Air Compressor that can set a tubeless bike tire?

[scottymcdonald]

HeyO,

Looking to pick up a compressor for the LR3 with 265/60/18's. I don't frequently air down for offroad, but probably should. I'd like something compact, but maybe something that I could attach an air blower attachment to for spraying off sand and dirt and occasionally set a tubeless MTB tire. Do I really need a tank for this? I picked up a Viar 300p but might return it. I do have a Aux battery in the engine compartment that takes the spot where alot of guys mount a compressor. It would also be great not to need to hook it up to the battery directly for convenience. Saw that post from a while ago that a dude mounted a factory airtank on the right side, amazing, but probably more that I want to get into.

Any Suggestions?

 

[Herbie]

Given that seating a tubeless truck tire is a thing that many overlanders occasionally need to do, I would think seating a bike tire should fall under the category of relatively simple. A primer: https://expeditionportal.com/how-to-reseat-a-4x4-bead/

The key thing I remember from my training on this being to remove the valve core so that you can dump air in as fast as possible. Once seated, you can reinstall the core and actually inflate to pressure.

 

[DaveInDenver]

You'd think setting a MTB tubeless would be easy but it's not. Unless it is. Things are not as standardized as automotive tires and each rim has a slightly different profile and each tire bead is just a little different.

Sometimes you have just the right combination of rim and tire so they pop right on with a floor pump. Other times my regular 30 gallon shop compressor empties the tank while I shift the tire in the rim channel and suddenly WHOOSH, it takes and inflates.

I've never tried the compressor I carry in the truck but my suspicion is that if a floor pump won't do the trick then it lacking a tank and thus capable of hardly any pressure at high volume it wouldn't either. But it might be an improvement with the constant flow over a floor pump, I dunno. Seems to me only one way to know, give it shot.

 

[TOUGE]

I've never really had luck with any compressor with seating tubeless road/gravel/MTB tyres. I have a Lezyne Over Drive chamber pump and it even struggles with some rim/tyre combinations. I remove the head from the pump so it's the straight hose and remove the valve core from the rim.

I have the ARB single compressor and highly doubt it will seat a tyre.

Stan's ZTR rims with schwable tyres just very easily pump on! Any tyre and the WTB rims on my gravel bike absolutely suck to get seated.

 

[scottymcdonald]

Im leaning more towards the ARB single with that tiny tank. I've got teravail sparwoods on DTS on my Salsa Fargo, which seem to seat ok with a CO2 but always lose the seal after a while. Where did you mount the ARB?

 

[TOUGE]

On my LR3 it was mounted in front of the 2nd battery box on the drivers side. I made a little mount out of 3mm alloy for it. I can't find any pics of it right now, sorry.

 

[MTVR]

Yeah, seating tubeless bicycle tires does not have as much in common with seating tubeless motor vehicle tires, as the average lay person would assume.

At one end, I've got one tire/wheel combination that happily jumps right onto the bead with a few casual pumps of a floor pump.

At the other end, I've got another tire/wheel combination that is possessed of Satan and requires every trick in the book and much patience to seat up.

 

[DieselRanger]

I usually just furiously rage-pump my floor pump until my arms are noodles. With enough Stan's in there it will eventually seat.... ?

 

[TOUGE]

If you have an already good floor pump and don't want to drop the large amount on a chamber pump, this works very well and actually better than my Lezyne Over Drive Pump. I have seen DIY instructions around to make pressure canister similar if you give it a quick google.

https://www.amazon.com/Airshot-1-15L-Tubeless-Inflator-Color/dp/B01BJ4MXQY

 

[gatorgrizz27]

Thinking outside the box here. To seat tire beads, you need capacity and CFM, not necessarily a ton of pressure. What’s already on your vehicle that can double as an air tank?

I’d drop the spare tire, remove the valve core, and build a female schrader to female air quick connect hose about 12” long. Leave it hanging down through the spare tire and crank it back up.

Assuming you’re running something like a BFG KO2, they can be inflated to around 80 psi. You could just leave it in place, connect your normal air hose, and use it to seat the bead.

In the event that you need the spare for the vehicle, you should be able to drop it, unscrew your quick connect hose, and put the valve core back in before it loses too much pressure. If it does, it’s easy to air it back up obviously.

 

[Alloy]

Butane comes in a small package does any size tire multiple times.

 

[ds.willy]

You'd think setting a MTB tubeless would be easy but it's not. Unless it is. Things are not as standardized as automotive tires and each rim has a slightly different profile and each tire bead is just a little different.

Sometimes you have just the right combination of rim and tire so they pop right on with a floor pump. Other times my regular 30 gallon shop compressor empties the tank while I shift the tire in the rim channel and suddenly WHOOSH, it takes and inflates.

I've never tried the compressor I carry in the truck but my suspicion is that if a floor pump won't do the trick then it lacking a tank and thus capable of hardly any pressure at high volume it wouldn't either. But it might be an improvement with the constant flow over a floor pump, I dunno. Seems to me only one way to know, give it shot.

As a mountain biker who has messed with tubeless tires a lot, seating the bead is not always easy. Especially with a fat bike. In my experience you need pressure and volume. I have a compressor with a 50 gal tank and a fat bike tire is still tricky. As said above removing the valve core is key. Not sure if it can be done without a tank. On option you might consider is a auxiliary tank.

 

[Victory_Overland]

I haven't read through all of this but you can wrap a cargo strap around the circumference of the tire and cinch it down on the center of the contract patch which helps bush the bead outward and manually seat the bead as much as possible; little water helps to seal it! With the stem installed add some air and then bounce the tire and if you have a half-****** seal, the hard bounce will force the air outboard to the inner bead since the cargo strap restricts tire flex and this will seat the bead. Bike tire I'm not sure as they are not as rigid but I've done this with other tubeless tires quite a few times with great success. The strap around the center contact patch circumference is key IMO.