Smallest compressor to inflate tubeless?

I am finally getting fed up of struggling to inflate some tubeless tyres so thought of buying a compressor.
Whats the smallest[in terms of pressure and hopefully price] I can get away with? I am told the little electric ones you buy from Halfords to plug in your twelve volt socket are useless.

you need something with a pressure reservoir. The electric ones are just pumps.

Ive got one like this (although it was from a carpenter friend, I didnt have to buy it)

https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/clarke-bandit-iv-8-litre-air-compressor/

that is the Clarke branded one, you should be able to get cheaper on eBay. They’re all the same, made in the same factory in china.

Its a very useful bit of kit. Doing tubeless inflation, but also for air blasting stuff clean, or dispersing water. It’s also handy for doing the car/van/motorbike tyres as you can carry it to each wheel, just taking it back to a socket to reload the air reservoir each time.

Interestingly, on ebay the 8L is not so easy to find, and in fact the larger vessel (24L) is cheap http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AIR-COMPRESSOR-25-LTR-NEW-c-w-WARRANTY-ct178-/311649016819?hash=item488fba9bf3:m:ml0kKY21pnwFfmo8xn_EJFw

but they’re not quite so easy to move around I guess, at 24Kg vs 16Kg, although the pump and valves are the same on both models.

Basically you just want a container that acts as a reservoir to hold pressurised air along with some means of putting that air in there. It doesn’t matter if it takes one minute or five to charge. Once the reservoir/container is charged up it’s the sudden release of all that air in to the tyre that actually does the job. This is why the ghetto compressor works. Two litres volume at 50psi is enough to inflate a 2.8″ 29er tyre.

I have this one from Screwfix which is a 6 litre one. Very handy for all sorts of things.

If you don’t want a full on compressor, why not buy one of the new track pumps with the tubeless reservoir?
The price of them though it’s almost worth buying a compressor.

Or just get some CO2 cartridges and a chuck – cheap and handy to have on the trails anyway. Yes, it’s a consumable rather than forking out for something that will do endless tyres, but how often do you really need to seat a tubeless tyre. I can’t guarantee that it will work on particularly tricky tyre/rim combos, but they do the job perfectly with the Maxxis HR2s and Schwalbe Hans Dampfs I run on my Hope Tech Enduro wheels.

One of these will do the job – http://www.sportsdirect.com/gelert-double-action-pump-784155?colcode=78415590

Has a long thin adapter that fits inside a presta valve with the core removed. One good pump and up they go 🙂

Once seated, track pump does the job. Sorted.

We have one of the small Aldi ones, works a treat. No problems in blowing tubeless up and popping onto rims in seconds, comes with all the adaptors needed including the pressure gauge and valve adaptor. Had it a few years, bought it in their sale. Noticed last week that they were selling some off at £45, not as cheap as what we paid but worth every penny.

Mounted on garage wall with a couple of brackets

+1 for the co2 canisters, when I can’t get a tubeless up on a track pump, co2 has never failed.

airshot

I have an airshot which has been fine for most tyres but won’t shift a road tubeless!

@Woody,

I’m new to tubeless and have a Vango branded pump similar to the Gelert. It has the pointy valve adapter set shown in your pic. I’ve not tried it yet but subject to removing the core are there any other tips to getting the tyre seated? Have you tried it on multiple tyre/rim combos?

when you say smallest, is that cos you don’t want to spend any more than necessary, or because space is at a premium?

I spent £80 on a 24L Impax from Screwfix, after some bigger/smaller advice on here:

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/air-compressors-which-one-of-these-2

Airshot has been flawless for me.

Ghetto inflater – coke bottle, bits of tubing and some old valves. Works great.

Tracey, how would your compressor cope with blowing dust out of stuff, does it has much oomph when you pull the trigger?

Airshot! Most satisfying bike tool/accessory I’ve ever bought.

@scuttler

My routine has been – clean & tape rims (1 wrap of electrical tape, 1 of Gorilla tape). Insert tubeless valve, mount tyre then spray bead with soapy water. Remove valve core, insert pump adapter (just shove it in, no need to hold it with anything), then give it one good pump. Seem to seat almost immdiately for me, then just held the pressure for a bit to make sure. Once seated, track pump was fine after that. Add sealant, valve core back in, job done.

Have done 2 x Maxxis tyres on Alex rims and 1 x Schwalbe tyre on a Mavic rim, no bother on either.

Only used it to blow the dust and grime out of the brake callipers. It came with a long nozzle to do that and it works fine.
It was only bought for the blowing up of tubeless tyres though. If I needed anything else my dad has full workshop facilities as he restores old cars.

Make a ghetto pressure reservoir with a 2L Irn Bru bottle like I did?

They’re made to take the pressure from fizzy drinks so you’re not likely to have it explode in your face. Watch how much pressure you put in though, as a 2L bottle won’t lose much pressure inflating a bike tyre. Take out valve cores to get the bead to seat too – otherwise you can’t really get the flowrate you need.

(This is why I’ve just bought a pair of UST rims which will hopefully be less faff…)

Thanks Woody