "catch" and pop on.

I have a tubeless set-up, not Stan's but the process should be the same. You will need to inflate fairly swiftly so a garage forecourt compressor or a track pump may be necessary. I found that after fitting the tyre and pouring in the sealant, all that I needed was the track pump. The seal was so good that I lost very little air early on and didn't need to go at the track pump in some kind of frenzy.

CO2 pumps. Works every time. Easy!

Shermer75 speaks much sense. I used track pumps for a long time- some went up easy, some didn't. Quite satisfying when you finally cracked it with a difficult tyre, but to avoid all the faffing around, and potentially wasting a few hours, use a CO2 pump- guaranteed success. Some sealants will apparently solidify quicker with CO2 in the tyre though, so to be on the safe side, I'll normally deflate the tyre the next day, adn use a track pump to inflate it again.

just buy a compressor, job done

Another vote for the CO2 pump. Just managed to seal a tyre tonight – after a week of trying with a track pump. Invest in cheap CO2 cartridges off tinterweb though if you change tyres frequently.

CO2 to get it on then track pump to top it up

All this talk of compressors and soapy bubbles and CO2… I've always managed at home with a track pump. Sometimes worked up a sweat though!
Wetting the bead and the bead socket with sealant helps it pop into place, and I always bung in the sealant before seating the second side of the tyre; saves the hassle of faffing with the valve core.

b r, what kind of compressor have you got? A cheap one taht didn't take up too much space would be ideal…

My method for cheapskates. May not work for everyone.

Stan's 355's, Conti Mountain King Supersonic (thin sidewalls 😳 )

Fit yellow tape.

Fit tyre with tube and inflate.

Unseat one bead and remove tube. Other (far side) bead is still firmly seated.

Fit valve with a bit of tacky glue to help the seal.

Tricky part: re-seat the near side bead by hand. Pull the bead on to the rim nice and hard and it'll stick a bit. Work your way around and you might be able to get most of the second bead seated.

Fit track pump and pump like an absolute bastard to seal the seconds bead till it goes POP into place.

Tyre goes down, add sealant through valve, pump, slosh, seal.

I have the same rims. Always used a bog standard track pump, wet (soap up) the rims and then hold the valve at 12 o clock and press the tyre in slightly (where you're holding it up). Works every time for me

(these are with Nobby nic or racing ralph tyres though)

I found the key with a track pump is make sure you use the whole stroke of the pump from top to bottom; pumping like buggery is no good if you're only putting in half the volume each time.

I used to have a lot of trouble… You know how the Stans instructions mention hanging the wheel, not resting it on the ground, and that sounds like total nonsense and that surely resting it on the ground can't possibly make a difference? It totally does! Silly me.

I do have a compressor but I've been just using my track pump (a joe blow) to make sure I can do it without. Easy enough with non-tubeless nevegals or any other decent fitting tyre.

are you taking the valve core out? – you should. Then just keep pumping til it pings onto the rim – removing your pump will let all air out but tyre will stay seated while you jizz it up down the valve hole and replace the valve

wet the bead with something (soapy water here but sealant would work I guess – I think soap's good 'cos it helps the bead to seat properly as it lubricates)

if you struggle, shove a tube in, pump up & leave overnight then try tubeless again the next day

The doll you mean 😕

If you're struggling, and you're not stuck with a complete rim/valve like a stans strip or a BMX tube, you can take out the valve and fit the tyre as you would normally with an inner tube. Then, carefully unbead one side only and remove the tube and refit the valve without letting the other side pull off the bead- this way the job's already half done when you start trying to seat it. It's a lot longer this way though so you'd not want to do it too often, it's more an option if the normal methods are failing

…"jizz it up down the valve hole" lol

Lots of soapy bubbles! Even with a compressor (small, electric, 4 litre / 7 bar jobbie) my UST and Stans converted tyres will sometimes not inflate if they are dry. Putting bubbles around the bead/rim really helps in getting an initial seal, then just keep inflating until the beads pop onto the rim.

Shermer75 +1!!!! Or, use maxxis UST tyres and a track pump as they go up a dream!