Domromer

I was looking at getting a surly karate monkey that has tubeless maxxis tires. I'm heading down to Mexico to some very remote areas. I did some reading and saw that you need a air compressor to remount tubeless tires after a flat, is this the case? I plan on just having a patch kit and hand pump like usual. I also read tubeless tires can be patched with the automotive style plugs that look like licorice sticks? If I plugged it that way I'd avoid taking the tire off and could just pump it with a regular hand pump? It's a bike off Craigslist, i might pass it up, I'm not sure tubeless would be a good idea in Mexico. I know the small towns I'll be in won't have tubeless tires in the bike shops.

mb2112

Since no one else has responded...if you have to break the bead it’d be a nightmare re-seating a tubeless Mtn bike tire with a hand pump. I can barely do it with a floor pump. You need a BIG shot of air to make it catch the rim and hook up so you can inflate. The plug kits work. Tubeless tires rarely flat though. You might want to ask on the touring forum of those guys would run tubeless in the kind of places you’re going o.

bogydave

May or may not be able to inflate.
Might need to carry a bottle of tube sealant too.

If you Go with tubeless
Just
Carry a couple tubes

BikeLite

If remote, I would always have at least one or two tubes in case of bad sidewall tear.

tangerineowl

No expert, but apparently if you wrap/build up a few layers of rim tape when initially setting up your rims tubeless, those layers of tape raise the seat which the tyre bead sits on, making it less effort to get the tire bead in good position to hand pump from.

However, I've only one wrap on my setups. I put a tube in, then inflate with the hand pump until I hear both beads 'pop'. The carefully push in one side of the tyre, releasing the bead. Remove the tube. Get the one side of the tyre back in the well, then carefully lift the edges up into the edge of the rim.

This is usually enough to get enough of an air seal for me to then pump up the tubeless tyre by hand.

If I see the tyre is not inflating/there's air getting out one side of the tyre, then I grab half-a-dozen clothes pegs (which weigh nothing) to grab the sidewalls/keep the bead up against the rim. When I then inflate the tyre, the clothespegs jump off.

Another option -similar to the clothes pegs- is to wrap a length of string/wire around the tyre circumference. Wrap it over close to the side of the loose bead, restricting the possibility for air to escape. Pump up the tire.

Good tools for when you're out in the sticks.

bikeme

My friend has a 12v compressor he uses in his car. It has a small tank, unlike the cheap ones for inflating sleeping mats, car tires. The tank provides the burst needed to seat a bead. There are also a few hand pumps with a reservoir that does the same thing.

FrozenK

I've seen floor pumps with a tank to seat tubeless tires -I actually own the Bontrager one. But never a handump.

If you ride tubeless, you take a tube with you and use it if you get a flat. Then when you are back home you try to fix the tire and reseat it. Some times you may be able to field fix a flat if you didn't unseat the tire. But most often, you just put a tube in it.

If you are dead-set on trying to field seat tubeless tires CO2 cartridges (The big ones) are your best option.

bikeme

Actually I meant floor pump and the Bontrager is the one I was thinking of, lol!

GoMtnBiking

I run tubeless in my mountain bikes. To seat a new tubeless setup it is best to use a compressor because you need a quit burst of air to almost seat the bead and then let it fill up and totally seat. It is almost or totally impossible with a normal handpump because the air just keeps leaking out so you cannot seat it.

I have hardly ever had any serious flats out on the trail other than like burp flats and then I just fill it back up. But I always, always carry tubes with me in case of a true flat. Just throw in a tube and pump it up and make it back home and then re-setup your tubeless setup.

Riveting

Search for "ghetto tubeless inflator"

Scarbo

I use the Specialized Blast pump for my MTB. Works great.

TallTourist

I'm not sure if you ave begun your trip yet or not but I think you will be fine going tubeless. I spoke to a guy who runs a touring company in Guatemala and he runs full suspension tubeless bikes. He says he gets "a flat a year" so he just carries a spare tube to limp home should he need to. If you're really worried you could carry two tubes and a patch kit. I've yet to go tubeless but I have been touring in South and North America (Latin America) for the past 4 months and practically every small town/village has at least one Talley (shop) or Llanteria (tire shop) aka Vulcanizador/Vulcanizacion shop which are shops that fix anything related to tires. They will have high volume compressors and probably one or more of those devices that fire a high amount of compressed air into the tire specifically to seat the bead so you can get back into tubeless mode easily. My overall experiences with people in Latin America have been negative but if there's one thing I can hand them it's that if you need something fixed, they can fix it for you. It may not be perfect but it will get you back on the road and they usually don't even charge you. I just had three guys at a proper automotive shop today make a tool out of an old screw driver to push the old, rusted shift cable terminal out of my shift lever so I could put a new one in. They got the job done in under 15 minutes and refused payment! You will be fine. I do recommend bringing more spare bike stuff vs more clothing as the bike shops here generally suck unless you're running cheap components on 26" wheels etc. Those parts are everywhere but the good stuff? Nope.

Hope that helps and I hope you have a good time. You're wise to go off the beaten track as the main routes are very heavily traveled and noisy/dangerous with speed bumps and giant potholes everywhere.

Kapusta

Well, take some tubes as a back up, but I have set up at least 8 tire/rim combos tubeless, and all have seated easily with a floor pump.

hig4s

Not really on the market yet, this is a kickstarter webpage, but looks like the answer. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...beless-booster