Ask the experts

[Tailwind]

Sounds like new XTR within a few weeks? Anyone know if it is electronic only? Building a new XC race bike and sorting out the build kit. I bought a used bike with transmission on there and I am thinking about swapping for mechanical XTR.

[funkendrenchman]

Sounds like new XTR within a few weeks? Anyone know if it is electronic only? Building a new XC race bike and sorting out the build kit. I bought a used bike with transmission on there and I am thinking about swapping for mechanical XTR.

Praying for a brake with a consistent bite point.

[volklpowdermaniac]

talk to me about a home compressor solution, my workspace is small, but dedicated , obviously will need a bike adapotor/gaugae to hook up? how are these things usually powered? are electric ones powerful enough to seat tubeless.

have a floor pump for throwing in the car and sitting by the door before rides but would love a more permanent quality solution in the shop, don't want it to be fixed/hardwired, want the ability to chuck in car and move it around a little, but portability is not a huge concern

[XXX-er]

I don't have a compressor but I have 2 or 3 floor pumps, I have never met a tubeless I couldn't instal altho i am a maxxis fanboi, as a minimalist do you really need a compressor or do you just want a compressor is my take?

[jackstraw]

I really like my M18 Milwaukee 2 gallon compressor. And it's completely random with tire sealing in my experience. Fat bikes are a pia and some skinnys just don't want to seat, so I've used the compressor a couple times on skinny tires.
But I also use the compressor for other stuff like my nail gun and blowing up car tires.

[volklpowdermaniac]

good start . it's not so much for the tubeless seating, i can get 9/10 tubeless seated with floor pump and /or cartridges, it's more because my floor pump is pretty beat to shit, it's gonna soon be on back of truck / by the door on the way out duty and was looking for a slightly more permanent, heavier duty , ease of use type of thing, that it would also help with tubeless is great - where this started was i was looking for my next floor pump, was considering ones with charger canisters , and other higher end ones and then some friends pointed me towards maybe there's just more value and long term utility with a small tank based compressor setup, but i know very little about the hose system, couplers, universalnesss of all of that and then of course a bike chuck with a nice gauge would be needed.

[toast2266]

talk to me about a home compressor solution, my workspace is small, but dedicated , obviously will need a bike adapotor/gaugae to hook up? how are these things usually powered? are electric ones powerful enough to seat tubeless.

have a floor pump for throwing in the car and sitting by the door before rides but would love a more permanent quality solution in the shop, don't want it to be fixed/hardwired, want the ability to chuck in car and move it around a little, but portability is not a huge concern

A cheap pancake compressor from home depot will get the job done just fine (and it'll do car tires and light duty air tools too).

Hoses and fittings are easy; you'll be able to get pre put together kits with the compressor. Most things are 1/4" NPT. You'll likely have to take them apart and put some Teflon tape on too keep them from leaking, but that's easy.

I'm a cheap bastard, so I just cut a hose / pump head off an old broken pump and jam that onto the sprayer nozzle of my compressor. Inflates presta just fine. But there are assorted presta nozzles with gauges that you can buy. All of the ones I've seen use the standard 1/4" fittings.

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

[volklpowdermaniac]

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A cheap pancake compressor from home depot will get the job done just fine (and it&#39;ll do car tires and light duty air tools too). Hoses and fittings are easy; you&#39;ll be able to get pre put together kits with the compressor. Most things are 1/4&quot; NPT. You&#39;ll likely have to take them apart and put some Teflon tape on too keep them from leaking, but that&#39;s easy. I&#39;m a cheap bastard, so I just cut a hose / pump head off an old broken pump and jam that onto the sprayer nozzle of my compressor. Inflates presta just fine. But there are assorted presta nozzles with gauges that you can buy. All of the ones I&#39;ve seen use the standard 1/4&quot; fittings. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

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beauty. great stuff</p>

[Andeh]

I have the smallest, quietest Makita compressor (I think it's 1/2 gallon) and it works fine for seating MTB tires and filling up tires on my wife's car. The small reservoir size means that it has to recharge more often though. But it's pretty small (roughly 18"x18"x12") so it fits in the work bench without taking up too much space, weighs about 30 lbs so I've even brought it to a cycle repair day and run it off my truck's power, and it's quiet enough that I don't get yelled at by my wife & kid for running it at night.

[g_man80]

California Air Tools. Extremely quiet. They have small aluminum options. https://www.californiaairtools.com/

[carlh]

Small space buy a little California air tools so you can hear yourself think. Much quieter than the generic cheapies for not a lot of extra cash.

[jackstraw]

Yeah, I don't use a gauge on my compressor. I fine tune with my pump that has a gauge or the classic thumb press.

I do think buying a good floor pump is worth it. Cheap ones are shit and don't last imo.

[buttahflake]

https://www.topeak.com/global/en/product/1[emoji643]3[emoji643]-E-BOOSTER-DIGITAL

[frorider]

The marketing info for the e booster says nothing about tubeless install, and it appears to be slow enough it would not accomplish that.

[buttahflake]

I’ll keep you posted next time I set up new rubber. In the meantime, setting the exact psi and pushing the button has been pretty much awesome.

[beaterdit]

^^^Those things are on my radar but not quite there in terms of speed/weight/size to switch me over from just carrying a 24g CO2 and a mini-pump for backup. Although if was confident enough in it to ditch the mini pump that would be the difference. Id guess it would seat any tire a floor pump will but I use my pancake compressor for that because its so fast and easy.


