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Help me bodge a "compressor"...

- seb

Turbo Monkey
Apr 10, 2002
2,924
1
UK
OK, I'm a big fan of tubeless, but the one thing that still ****s me off after many years is the pain of inflating them.

I don't want to buy a big heavy and expensive air compressor (i.e. a small petrol engine bolted onto an air tank). In my experience CO2 cartridges are almost enough to inflate a DH tyre, but when it doesn't work it gets expensive.

Now my track pump will pump up to 200psi quite happily, and those crappy £10 12v car tyre inflaters normally claim 250psi or so. So what I'm after is a small air tank - a gallon at most, I think even a litre would do. I want a connector on it that will let me inflate my bike tyres with presta valves from it, and a connector on it that will let me pressurise it from a track pump/12v pump.

Any smart ideas from knowledgable types?
 

dhkid

Turbo Monkey
Mar 10, 2005
3,358
0
Malaysia
change to maxxis. it inflates every time with just a mini pump. hutchinson are good to, but i need to take the valve core out. michelin is impossible with out an air compressor.

maxxis has got to be the tubeless privateers best friend.
 

- seb

Turbo Monkey
Apr 10, 2002
2,924
1
UK
Seriously, you think maxxis inflates that much easier? How come, what's their secret?
 

dhkid

Turbo Monkey
Mar 10, 2005
3,358
0
Malaysia
i am not saying i think, i am saying its a fact. i can inflate my 2 yrs old maxxis tubeless tire with my mini pump everytime. new tires are even easier.

the uses a kevlar bead, it seals much better initially. the others with steel beads, any small bend in the bead and it wont seal, hence why you need a huge blast of air to get those to seal. kelar beads are soft, and with a small amount of air it will spread on the rim and just have enough contact with the rim to seal initially. steel beads dont move.
 

CarlE

Monkey
Jan 7, 2008
109
0
Long Island, NY
Co2 is for emergency, on the trail repairs. It leaks out twice as fast as regular air and would cost a fortune to constantly fill your tires with the stuff.

I would personally just get a large compressor for at home and fill a tank that's easier to transport/take to the bike. Then again, I work on my car and have been dying for a compressor so you could say I have ulterior motives.
 

jamesdc

Monkey
May 6, 2007
469
0
The co2 work great for me, they're not that expensive if you dont buy the cartridges designed for them, buy the ones meant for pellet guns, they're like 15 cartridges for $10
 

CarlE

Monkey
Jan 7, 2008
109
0
Long Island, NY
The co2 work great for me, they're not that expensive if you dont buy the cartridges designed for them, buy the ones meant for pellet guns, they're like 15 cartridges for $10
A regular floor pump runs what, $29.99 for something decent? The co2 leaks faster and your paying for each cartridge so fiscally it doesn't make sense when you can pump your tires for free after buying a pump.

Here's a little trick for seating tubeless tires. Take a piece of rope/string/your belt that's long enough to go around the tire and have some slack. Wrap it around the tire and pull it tight so that it pushes the center of the tire down and the bead against the rim. Now just pump and it should seat first try. Handy little trick I picked up from my dad when he would fill the wheelbarrow tire that we used once every few years.
 
Sep 20, 2007
443
0
Champaign, IL
I think what people are saying is use the cO2 to get the initial blast to fill the tire, not keep them inflated. If they are able to use that to get a good quick blast you can always top the tire off with a regular floor or mini pump and reinflate it with that as well. There is nothing saying that you need to use cO2 every time you need to air the thing up a bit.....
 
Sep 20, 2007
443
0
Champaign, IL
I wonder if you can rig something really cheap like a PVC canister with 2 caps threaded on the ends to make it a sealed capsule. Have a regular schrader valve or something that you could use to inflate it with a floor pump.... Then have a simple valve that you could just open to let all of the air out into the tire??


It could take some trial and error to figure out the actual pressure vs volume if you can't do the calculation but it should give a big rush of air a lot cheaper than a compressor...
 

Racerx7734

Monkey
Mar 4, 2002
616
0
Hostile Sausage
OK, I'm a big fan of tubeless, but the one thing that still ****s me off after many years is the pain of inflating them.

I don't want to buy a big heavy and expensive air compressor (i.e. a small petrol engine bolted onto an air tank). In my experience CO2 cartridges are almost enough to inflate a DH tyre, but when it doesn't work it gets expensive.

Now my track pump will pump up to 200psi quite happily, and those crappy £10 12v car tyre inflaters normally claim 250psi or so. So what I'm after is a small air tank - a gallon at most, I think even a litre would do. I want a connector on it that will let me inflate my bike tyres with presta valves from it, and a connector on it that will let me pressurise it from a track pump/12v pump.

