Having the best mountain bike tire for street, the tubeless ones does not guarantee you’ll have a smooth ride at all times. Keeping up with occasional maintenance and giving the entire riding gears good check will.
And one crucial step is inflating the tubeless tires. But these are not as straightforward to get inflated like regular tires. Especially if you don’t have the best air compressor for bike tires at hand.
The tubeless tires bring some of the most awesome benefits to the table, indeed. But maintaining them can be sometimes tricky. Today, let’s talk a bit about how to inflate tubeless bike tires the right way.
What We Will Cover
Let’s Find Out How to Inflate Tubeless Bike Tires
Follow the given steps serial to get the tire inflated in no time.
Tools To Get
- Rim cleaner – Use WD-40 Specialist Bike Cleaner that triggers foam for cleaning.
- Sealant – Tire Mounting Compound Paste is a great one to try.
- Compressor or tubeless foot pump – Try CycloSpirit Tire Air Compressor Tool or PRO BIKE TOOL Mini Floor Pump.
The Tire Sits on a Rim, Clean It.
The first step would be giving the rim that holds the tire a good cleaning. This helps to make the tire and rim connection stronger and more efficient basically. Since we are working with a setup that includes no tube, you won’t experience air loss here.
You can use a dry cloth for cleaning the rim. It is not necessary to use any water for cleaning though. Also, if there’s not already sealant, you need to apply that as well.
Get The Valve Positioning Right.
Having the valve sitting a certain way is important. You can keep it either in a 3 o’clock position or a 9 o’clock position. Keeping it in a 6 o’clock position won’t work. Because that would invite unnecessary fluid buildup. And same goes for a 12 o’clock position. You want to open and close the valve too.
Secure The Tire Next.
You’ll need something that would wrap around the tire. So that it is secured or the next step. You can use a strap here. Also, ties work pretty fine.
The wrap should be going along the length of your tire by the way. When you start to fill the tire with air, this securing basically holds the tire in place and makes the job easy for you.
Finally, Inflate it
And here you are, into the main step. You can use a compressor for this part. A tubeless foot pump would work best. As you have already tightened the tire, there should be enough pressure inside. So, the seal sits without any problem.
Once you feel the straps or ties are overturning, it’s time to stop inflating. And also remove the straps afterward. Don’t forget to put back the valve and close it now that the inflating is finished. And that’s how to inflate tubeless cycle tyres.
A Few Things to Know.
Some people chose to go without any sealant when inflating their tubeless tire for the first time. And that’s not a bad idea actually. The sealant usually is a final one.
And there’s no need for it during the initial inflation as well as seating. If you want to make it easy, simply go for injecting sealants through the valve.
Also, if your tire seems like it needs inflating, then get rid of the valve core and retry the whole method. After that, you need to find how to seat tubeless tire the right way on the rim. Proceed with taking the valve stem out from the pump head and basically plugin with a finger. Be quick to sneak the core back in.
This may lead to losing a bit of pressure. But it’s a cinch practice many try. You can also use a needle nose plier for easy removal.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Do tubeless tires go flat?
Tubeless setups are really popular to not easily get a flat tire. However, it’s not an impossible case still. And you might find the tubeless setups to go flat due to many reasons.
2. How to inflate tubeless bike tire with hand pump?
It’s best to skip trying a hand pump for tubeless setups. Two of the main requirements for tubeless tires seat beading are string air burst and quick filling. And both of these are rarely available with the hand pump’s mechanism. That’s why you won’t get any good results with using one.
3. What pump to use for tubeless tires?
You should be using a tubeless inflator pump for such tire setups. These are great at giving perfect inflation that the design demands. One great pick would be the Lezyne Digital Pressure Overdrive.
4. Why won’t my tubeless tires inflate?
Most probably it’s due to the rim, it might not be right enough for tire fitting. Get some tubeless tape and use more. Breaking the heavy artillery might help.
The tape will be more likely to avoid any bursting issues. You should find out how to inflate a tubeless bike tire that is not sealed on the rim as well, that can help.
Wrapping Up
It’s going to be a little difficult, but once you understand how to inflate tubeless bike tires and determine to use the right tool for the process, things should work in your favor.
Keeping it inflated is necessary for you to enjoy a smooth ride on your mountain bike, so it’s not something you can avoid. Hope this guide was able to help you!