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Rideair tyre inflator seeks Kickstarter funding + video

Rideair uses a refillable air canister to make tyre inflation as simple as pressing a button

There's nothing much worse than getting a puncture on a ride, but Rideair, currently on Kickstarter and seeking your funding, is a refillable compressed air canister that makes inflating a flat tyre as easy as pressing a button. 

Rideair, described as “the next generation of effortless air pumps” is a refillable compressed air canister designed to fit into the bottle cage on your bike. Unlike a disposable CO2 canister, the Rideair is charged using an air compressor, the sort you get at a petrol station or in a bike shop, so you can use it again and again.

An extractable inflation tube with a presta and schrader compatible head attaches to the valve and it's simple a matter of pressing the button to inflate the tyre. Rideair reckons it takes just two seconds to inflate a flat tyre. There's a pressure guage on the unit as well.

It is constructed from aluminium and the 650ml tank can hold up to 300 psi, which is good for inflating a 25mm road tyre up to about 70 psi 2.5 times. It’s not clear if it’ll go higher than 70 psi, but that’s certainly enough to get you home or even to allow you to continue your ride.The Rideair weighs a claimed 450g and also features a combination metal cable lock so you can lock it to your bicycle when you leave it unattended.

It’s a smart bit of design. It’ll appeal to urban and city cyclists who want a quick and easy way to inflate a flat tyre without the hard work involved with using manual pump, especially a diddy mini pump that requires a few hundred strokes to get to a decent pressure, and don't mind carrying in a bottle cage of backpack. It’s size will limit its appeal to road cyclists though, it's too big and takes up a bottle cage, it would be nice to see the same design transformed into a smaller version that could fit into a jersey pocket or be mounted alongside a bottle cage.

The company is seeking $37,000 funding, they’ve currently achieved $26,321 with 38 days remaining. At the moment you can pledge $55 funding and get a Rideair pump, but they do appear to be going quickly. Check it out here https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2073772882/rideair-the-next-generat...

David worked on the road.cc tech team from 2012-2020. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds, and you can now find him over on his own YouTube channel David Arthur - Just Ride Bikes

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18 comments

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offshore_dave | 8 years ago
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Going tubeless has meant me not having a puncture for over four years.

Just saying.

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oliverjames | 8 years ago
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I agree with the general consensus; there is no market for this, at any price.

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BBB | 8 years ago
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Many if not most bicycle shock/suspension pumps will go to 300PSI.

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PaulBox replied to BBB | 8 years ago
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BBB wrote:

Many if not most bicycle shock/suspension pumps will go to 300PSI.

And if you're going to go to the trouble of pumping one of these up with a shock pump, you might as well just pump up your tyre when the need arises.

This is a non starter, far too big and from my experience with diving and paintball, there will have to be pretty regular safety testing of the cylinder, that's not cheap.

If this costs £50 (just a guess), and you're going to use it at home only (as it's too big to carry around), you might as well buy a cheap air compressor. I bought one for helping to seat tubeless mtb tyres for about £100.

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levermonkey | 8 years ago
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Most mobile crane tyres run at 10 bar (145 psi) and we cannot inflate them to this pressure at garages open to the public, we have to inflate them in the depot. Most public pumps will only go to 8 or 9 bar as a maximum. There are all sorts of safety implications involved when you are dealing with pressures this high.

I fail to see what, if any, relevance there is to the fact that the pressure vessel can cope with pressures up to 21 bar. I would expect a 100% redundancy safety factor as a matter of course. Think bike parked in strong sunlight on a summer's day. 21 bar is not a usable pressure.

The only use I can see for this inflator is indoors next to where you park your bike for dealing with a soggy tyre not a puncture. And even then I would expect you to have a track pump to hand anyway.

I'm out!

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edster99 | 8 years ago
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No-one seems to have spotted the fatal flaw in this.
'the Rideair is charged using an air compressor, the sort you get at a petrol station or in a bike shop, so you can use it again and again... the 650ml tank can hold up to 300 psi...'

Err - no. Tell me all about the 300psi foot pumps you have. Tell me about the 300psi air supply in your local garage. I didnt think so. 20bar is a really inconveneint pressure - not enough for diving cylinders etc, too much for a 12V compressor. Good luck with that rather poor idea.

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Beatnik69 | 8 years ago
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I considered getting one until I realised how big they were. I get fed up with how throwaway and disposable society has become (I'm no eco warrior but does anyone remember the days when we used to repair things like televisions?) so don't want to use CO2 cannisters that will get chucked once used so will have to stick to the good old hand pump.

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allgearnoidea replied to Beatnik69 | 8 years ago
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Beatnik69 wrote:

I considered getting one until I realised how big they were. I get fed up with how throwaway and disposable society has become (I'm no eco warrior but does anyone remember the days when we used to repair things like televisions?) so don't want to use CO2 cannisters that will get chucked once used so will have to stick to the good old hand pump.

are they not recyclable? I thought most of them were made from recyclable steel?

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Beatnik69 replied to allgearnoidea | 8 years ago
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Even so, there is still a lot of energy used in melting down the metal for reuse.

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KoenM | 8 years ago
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I don't see the point of this! A CO2 inflator is super fast to and alot more compact! And a good pump (i like my Lezyne) is small and gets more uses to it. So why would u take something so big with u, weighs a ton and u can only carry one bottle! Sorry but this is a STUPID idea! Btw, how many times u get a flat that u need this, get better tires if it's that much!

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Colin Peyresourde | 8 years ago
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Good luck to them but for the above reasons I'm out.....

If you're serious about cycling this is too heavy and cumbersome and not for you. And if you can't be arsed to use a hand pump in all other scenarios you probably won't ride a bike. Or will rarely do so enough to get enough punctures to make this worthwhile....so this strikes me as a fleecing device for the foolhardy.

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HarryTrauts | 8 years ago
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It's under $10000 from their target so there must be enough people out there who want it.

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johndonnelly | 8 years ago
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That's huge! How many punctures do they think I'm planning on having?

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bikebot | 8 years ago
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If that could be joined to an airzound, so that it's an reservoir for the horn and an inflator for a flat, they just might have a product that would interest a good block of commuters. As it is, nope.

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BBB replied to bikebot | 8 years ago
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bikebot wrote:

If that could be joined to an airzound, so that it's an reservoir for the horn and an inflator for a flat, they just might have a product that would interest a good block of commuters. As it is, nope.

Exactly what I've been thinking about for a while.
Other option would be to use existing bike components like handlebars or a seatpost as air canisters.

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Timsen | 8 years ago
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If you can't pump up a tyre, you probably can't change or mend a tube either. I may be cynical but a lot of Kickstarter products seem to be the same i.e a solution desperately seeking a problem. Refillable aerosols have been around for ages, this looks very similar to something I purchased about 20 years ago but didn't use for long as it was useless !

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mrchrispy | 8 years ago
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neat idea but doubt it'll get much traction with the (semi)serious road/mtb riders. I can see this in sale in somewhere like decathlon where the leisure cyclists might take an interest (if it wasn't too expensive).

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Beefy | 8 years ago
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Don't see the point, it's too bulky an old frame fitting pump would be less obstrusive. If you want an inflator CO2 canisters are cheep and much smaller/easier to stash away and carry. If it could be made much smaller then perhaps it would be useful.

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