Suitable compressor for seating tubeless tires

icebiker said:
These are race face rims only a year old and held air since new. I’m simply replacing the worn DHR’s with new DHF’s. The issue is that air doesn’t “trap” in the carcass. I’m going to try the bungee trick and/or the “seat one bead with a tube” trick later today and report back.
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Sometimes I have that happen where the air just escapes and I'll just push down the tire over the valve stem with my hand so that the bead gets pushed down and slightly more of a seal. In fact I did this a few weeks ago with some newish tires.

Seating the tire with a tube almost always works. One side is nicely seated, the other is 75% seated so there is a lot of sealing surface. But it's an ugly affair if there's sealant.
 
icebiker said:
These are race face rims only a year old and held air since new. I’m simply replacing the worn DHR’s with new DHF’s. The issue is that air doesn’t “trap” in the carcass. I’m going to try the bungee trick and/or the “seat one bead with a tube” trick later today and report back.
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If you just need to get them on to ride, did you try a Co2 cartridge? Take the valve out and blast one. That’s a pretty reliable solution.

Adding another layer of rim tape could help to. I’ve been in the same situation and an additional layer of tape made the floor pump work.
 
Seating one side definitely helps. You don't have to use a tube in most cases, just push it in place while the other side is off the rim. Then when mounting the loose side, take your time and try to get the bead as close to the rim as possible. Then, while blowing air, nudge and massage the loose side to close up any air gaps. I like to set the wheel flat on an open trashcan during this operation.
 
You mention "beads in center of the rim". Do you leave it like that when trying to inflate? If so, try this extra step. Before inflating pull both beads of the tire out towards the bead seat of the rim....don't leave them in the center channel. Just sort of pinch the tire on each side and do your best to pull them out...rotate the tire and do this all the way around so you end up with the tire beads close to the rim bead seat. Kind of hard to explain, but it sort of helps to push the tread towards the rim as you pinch and pull the beads out. Perhaps that step doesn't matter with a big compressor, but I use small compressor that is kind of tired, and if I don't take this extra step, it doesn't work. It just doesn't push enough volume of air to push the tire beads from the center channel out to the bead seat of the rim. the air just leaks out instead. But as long as I pull the tire beads out so they are close to the bead seat, I'm good.

For fat bike tires, I have resorted to using a strap, but I find a "luggage strap" which is the kind I use to strap surfboards to the roof works best. But before I resort to the strap, I will try simply using my arm/chest to sort of hug the tire like a strap would and a lot of times that is enough to get it to work. I'm sure I look like a moron doing that.

Oh, if/when possible, I'll lay tires in the sun first. really not required, but it makes them soften up a little and they are easier to work with.
 
SmooveP said:
Seating one side definitely helps. You don't have to use a tube in most cases, just push it in place while the other side is off the rim. Then when mounting the loose side, take your time and try to get the bead as close to the rim as possible. Then, while blowing air, nudge and massage the loose side to close up any air gaps. I like to set the wheel flat on an open trashcan during this operation.
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Wait, are you saying that you can seat the bead of a tire with just your bare hands??
 
Bike N Gear said:
Add Cushcore inserts.
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I'm kind of past the Cushcore fad like everyone else, but I actually found them easier most of the time.

When taking a tire off it was easy to push the tire into the center channel because it would wrap around the insert when pushed off the bead. When adding air it provided enough seal for the tire to inflate.

I can see how it could make very tight tires a horrible endeavor. Also disgusting mess with sealant.
 
Believe me I tried seating the bead manaully to no avail (maybe it’s all in the wrists? 😁) but I did the inner tube trick and it worked. But what a hassle overall: take old tire off. Put new tire on, remove tubeless valve, insert tube, pump up to seat bead, then deflate, remove one seated bead, remove tube, reinsert tubeless valve, remove core, use compressor to seat the other bead, then let air out to inject sealant, then pump again. I was about ready for a f’in straightjacket. And to top it off, one of the tires has a pinhole and the sealant is still bubbling at the hole and not stopping after 30 mins. Sigh

Thanks for all the tips and encouragement! 👍
 
icebiker said:
Believe me I tried seating the bead manaully to no avail (maybe it’s all in the wrists? 😁) but I did the inner tube trick and it worked. But what a hassle overall: take old tire off. Put new tire on, remove tubeless valve, insert tube, pump up to seat bead, then deflate, remove one seated bead, remove tube, reinsert tubeless valve, remove core, use compressor to seat the other bead, then let air out to inject sealant, then pump again. I was about ready for a f’in straightjacket. And to top it off, one of the tires has a pinhole and the sealant is still bubbling at the hole and not stopping after 30 mins. Sigh

Thanks for all the tips and encouragement! 👍
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Fwiw, its normally 10 min total to mount a tubeless tire, so next time should be better
 
icebiker said:
Believe me I tried seating the bead manaully to no avail (maybe it’s all in the wrists? 😁) but I did the inner tube trick and it worked. But what a hassle overall: take old tire off. Put new tire on, remove tubeless valve, insert tube, pump up to seat bead, then deflate, remove one seated bead, remove tube, reinsert tubeless valve, remove core, use compressor to seat the other bead, then let air out to inject sealant, then pump again. I was about ready for a f’in straightjacket. And to top it off, one of the tires has a pinhole and the sealant is still bubbling at the hole and not stopping after 30 mins. Sigh

Thanks for all the tips and encouragement! 👍
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Hold the wheel with the pinhole down and shake it so that the sealant is concentrated in that area. Should seal up if it's really a pinhole.
 
icebiker said:
Believe me I tried seating the bead manaully to no avail (maybe it’s all in the wrists? 😁) but I did the inner tube trick and it worked. But what a hassle overall: take old tire off. Put new tire on, remove tubeless valve, insert tube, pump up to seat bead, then deflate, remove one seated bead, remove tube, reinsert tubeless valve, remove core, use compressor to seat the other bead, then let air out to inject sealant, then pump again. I was about ready for a f’in straightjacket. And to top it off, one of the tires has a pinhole and the sealant is still bubbling at the hole and not stopping after 30 mins. Sigh

Thanks for all the tips and encouragement! 👍
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I think most of us have lived this episode many times. 😁 With any luck, you won’t have to deal with it again until it’s time to mount a new tire.
 
Can't believe this is still a thing. Hope that doesn't sound obnoxious. Just haven't had this issue in the 2020's. For a cheap method, I agree with the air can. They make larger non-bike specific cans but that one several posts ago looked nice and was a reasonable size. I had a 5 gallon (?) can that was fairly large but never failed to seat a tire. Pumping it up was a pain!

The problem with air compressors is when you want to go multi use. Once you start reading about them, you realize you need something the size of a hot water tank to handle all the needs you can think of!
 
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