Topeak’s Tubibooster X makes short work of inflating and seating tubeless tyres, with a tough, high-pressure aluminium body that’s charged using a separate track pump. It’s easy to use, with quality connectors and it’s a great addition to your workshop if you don’t have a combined pump/inflator already.
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The aluminium body can be charged up to a whopping 200psi, which I found was more than enough to seat even high-volume Plus tyres with ease. To fill it, simply connect your pump – ideally a track pump or you’ll begin hating life pretty quickly but anything will work – and inflate. You’ll need to rely on the pump’s gauge to let you know when to stop as there’s nothing on the inflator itself.
To get your tyres seated, you just stick the flexible hose onto your valve and flip the pleasantly snicky-feeling lever to set the air free. It’ll cope with both Presta and Schraeder valves but you’ll need to switch bits around to do so – it’s not like Schraeder tubeless valve are common. One the tyre has been seated, you can continue to pump the tyre up using the track pump through the Tubibooster X, so it doesn’t add much more faff to the process.
The unit has some really nice touches, with a little clip to keep the hose tidy and a neat cover on the fill valve to protect it. The glossy finish on the outer has got a bit scratched up after living in the boot of my car but that’s not the end of the world by any means. While some standalone inflators can be a bit Heath Robinson, the Tubibooster X very much feels like a quality item.
I’d still probably opt for an all-in-one design like Topeak’s excellent Joe Blow Booster, but if you already have a decent track pump, then the Tubibooster X is a more affordable and very effective addition to your workshop – it’s also small enough to chuck in the car boot. It works extremely well and it’s very well made, so it’s not a bad price considering what you’re getting.
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