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lots of this sort of thing around these days
https://www.mbr.co.uk/buyers_guide/best-tubeless-tyre-inflators-343634
are they any good at seating tyres with tubes (which are all so much harder these days as they're designed to seal tubeless)?
alternatively does a compressor help? seeing as you could get one for less than most of these cost
If you are using tubes and having trouble getting the beads seated just use something to lubricate the bead and rim when installing the tyre. A little washing up liquid watered down should work well.
No point in the tubeless reservoir inflator things for tubes. The point of them is the rate of delivery of air, air has to go in faster than it leaks out for a tubeless tyre to seat. A compressor (as long as it is the type with a reservoir) does the same thing. With a tube you can inflate as slow as you like and with a good track pump achieve way more pressure than your tyre or rim are designed to take.
A compressor would obviously save on the pumping effort though.
And +1 for the washing up liquid as lubricant. Or silicone lubricant spray.
Familiar with the washing up liquid trick but some tyre/rim combos are still a pita to get seated. Wondered if rapid delivery of air would do the job, for the same reason it works with tubeless?
the trick I've found with seating difficult tubed tyres is to add some air so it's partially inflated and then use your hands to wrangle the tyre into place where you can see the bead is below the rim edge. But to question your logic a bit - if you're using a tubeless tyre with a tube but finding it hard to fit then its going to be a PITA to repair on the trail if you have to.
I reckon it'd be worse with a blast of rapid inflation to the tube - more likely to push the tube through the unseated section of tyre bead and cause the tube to explode.
Please post videos of your trials though 😉
And +1 for the washing up liquid as lubricant. Or silicone lubricant spray.
I wouldn’t have thought silicon spray would be a good idea - wouldn’t it increase the risk of the tyre creeping on the rim?
I've tried gt85, main trouble with that is the extra level of mingingness in the tyre when you come to change the next tube!
Wondered if rapid delivery of air would do the job, for the same reason it works with tubeless?
I don't think it would. I run tubeless and sometimes use the devices you mention to get the tyre seated but it rarely does the whole job, it takes a few more pumps to up the pressure before the last of the bead finally pops into place.