Ghetto Tubeless Inflater

DIY bottle inflater doing its stuff

This really does make the trickiest stage of a tubeless conversion (getting the first inflation) easy as cake.



Mine is about as basic as possible, I made it using:

• A 2L fizzy drink bottle, originally containing something tasty, as sold by a well known soft drinks company.
• One presta valve with core removed (the "out" valve)
• One presta valve, intact (the "fill" valve)
• Some 5mm ID rubber tubing
• Mole grips to pinch off the rubber tube

I left a bit of inner tube on the valves, and they are held in using only the threaded collar they came with.

Originally I tried using a pump head (Ebay, £2.20) but this kind of restricts the flow, and didn't work so good. Luckily it came with a screw on fitting, and the rubber tube was a tight fit over the a valve - just pop the rubber tube straight onto the valve in the wheel, no messing about with pump heads - works great.

I've seen pictures of deluxe inflaters using plumbing ball valves and so forth, but that's getting a bit fancy and expensive and I'll be honest, the mole grips work just fine thanks.