I decided to go tubeless on my gravel bike but I’m having serious problems getting the tyres to seat on the rim of the wheel as the tyres are quite loose. I’ve tried pretty much every trick but can’t get enough air in quick enough for them to pop. I have a small 20ltr compressor but can’t get the air out of it quick enough for the magic to happen. I could go to my LBS but don’t want this to beat me. I have been looking at the airshot type cylinders but I’m a little reluctant to spend 50 quid if it doesn’t help.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, and whether or not the cylinder is my only hope.
Thanks
How are you currently putting the air in from the compressor? I find the best way to get it happening quickly is to unscrew the valve and use a basic air blow gun rather than a tyre inflator. That said I'm not happy if they don't go up easy so I'd put an extra wrap of tape or two to get it tighter.
Have you tried removing the valve core before adding air? This will get the air in quicker, should seat the tyres. Then you have to deflate, fit core and pump up again, but the tyres should stay in place.
What tyres and rims?
If you've got a compressor, I doubt you need to buy an airshot (how small is 20l?)
Like @nickjb and @voodoo-rich said, remove the valve core (they'll stay seated when you deflate to put it back). And put washing up liquid everywhere.
Does it stay seated on one side if you inflate it with a tube? That should make it a bit easier.
<span style="font-size: 0.8rem;">as above, remove the valve core to get it seated.
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some tyre/rims combos just aren’t meant to be tubeless.
Fit a tube to seat the tyre beads, remove tube by only unseating one side of the tyre. Remove valve core and spray soapy water around the bead. Then try again with the compressor, you will only have half the work to do.
I’ve tried all these methods. Left the tyres on the rims overnight fitted with a tube, tried removing the valve core, and even tried using the air blow gun directly into the valve. The rims are just cheapos that came with the bike, Saracen Lefarg FB, and I have Schwalbe G-One allround. As someone said, I could just be flogging a dead horse with this combo!
Where are you, there could be someone on here nearby that will let you have a go of airshot or similar?.
In that case I wouldn't be happy even if they did eventually seat. Either add some tape to improve the fit or stick a tube in.
I had a few issues seating a stubborn tyre and stumbled across a bikepacking.com YouTube video where they partially pulled the bead onto the rim, this tightened the gap between tyre and rim and allowed it to seat much easier and didn't need my compressor.
Where are you in the country? If you’re local to Bristol I’ve got an airshot you can try.
I’ve not tried using a compressor to blow up tubeless - 20l is a fair size I’d have thought - guess it just depends what pressure it can build that up to and how quickly it gets out of the tank and into the tyre.
If none of the other methods have worked are the rims definitely tubeless compatible - if you’ve tried putting a tube in and then taken it out of one side - did the other side stay seated?
If tyres are loose I'd be very tempted to apply another wrap of tape.
I can *just* get my tubeless Vittoria tyres on and off my rims by hand, so they're tight but not insanely tight. Once the tyres have been seated once with a tube and then used for a while they will typically seat straight away with a Beto tank inflator.
(I started a massive thread ages ago moaning about the Beto tank. It actually does work well enough but could just work that little bit better, definitely feels like the air path within the tank is a bit restricted as the air continues trickling out of the tank even once the tyre is seated etc)
The rims are only cheap that came with the bike and weren’t tubeless ready. I’ve just added tape and hoped for the best. As I’ve said though, I could be just flogging a dead horse. I’m going to knock it on the head for a while and run the tyres with tubes and try again once they’ve been seated on the rims for a while.
Thanks for all the help though 👍
This worked for me on a tricky tyre - install tyre and tube with soapy water, inflate with tube to high enough pressure to seat the tyre, then deflate the tube and push the valve up into the wheel leaving the tyre seated. Next unseat only enough of the tyre to give you access to install a tubeless valve without the valve core and reinflate (the tube is still inside the tyre but doing nothing at this point). This held for me, and convinced me that the tyre/rim combo would work. Then deflate and unseat one sire to remove the tube and reinflate.
I've also had success with the bikepacking.com video where you pull the tyre onto the rim.
I've also got an old cheap wheelset that just wont go tubeless
If it's a cheap rim, have a go with gorilla tape rather than tubeless tape, should be easier and cheaper to add further wraps until the tyre gets a bit tighter. Wrap a bit of insulating tape round the rim first to avoid the gunk gorilla tape leaves behind.
I set up some cheap niner non tubelss wheels with schwable g-ones before usuing gorilla tape and they worked well for a couple of years.
