I’m thinking of buying a small compressor to help with tubeless set up, I might only use a handful of times a year and live in a small apartment, so something small would be great, would something like this work?.
I’ve read good things about California compressors (I think @daverome). 1 gallon I think is enough. Haven’t pulled the trigger because I have a cheap Harbor Freight one that hasn’t gone bad.
To help with seating tubeless tires, you want a compressor with a reserve tank. Since you live in a small apartment, any compressor that fits that criteria will most likely be too noisy to use. I suggest getting a floor pump with a booster chamber (Lezyne, Topeak, Blackburn). If you already own a floor pump, perhaps something like a Schwalbe tire booster or Airshot tubeless tire inflator.
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Some of my tubeless road & gravel tires can be seated with just a floor pump. I’m not consistent with seating MTB tires. I just use a compressor to seat them. If you’re comfortable with mounting tubeless, then give the floor pump a chance. Generally, I have little problem with road or gravel tires.
If you just want the ease of compress air that you don’t have to work for, then consider a compressor with a reservoir tank. You can find them pretty inexpensively.
I agree. I’ve had the airshot for many years and it’s all I’ve ever used for tubeless setup on 4+ bikes in my garage: road, gravel, and MTB many times over — not enough air for the fat bike tho. It’s basically completely silent and portable for storing in a drawer. Plus, it’s easy to travel with to races or events. Fits in my race bag and weighs probably a pound. Highly recommend!
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As an option, consider just getting an air tank. They’re inexpensive and you can simply fill it up at a gas station or with an electric inflator.
I have a larger version of this compressor, but I think this would work well (if it’s small enough for you). 58 dB is pretty quiet and it’s also quite handy to have this type of compressor for various other tasks.
I just got this one for the same purpose and situation. The fill motor is quieter than the sound of air going into the tire. You can definitely fill it inside an apartment. It fits in the bottom of a closet.
I think this is the one that you were referring to. I think the 1-gallon reservoir should be sufficient to seat a tubeless tire and its small dimensions might work in a small apartment. And most importantly, it’s so quiet! Watch the video in the link to listen to the difference between a 90-dB pancake-style compressor (I have a similarly-loud Ridgid 6-gallon pancake-style compressor that when run in my garage, I can hear it two floors up) and the 56-dB California air compressor.
Do you have this one and is the video representative of actual noise?
I’ll add another vote for the Airshot canister. A few years ago, I was also researching small compressors, but decided to go with the airshot and am glad I did. No problems with any MTB tire up to 2.5” so far.
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Nine times out of ten I’ve been able to seat my tyres with a standard floor pump. On the occasions that I haven’t, I used a co2 cartridge to seat the tyre, then deflated it before reinflating (is that a word?) with the floor pump (to remove the co2).
Airshot is what you need. I use it frequently. Reliable, simple, and relatively affordable. https://www.airshot.bike
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Strapping the outer perimeter with a fully-depreciated MTB tube has made the plain 'ol pump work at 100% success (at least for me).
I have a small, quiet compressor but if there wasn’t shelf room in the garage for it, it wouldn’t be. Seems like it would be dead weight in an apartment…