Any smart ideas from knowledgable types?
This might work?
http://homerepair.about.com/od/toolsmaterialsyouneed/ss/airtank.htm

Portable air tank. Fill it at home....take it with you.
 

dhkid

Turbo Monkey
Mar 10, 2005
3,358
0
Malaysia
i tried it with hair spray, didn't work that well i just ended up with the smell of burnt rubber. will have to give it a go another time with lighter fluid. do you what actual spray they are using?

i will be really happy if i can get that to work, then i can go back to using michelin tires. i was also thinking of doing that, but in a tank. but the ignition will increase the pressure in the tank. i never got round to doing the calculations to see if it would increase the pressure enough to be usable.
 

- seb

Turbo Monkey
Apr 10, 2002
2,924
1
UK
Here's a little trick for seating tubeless tires. Take a piece of rope/string/your belt that's long enough to go around the tire and have some slack. Wrap it around the tire and pull it tight so that it pushes the center of the tire down and the bead against the rim. Now just pump and it should seat first try. Handy little trick I picked up from my dad when he would fill the wheelbarrow tire that we used once every few years.
Tried that one before, didn't work for me. And I didn't think it would - if anything that just forces the bead into the channel in the rim in my experience.
 

- seb

Turbo Monkey
Apr 10, 2002
2,924
1
UK
Yeah we've all seen the inflate a tyre with lighter fluid trick before :-D I've never really thought seriously about using it on my bike, but it'd be pretty fookin cool if it worked....

As for the portable carry tank, that's exactly the sort of thing I'm after - do you think it'll do the job? The ones I found earlier were only rated to 125psi which doesn't seem very much?
 

Fulton

Monkey
Nov 9, 2001
825
0
I wonder if you can rig something really cheap like a PVC canister with 2 caps threaded on the ends to make it a sealed capsule. Have a regular schrader valve or something that you could use to inflate it with a floor pump.... Then have a simple valve that you could just open to let all of the air out into the tire??


It could take some trial and error to figure out the actual pressure vs volume if you can't do the calculation but it should give a big rush of air a lot cheaper than a compressor...
i really wouldn't rec. this. PVC isn't very strong, and could fuggin explode if you put too much pressure in it.
 

Spunger

Git yer dumb questions here
Feb 19, 2003
2,257
0
805
i really wouldn't rec. this. PVC isn't very strong, and could fuggin explode if you put too much pressure in it.
:imstupid:

But seriously, PVC is for plumbing things, sprinklers, pipes etc... It can't take much pressure at all. 10 or 15 psi I'd feel fine, but most compressors hold 150-175psi which would explode a PVC pipe.

I bought some $99 sears one which has worked great for inflating things. It is an Oil compressor (as there are oil ones and oil free) but it's worked great so far. I just got a better hose than what came with it because the hose that it came with was pretty cheap.
 

BikeMike

Monkey
Feb 24, 2006
784
0
:imstupid:

But seriously, PVC is for plumbing things, sprinklers, pipes etc... It can't take much pressure at all. 10 or 15 psi I'd feel fine, but most compressors hold 150-175psi which would explode a PVC pipe.

I bought some $99 sears one which has worked great for inflating things. It is an Oil compressor (as there are oil ones and oil free) but it's worked great so far. I just got a better hose than what came with it because the hose that it came with was pretty cheap.
Actually, pvc is rated right on the pipe. Smaller diameter pipe is rated to a higher PSI. 1" sch.40 is rated to 450psi at room temp. (and it also makes amazing marshmellow cannons.) So it could be done, although the pressure rating drops as diameter increases.
 
Sep 20, 2007
443
0
Champaign, IL
Yes.... I have made a few potato cannons which is what made me think of it. I'm not saying to use it as a tank to bring with you to races or whatever, but for the occasional at-home tire seating that may need to be done it might work? Just a different idea....
 

- seb

Turbo Monkey
Apr 10, 2002
2,924
1
UK
Actually a friend of mine used to do something very ghetto - a 2litre cock bottle wrapped in about a dozen layers of gaffer tape. Worked for him, but that was on small XC tyres, and the thing always made me pretty nervous!
 

bikenweed

Turbo Monkey
Oct 21, 2004
2,432
0
Los Osos
Use your car or truck's spare tire as an air tank. Truck tires are great since you can easily put 45+ psi in them. These little hoses are supposed to work great, but I've never tried them.



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