First Look: Airshot Tubeless Inflator
Airshot Tubeless Inflator packaging and sleeve (click to enlarge).
Tubeless tires are here to stay. Their benefits when it comes to flat prevention and increased traction have been been proven repeatedly and both industry and consumers have seen the light.
But adoption has not been sweeping as most bikes are still sold with tubes. Often the cyclist has to convert the bike to tubeless themselves. One of the key obstacles with tubeless has been ease or difficulty of installation. It is simply an unpredictable task when inflating a tubeless tire without a compressor for the first time.
Airshot Tubeless Inflator is 1.15 liters in capacity (click to enlarge).
Compressors deliver a shot of air to push tires against the sidewall to initiate the seal required to air up a tubeless tire. It can sometimes be done with a floor pump and some tricks of the trade. But ultimately, there will be a tire and wheel combination that will not air up without compressed air.
Airshot Tubeless Inflator has a presta input valve. The blue knob controls the output flow (click to enlarge).
The Airshot Tubeless Inflator is a new product entering the market and it hopes to address this problem with a light, portable compressed air canister. This model holds 1.14 liters of air at up to 160 psi. It is pumped up with a floor pump connected to the input presta valve. The compressed air can then be used immediately or stored for later use.
Airshot Tubeless Inflator outlet valve with the valve core replacement (click to enlarge).
To use it, the output hose is connected to the presta valve of a tubeless tire and a release lever is turned 90 degrees for maximum airflow. This worked well in several of our tests to inflate tires that would not inflate using a floor pump.
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