So, another one of these simple-minded folk who cannot get a tubeless tyre to inflate. Can anyone help?

Got a pair of Schwalbes: folding, DDefence, and cannot for the life of me get the front to inflate. Rear (Racing Ralph, 521 rim) was too tight for half-tube ghetto (shredded two innertubes getting it on) so have gone for the Gorilla Tape method, which saw it inflate straight away with a track pump. Tried Gorilla method on the front (Nobby Nic, 819 or 719 rim IIRC), but cannot get it to inflate. Tried copious amounts of soapy water (green Fairy Liquid), core removed and two different petrol stations and I can’t even see where the air is escaping to hold that section of tyre in place. Have retaped the valve and checked there is no tape on the hook of the rim. Tyre bead is in good shape.

Spoke to someone in Evans and he thought I should brush sealant on the bead to try and get it to stick a bit, and avoid washing up liquid, other than to get on the sidewall of the inflated tyre to see where the leaks are, in order to slosh the sealant to the right area. I’ve not tried this yet, but not sure it will make much odds.

SO, halllowed ones, what do you suggest? Ghetto BMX tube? different tyre? New wheel? Pyre?

Thanks, and, of course, sorry!

Tried seating the tyre with a tube first? Do this, remove tube (just take one side of bead off, leave other seated), install valve & add sealant, pop the tyre back on and pump.

I’ve not tried that! Will give it a burl. And use sealant brushed on bead to help seal it? Thanks!

Are the compressors at petrol stations giving you a rapid burst of compressed air. I found that they were “controlled” so no better than a track pump.

A rapid burst of air will seal most tyres, try looking on here for the ghetto tubeless inlfators.

Failingthat it is normally to so with how tight the bead is on the rim. With some tyres I ended up with a couple of layers of electrical tape to get it tight. Made it hard to get the tyres on and off though.

If it is a new tyre then leave it inflated with a tube
for a few days to give it a better shape.

Have you tried wrapping a ratchet strap around the tread like this:

Garage forecourt pumps are useless. They lack a proper receiver to give the tyre enough initial whumpf. Get yourself along to a proper tyre shop – somewhere that does vans and trucks (so not kwickfit, try National or Hi-q) and ask if they can put it on their air line.

I got my NN seated 1st time on my 521s (with Stan’s strips) but then had a nightmare every subsequent attempt. I couldn’t even get the bloody thing off one rim without resorting to cutting it off. A mate knocked up a ghetto inflator, and he also has a knack of being able to pull the sidewalls away from each other to allow the air to enter. We also found that 40psi in the inflator is not always enough, but he hasn’t failed when running 50psi

No such issues with SG Hans Dampfs. a pack pump does the job.

From my experiences with 2 wheelsets, stans strips and various tyres, I’ve always needed a compressor to ‘pop’ the beads out. I know this isn’t always the case with some wheels, but there’s no point banging your head against a wall for hours if it’s never going to work. Good luck 😉

Use a decent tyre lever to pull the beads of the tyre out towards the sides of the rim to help seat and reduce the places that air can leak. Start at the rim (so that part is fully and properly seated) and then work around the tyre. The problem is usually that the beads are sitting in the rim well so that air can just blow out around them. If the tyre is fully seated for over half of the circumference then the air tends to blow the tyre onto the rim rather than escaping.

Thanks all. Going for SimonDBarnes tip first. Mainly because I don’t own a ratchet strap. Or a ghetto compressor. I know that these compressors are great, but it’s a lot to have to buy. I don’t even own a drill! There’s a couple of tyre places nearby I might be able to walk to though, so perhaps try that another night. Building up the rim with tape might work, but the bead is -not quite kinked, but wavy – would building up the rim make this worse?

You don’t need much to make a ghetto compressor:

1. empty bottle of fizzy drink
2. length of plastic tubing
3. presta valve x 2, one with the valve core removed

Leaving an inner tube in overnight is also a good tip though.

In my experience it’s all about finding the right rim and tyre combination. I have 4 tyres that go on my Stan’s crest very easily with a track pump. I would not run tubeless if I had to use a compressor…

Hot fiat +1 and ghetto inflator.

as above Ghetto inflator

I’ve had many mixed results of wheel and tyre combos and sweating and swearing away in the kitchen. That was until a couple of months back when I couldn’t get a rock razor to go up on a hope enduro rim. After trying all my usual tricks (must have wasted 2-3 hours) I gave up and spent a couple of pound making myself a ghetto inflator.

There should be a sticky that just tells everyone how to and insists they make one.

Pump up to 80 psi, release and it blows up any wheel and tyre combo and I don’t even wet it any more.

Purchased a brand new magic mary the other day, arrived with the usual folds, I just popped it onto my flow ex rim, no suds or soap, pumped to 80 psi and it went up instantly. Quicker than fitting an inner tube.

Can someone link me to a ghetto compressor that doesn’t require a drill to make? Please help my rotted brain, my imagination for such things has died.

Original ghetto thread.

You could probably melt the holes into the lid with a hot screwdriver

You could probably melt the holes into the lid with a hot screwdriver

Brilliant! Just the kind of idea my imagination was lacking. Thank you! 🙂

So I’ve got it inflated. Inspired by SimonDBarnes, I used an innertube to get the bead to seal. But then, rather than try and remove the tube and hence break the seal, I thought I’d try leaving the innertube in place. THIS REALLY WORKS! YOU SHOULD TRY IT! WHY DOES NO ONE DO THIS!

Anyway, off to Exmoor for a couple of days. Maybe when I come back I’ll have another go of sweary upset and umpteen homemade bodges. 🙂

Is now a good time to tell you about my new invention which locks in the bead stops burping and is designed to hold your tire to the rim whilst yo blow it up, patent pend

Is it, perchance, an innertube? Exmoor was ace, even with a tube in the front tyre. Who knew eh?

Not for the first time, I feel like an idiot for throwing out my old compressor when the motor blew up- receiver would have been perfect for this.

Stout string works as well as a ratchet strap at a pinch.

If they don’t go on first time with the track pump it’s compressor time these days 🙂

if you don’t have a strap – inner tube works as well!

Well, I managed it, eventually! That fizzy juice bottle trick really works, eh? Needed to put 50psi in the bottle, but it’s barely lost any pressure since I did it. Thanks all!