There’s a possibility that someone walking past my garage earlier this week might have heard a few grunts, argghs, and f-bombs, which coming from my garage usually means one thing: I’m attempting to change a tubeless tire. Few tasks are more aggravating than trying to get the bead of a tubeless tire to seat on the rim without using the blast of air from a compressor or a floor pump that lets you build up the pressure and then release it all at once.
I don’t have a compressor and my two perfectly fine floor pumps are old school and so I have struggled many times with what should be a fairly straightforward job. But this week, after failing once again (and getting sealant all over the floor), I found this video from Syd and Macky, which saved my day (and kept me from slinking off to my local shop with wheel in hand). You need to watch it to see how the trick works, but the essence is that you manually put the bead in its groove on the rim using a tire iron. You seat half the bead, then flip it over and seat the other, opposite half. If all goes well, the air from a regular floor pump should provide enough pressure to pop the remaining bead into place.
In my case, it was 50-50: The method work for me once, but on the second wheel I got nothing but the pfft pfft pftt of escaping air. In that case, I resorted to using a CO2 cartridge and pocket inflator and that did the job.
Cartridges are of course cheap but the single usage is wasteful. If you have a plain jane pump like me and don’t want a new one, one option is to pick up the Bontrager TLR Flash Can, which you inflate with your pump, then use to blast the tire. Or, if you’re in the market for a new pump, one good choice is the Blackburn Chamber Tubeless floor pump.
Or pay .50¢ at the local gas station to use the air compressor they have for car tires…
Or better yet… go to your local bike shop and ask to use their compressor. Hopefully you have already been using your LBS and have a good relationship with them. If not, that is a great time to start.
When I was a shop mech I never had a problem letting folks setup their tubeless tires on the shop’s compressor. Heck I even did it for people if they were regulars or just nice.
Something he didn’t stress, be sure to have the valve at 12 o’clock if you have put sealant in! Ask me how I know 🙂
I’ve had success with seating a tire with a handpump once, other times it has been with c02. The number of times I have been successful with c02 only to have the valve core unscrew with my inflator are too high to count so be ready with that finger to plug it up!
Here’s my goto technique:
Mount the tire as you would with a tube in place. Remove the valve core providing a bigger orifice to inflate. Floor pump. Seat the bead completely. Add sealant through the valve with a syringe. Reinflate. Boom. Less messy and works like a charm on every tire I ve used.
Yup, removing the valve core is a huge help!!
Air compressor. Under $40 at Harbor Freight ($32 with the 20% off coupon).
https://www.harborfreight.com/3-gallon-13-HP-100-PSI-Oil-Free-Pancake-Air-Compressor-61615.html
Sorry, but it’s easy to say you don’t need a compressor, but reality is the need for a compressor depends more on tire construction, rim design, temperature, and your pump.
Clearly, having a tire and rim that fit well together is key. Good practice is to remove the valve stem to maximize air flow.
But even with a perfect fit and good technique, tubeless tires can be a PITA to start new.
After setting up hundreds of tubeless tires, here are some options to consider:
1) Preinflate with a tube, let it sit overnight, deflate, pull one side of the tire off to remove tube, try again.
2) Wrap a cam strap around the tire to force the bead closer to the rim.
3) Use a compressor, don’t be a hero. CO2 inflator works if you don’t own a compressor… who doesn’t own a compressor?
If you’re having trouble, an extra layer of rim tape can close up some of the gap between bead and rim, making it easier to get the bead to seat. I’ve had to resort to this even using a compressor for some wheel/tire combinations.
All good ideas. Another is to wet the bead with soapy water which aids it sliding onto the rim fairly easy. I use a disposable foam paint brush dipped in a jar of soapy water but a rag works too. I also concur with Ben’s suggestion of using a tube on a stubborn tire. Some folded tires just don’t like being unfolded with air alone. I’ve used the tube-in-tire-overnight method and it works very nicely.