The secret to installing tubeless with a floor pump (without an air compressor or charger pump)

Are you frustrated because you can’t get your tubeless tire to seat and you don’t have an air compressor? The trick in the video below will solve all your problems (if you would rather get step-by-step text instructions, scroll below the video)! We’ve been using this trick for over 10 years and are consistently surprised that more people don’t know about it. It works on mountain bike and road tires and doesn’t require any special tools, just a tire lever.

Things you’ll need:

  1. Clean your wheel.
  2. Install one side of the tire.
  3. Pour in the sealant. Refer to the bottle for correct amount.
  4. Install the other side of the tire.
  5. Using your tire lever, seat the tire 2/3 – 3/4 of the way around, or until it becomes VERY difficult to move the lever. Note: for some wheel/tire combinations, you will not make it 2/3 of the way around. That’s okay.
  6. Carefully remove the tire lever.
  7. Seat the other side of the tire as far around as you can without knocking the first side off.
  8. Check both sides of the tire to make sure that it is seated as much as possible. The tire should be VERY close to the rim wall on both sides and should NOT have fallen into the rim well and it should be tight.
  9. Connect a floor pump (metal pumps work best, but cheap plastics ones will work as well).
  10. Pump up your tire. Most likely you will hear some air escaping. If so, pump faster! Eventually, you should hear a couple pops. This is your tire seating and is a good sign! We do not recommend inflating the tire higher than 40 or 45 PSI as it can blow off the rim, which is scary (and potentially dangerous). If you hit 45 PSI without the tire seating completely, let the wheel sit for a while. The bead will likely finish seating on its own.
  11. Check both sides of your tire to confirm that the bead shows evenly. This tells you that you tire has seated properly. If it has not, refer to the previous step.
  12. Shake the tire to get the sealant to cover the inside completely, or just go ride your bike, which is even more effective.