VPM I have the cheapest Home Depot house brand Porter Cable 6 gal pancake compressor. Ive had it for over 20 years, I think it was $199 with two finish nailers and 30 ft hose. I use it to seat tubeless tires because its fast and easy, to top off my car tires, to blow out air filters for car or shop vacs, etc. Also have used it for the small nailers and riveter. No issues handling all that stuff but it wouldnt keep up with a framing nailer or air impact tools. I still use my floor pump with gauge for daily top ups. I bought a nicer presta filler for it but Im not aware of an accurate gauge setup. The 1/4 inch connectors are easy, I did have to buy it separate when I bought my riveter, it was cheap. Only caveat to using mine is its loud AF when it cycles, like you want hearing protection if youre close. If you leave tool attached itll leak and cycle pretty often, like several times/day. With hose and no tool it&#39;s not near as often like maybe once every 2-3 days? Maybe if I took my hose off it would hold air longer/indefinitely but I keep it under a table and its kind a pain to access that. If its inside your house you dont want it cycling so youll leave it off and then when you want to use it itll run for a long time to fill, which is annoying. If you got a quiet one these issues would be much better but I bet it would still wake you up if it cycles.


TLDR: nice to have for a variety of tasks, doesnt replace a quality floor pump with accurate gauge.

[Andeh]

Rather than stressing over having an accurate gauge on your pump / compressor, I'd suggest just getting one of the nice small digital pressure gauges. That way you can take it with you on trips, long rides, etc. and always be able to get to whatever pressure works for you. It doesn't matter if that gauge is accurate, just consistent. Overfill with whatever pump/compressor you're using and bleed off pressure to your target with the digital gauge.

[XXX-er]

I have seen other companies rebadge/ different paint those Beto floor pumps and charge 2x as much for them so since they were only 25can$ at the MEC I just bought 2 or 3 of them my take on the guage is if always use the same Beto floor pump I always have the same mount of Beto ft lbs of air in the tire I have never failed to seat a tubeless with a floor pump but then I only run Maxxis

[J. Barron DeJong]

Rather than stressing over having an accurate gauge on your pump / compressor, I&#39;d suggest just getting one of the nice small digital pressure gauges. That way you can take it with you on trips, long rides, etc. and always be able to get to whatever pressure works for you. It doesn&#39;t matter if that gauge is accurate, just consistent. Overfill with whatever pump/compressor you&#39;re using and bleed off pressure to your target with the digital gauge.

This ^^
I don&#39;t trust the analog gauge on my floor pump at all. I bleed off to the right pressure with a digital Topeak gauge.

[bamboocoreONLY]

Stoked to see cable transmission from Sram. Thought about ordering but sounds like it shifts slow just like the electronic transmission. It's not a terrible thing but especially during races I like to be able to dump gears much faster, so I'm going to wait for wireless shimano this spring.

[beaterdit]

My main garage floor pump gauge seems fairly accurate but at least it's consistent, and incidentally also consistent with digital and my travel floor pump. Alas it's dead after ten years and can't get parts so ordered a new one with digital gauge. We'll see how it compares.If nothing else the small compressors would be great for the car. Garage too I guess.

[XXX-er]

well of course as long as you used your garage pump it gave you the same " my garage pump pressure "

[toast2266]

This ^^
I don't trust the analog gauge on my floor pump at all. I bleed off to the right pressure with a digital Topeak gauge.

I haven't really noticed any difference in consistency between the various analog and digital gauges I have. They all read different, and some are clearly way off, but they're at least consistent with themselves. For a rear tire on my trail bike, I know that I want 18 psi on my specialized pump, 25 psi on my bontrager pump, and 24 psi with my handheld gauge. That's roughly the same actual pressure (and, at a guess, the bontrager is probably closest to the actual pressure).

But really the point is that it makes these online pressure calculators extra useless. Aside from the fact that I've never found one that gives a realistic pressure for me, I don't trust any of the consumer level gauges to give an actual, accurate pressure reading.

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

[volklpowdermaniac]

yeah i def want to get a nice handheld gauge with this purchase, yeah the noise thing i've been warned about before as well, definitely liking these california air stuff or even some of the big brands rebadge as far as i can tell? anyway, great discussion thanks to all

[J. Barron DeJong]

I haven&#39;t really noticed any difference in consistency between the various analog and digital gauges I have. They all read different, and some are clearly way off, but they&#39;re at least consistent with themselves. For a rear tire on my trail bike, I know that I want 18 psi on my specialized pump, 25 psi on my bontrager pump, and 24 psi with my handheld gauge. That&#39;s roughly the same actual pressure (and, at a guess, the bontrager is probably closest to the actual pressure). But really the point is that it makes these online pressure calculators extra useless. Aside from the fact that I&#39;ve never found one that gives a realistic pressure for me, I don&#39;t trust any of the consumer level gauges to give an actual, accurate pressure reading. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

My floor pump is just *obviously* wrong at low pressures, and doesn&#39;t match the digital gauge, so I just use the digital gauge for everything, road or mountain.

I do find the SRAM calculator gives a good recommended pressure for MTB. Maybe adjust 1-2 psi, but a close starting point for me.